Chapter 236
Chapter 236:
Her pulse thundered, yet Elyse knew she could not confess. The moment she did, everything would collapse. She steadied her breathing and looked back at him. “I honestly do not know what went wrong p>
Colton responded by pulling up the recording he had copied from Kristine’s phone.
Elyse managed to hold herself together — until the moment Brent’s voice came through, admitting it had been her idea and boasting that Azariah would never survive in Gridron if he disobeyed her. The color drained from her face instantly.
Brent was a complete idiot. How could he have allowed himself to be recorded?
“So tell me,” Colton said, stepping inside and moving toward the living room. He sat down on the sofa, his gaze never leaving Elyse. “What is the truth p>
Elyse suddenly lost all strength. She barely managed two steps before her legs buckled and sent her collapsing to the floor.
Seeing that Colton had no intention of helping her up, Elyse rose to her feet on her own. She looked up at him and pleaded, “You have to believe me, Colton. I honestly didn’t know anything about the compatibility tests. It was Brent who told me Kristine’s kidney would match mine. When I first heard about it, I was afraid Kristine wouldn’t be willing to help, but Brent told me he’d take care of everything. I had no idea he’d go as far as to threaten Azariah p>
Colton’s expression stayed icy. “You’re saying you truly didn’t know p>
𝗗o𝗐𝗇𝘭𝘰a𝘥𝘢𝘣𝗹е 𝖯𝗗𝘍𝗌 𝗈𝗇.со𝘮
“I swear, I didn’t!” Elyse insisted, nodding hard.
After a moment of silence, Colton spoke again. “We’ll talk about that later. I want you to tell me about the ceramic figurine p>
Elyse instantly lost all color in her face. Back then, she had assumed Kristine wouldn’t survive — so she had gone out of her way to claim Colton had given her the ceramic figurine. Now, with Colton suddenly mentioning it, she began to wonder if Kristine had spoken to him.
“Where is the antique?” Colton asked.
Since he didn’t seem interested in digging deeper into how the figurine had ended up with her, Elyse let out a quiet breath. “I’m not sure what happened to it.” Her last memory of it was in the hospital.
“You really don’t know what happened to it p>
“That’s right,” Elyse answered truthfully.
Colton’s brow tightened. “Then how did you get your hands on it p>
Elyse hesitated, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. A few days before the kidney surgery, she had received the antique. At that point, she had been desperately trying to find a way to convince Kristine to sign off on the donation. The moment she unexpectedly acquired the ceramic figurine — a cherished keepsake that had once belonged to Kristine’s late father — she immediately wanted to keep it, and an idea began to take shape.
“I got it at an auction.” Elyse gathered her courage and met Colton’s gaze, but he only stared off into the distance, brows drawn together in deep thought.
Fear gripped her so tightly that even breathing felt like a risk, and her legs turned unsteady beneath her. Still, she stood completely still.