Chapter 84
Chapter 84
The man lying on the bed was as still as a stone. Valentine Taylor began to feel slightly creeped out. If
he had not heard Mr. Rosewood’s voice through the intercom just a few moments ago, he would have
thought… Hold on. If Mr. Rosewood was indeed dead, then whose voice was that through the
intercom…? Valentine felt the hairs on his back stand as the thought occurred to him.
“Mr. Rosewood…?” Valentine called out cautiously.“Go ahead and open it,” the figure lying on the bed
finally croaked out weakly.
Charlie immediately walked toward the windows and pulled the blinds open before unlatching the
windows. Sunlight filtered into the room together with a breeze of fresh air, brightening up the dreary
space. It also made it possible for the group to see Mr. Rosewood clearly. He was a gaunt old man with
gray skin, sunken features and skinny as a bag of bones. His eyes could barely open as his unfocused
pupils finally landed on Lilly.
“Did you say… you found Amelia’s remains?” he rasped, clearly struggling for breath. It was like he
was summoning all his remaining energy to speak to Lilly.
Josh covered his face with his hands, while Valentine’s legs felt shaky. How could a living person look
so terrifying? Lilly on the other hand walked up to the old man fearlessly and placed her hand around
his bony arm.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Rosewood. I know where she is,” Lilly comforted the old man. The red string bracelet
around her tiny wrist began to emit a weak flow as she spoke, and the energy from the bracelet
seemed to ebb and flow into the old man’s body. Everyone else could almost sense the dreadful
energy in the room lifting and disappearing slowly as the old man’s eyes seemed to come back to life.
Moments later, Mr. Rosewood was able to prop himself up weakly, trying his best to sit up. Noticing
this, Valentine immediately went over to help him. “Mr. Rosewood, why are you alone in this big, old
house? You can’t possibly take care of yourself in this state…” Valentine asked the old man out of
concern.
The strange thing was that Old Mr. Rosewood was dressed in a clean set of pajamas, and apart from
the strong smell of medicine, Valentine could not discern any other rotting scent coming from the old
man. As he looked around the bedroom, he noticed that it was rather clean and well-kept, despite the
dark and gloomy interior. Old Mr. Rosewood was just a regular elderly man.
Old Mr. Rosewood let out a slow sigh. “What’s there to take care? My days are numbered…” he said
faintly.
Lilly felt a pang of sadness fill her as she took in the old grandpa in front of her. There was an incense
candle burning weakly on the top of his head. Master Pablo had once told her that the burning incense
represents how long more a person got to live. Once the flame ran out, the person’s life would end.
“Mr. Rosewood, her bones are buried under the school’s football field,” Lilly told him without waiting for
him to ask again. “Her name was Amelia Rosewood, and her best friend was Roxanne Larson… am I
right? Amelia was a nice lady. She gave all her pretty dresses to Roxanne, but Roxanne killed her,” Lilly NôvelDrama.Org holds this content.
continued.
Old Mr. Rosewood blinked in surprise. His eyes filled with tears as the memories of his daughter’s
death returned. “Bring me there… Bring me to Amelia…” he wheezed. It had been more than ten years.
He never thought he would live to find his daughter’s remains, but there was hope now!
“Be patient, Mr. Rosewood. The police won’t let you near the scene even if you head there yourself,”
Valentine tried to calm the old man down.
Noticing Anthony’s expectant look, Charlie immediately sprang into action and rushed out of the room
to call the police.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Rosewood! I’ll keep an eye too!” Lilly offered.
Old Mr. Rosewood’s eyes seemed dejected as he looked away from Lilly, leaning against the bed
frame. “I spent my whole life building and running my business without ever going against my
conscience. When my worker’s parents turned ill, I gave them money to get treatment and even helped
them contact an overseas specialist. I lived an honorable life. The only mistake I ever made… was
murdering that young lady…” he sighed.
Valentine’s jaw dropped ever so slightly. Did the old man just confess to murdering Roxanne Larson?
Lilly nodded as Pablo whispered something in her ear, before turning to Old Mr. Rosewood again.
“Grandpa Rosewood, why didn’t you find out where Amelia was buried? How did she die?” she asked.
Old Mr. Rosewood let out another long sigh. He was looking better just a few moments ago, but now he
seems to shrivel up again. “Amelia was our precious kind-hearted sweetheart. She was the kind of
person who would give her favorite limited-edition dresses to her best friend. She was also always
considerate of Roxanne’s feelings, so she would tear the tags off her dresses and tell Roxanne she
didn’t want them,” he told Lilly. “We were also always fond of Roxanne and let her walk in and out of
our house freely… But who would’ve known that a seemingly kind, innocent girl like her would turn out
to be the devil incarnate!”
Pablo wrapped his arms around himself and listened on intently.
“Don’t be too nice to someone, for you never know their true intentions…” Old Mr. Rosewood warned.
Unfortunately for him, he had learnt this lesson the hard way. The truth finally came to light as he
described the events from more than ten years ago.
After Roxanne Larson left her job at the printing factory, she got herself into a burgeoning amount of
debt as a result of unhealthy spending habits to maintain her lifestyle. Yet, she was still unsatisfied and
eventually harbored a desire to replace Amelia Rosewood.
“One day, she called and told us that she had been scammed by an illegal clinic when she tried to buy
some medicine for her parents. She said she was being held hostage by the clinic for a ransom of ten
million dollars, and someone had to bail her out in person. She was crying desperately on the phone
and sweet Amelia rushed to her rescue without thinking twice,” Old Mr. Rosewood lamented with agony
in his voice. He regretted raising his daughter to be too kind and considerate as he never expected that
to be the cause of her eventual death.
Old Mr. Rosewood shut his eyes as he continued. “Roxanne Larson wasn’t being held hostage in a
clinic. She was at an illegal plastic surgery clinic that preyed on young girls’ vanity and lured them into
signing expensive cosmetic surgery packages. It was the kind of business that was filthy to the core…
Roxanne offered the clinic ten million dollars for them to perform a surgery on her using another
person’s skin so that she could look exactly like the person. Heavens, the clinic accepted the job! Can
you believe it? There was an actual syndicate performing surgeries using real human skin!”
It was not just the outer skin. The clinic could dissect and replace every internal organ in the body! By
the time Old Mr. Rosewood heard of the news, Amelia was nowhere to be found. Roxanne returned
with her face and clothes stained full of blood, crying frantically as she told the Rosewoods that Amelia
had been captured by the criminals when she tried to save her.
“While we were desperately searching for Amelia, Roxanne had wormed her way into our home under
the guise of taking care of me and Mrs. Rosewood. I was truly a fool for not being able to see through
her façade…” Old Mr. Rosewood chuckled bitterly. Tears fell down his sunken cheeks as he recalled
the painful details. By the time they found Amelia, all that was left of her was scrap flesh and tissue
remnants. Her bones and large organs had mysteriously disappeared.
“Since Roxanne was not the one who performed the surgery, she was only an accomplice to the
murder at most for deceiving Amelia and luring her to the clinic. The courts wouldn’t have given her a
heavy sentence, but we decided she should pay for her crimes with her life!” Old Mr. Rosewood
bellowed as his eyes flashed with angry hatred, before burying his face in his frail hands. “But no
matter what we did, Roxanne could not tell us where Amelia’s bones were buried since she was not the
one who mutilated her…”
Old Mr. Rosewood would have done the exact same thing if he was given a choice again. “My biggest
regret is not killing Roxanne Larson. It is not teaching my daughter to be wary of people…” he sobbed
miserably.