The Billionaire Twins Need A New Mommy! - Chapter 431

Chapter 431: Shovel
For a while, silence enveloped the guest room at Doctor Tyler’s house until the tea he’d served grew cold. Lola stared at the still water in the cup, as if there were something in the ceiling’s reflection she was trying to read.

When she finally swallowed, she lifted her eyes and met his. “Doctor, I think you know why I’m here.”

Doctor Tyler pressed his lips into a thin line and stared at her.

“Melissa and Jasmine Young have been ridiculous my whole life,” Lola said, her voice quiet and steady. “They can twist something small into something huge and make my life ten times harder than it should be. ‘Crazy’ is an understatement for those two.”

“It took more than hard work or tears to get past the Lola they trampled at every turn,” she continued, pausing to run her tongue along the side of her teeth. “And today, in one of their episodes, they said something very, very stupid.”

“I don’t believe them — not because I don’t want to, but because there’s really nothing they say that I should ever listen to,” Lola shook her head, her eyes never leaving his. “But somehow, this… struck me strangely.”

She drew a breath to steady herself. On her way there, her mind had been running not just over Melissa’s claim and Jasmine’s silence, but over the little things she’d let slide before.

“Doctor.” Lola cleared her throat against the tension building in it. “You knew my mother long before she married and had a child. Tell me… was it true?”

Her lips quivered and she bit them. “Was it true that… Loren Albert is not my mother?”

The heavy silence that followed made Lola’s eyes sharpen. A thin film of tears rimmed them, the corners reddening as she waited for his answer.

When a minute passed and he still didn’t speak, a ridiculing laugh escaped her. “How?”

“Lola, there were many things in the past—”

“How?” Lola’s expression hardened. “Doctor, all I want to hear is how it happened. Jasmine seemed shaken. Someone else must have known and done it, not her.”

She thought of Jasmine. Of how she had never shown Lola any real care. Even if Lola bled to death in front of her, Jasmine would probably still be drinking tea. Jasmine would never have shielded her, not from Melissa. But she did tonight.

“Your mother… Loren… was in a very dark place when she made that decision, Lola,” Doctor Tyler said. His answer wasn’t a straightforward yes or no, but it was the clearest he could give.

“If she could turn back time, she would have,” he added quietly. “But it was too late when she regained clarity. You were already in her arms, and… her daughter was already in another woman’s care.”

Lola felt her stomach drop and her gut twist, but no tears fell. Her lips parted, but nothing came out. For a few seconds, she could only stare at the doctor she had once admired and been grateful to.

Doctor Tyler let out a deep exhale, pushed himself up, and walked to a shelf. He took out a book, paused, and, when he opened it, a small envelope fell from between the pages. He picked it up and walked back to her.

Placing the envelope on the table between them, he straightened and looked at her with guilty eyes.

“Before Loren passed, she asked me to do something,” he said quietly. “She told me that in case the truth ever caught up to us, she wanted you to have this.”

His eyes softened bitterly. “I’m sorry, Lola.” He lowered his head. “I will regret my participation in this for the rest of my life, and I’ll accept whatever retribution comes for what I have done.”

He glanced at her and, soundlessly, walked away to give her privacy. But as he reached for the door, Lola’s quiet, clear voice stopped him.

“Is that why she left me the property and not the company?” she asked, mustering the courage to meet his gaze. “It’s always been a question I asked myself.”

She had assumed her mother didn’t want her to fight Lawrence for shares—that Loren had thought it too complicated. Lola had invented every plausible reason except this one.

“Was the property she gave me a repayment for her guilt?” she scoffed, then laughed hollowly. “To make amends for causing me pain?”

“I’m sorry, Lola,” Doctor Tyler repeated, lowering his head. “I really am.”

Lola laughed even more, running her hands through her hair. She grabbed the envelope and rose, marching back to him.

“Your sorry won’t change anything, Doctor Tyler,” she said fiercely. “Even if you knelt until your knees bled, rubbed your hands until they caught fire, or cried until your tears turned red—nothing will take back what I have to face.”

Her voice shook, but the toughness in her facade remained. She wouldn’t let herself crumble in front of people who had wished her nothing but ruin.

“Because watching someone I trusted and admired hurt me this way is more painful than the act itself,” she said, though the words felt like a blade.

“If you regret it, then regret it for the rest of your life,” she added. “You deserve to wallow in that regret until your last breath.”

With that, Lola walked past him without looking back. Doctor Tyler stared after her, his eyes falling to the envelope crumpled in her fist.

*****

Izu waited for Lola outside the residence, expecting the visit to keep her in tears. He assumed she’d come out swollen-eyed and fragile.

“Damn it,” he sighed, only to hear thunder in the distant sky. He looked up, catching lightning somewhere in the distance. “It’s gonna rain tonight…”

His attention snapped out when Lola emerged from the front door. To his surprise, she looked more furious than broken.

“Miss Lo—” he began, but she walked past him and slipped into the car without a word.

Izu cleared his throat and jogged to the driver’s seat. Once inside, he looked back at her.

“Miss Lola, do you want to go home?”

She didn’t answer.

He was about to start the engine when she finally spoke.

“Shovel.”

“Young madam?” Izu repeated, confused.

Lola raised her eyes. They were dark and dangerous. “To the supermarket. I need to buy something.”

Izu was baffled, but he drove to the supermarket that was still open. He followed her closely, wary that she might try to sneak out. But she didn’t. When Lola came out, all she had bought was a shovel.

Then she told him, flatly, “Take me to Loren’s grave. I need to settle some scores.”