It took a whole 18 hours before the news of Charlotte's death finally hit Thomas.

It was a tiny footnote under the massive headline screaming 'Liam Injured in Car Crash, Unconscious'.

Just a single line that read: 'Woman dies as car falls into sea after the explosion, rescue in progress'.

At first, Thomas had no clue who this 'woman' was. He just couldn't get his head around how Liam's car could crash despite his top-notch security.

really set in when Vincent came running in, panting, and dropped the bomb: Charlotte was dead.

Dead?

How in the world could Charlotte be dead?

They showed up at the hospital, which was on lockdown as the doctors fought to save Liam.

The Parkers were there, but mum's the word from them.

In the end, it was Daniel who pulled them aside.

"About Charlotte... We can't talk about it until we know Liam's out of the woods," he said.

Daniel never saw this coming, and couldn't even start to think about what if Liam didn't pull through.

What scared him most was imagining Liam waking up to the news about Charlotte.

"I need to know what happened," Thomas insisted. His hair had turned white overnight from the stress of it all - he'd lost his own daughter, his beloved adopted daughter Annie, and now Charlotte too.

He looked like he'd aged years in just a day: "Charlotte can't just die and nobody knows why."

The whole Parker clan was a mess after Liam's accident. With Kenneth seriously sick, it was like nobody dared to even speak about it.

Back in the day, Kenneth was the one expanding territories, and Liam kept everything safe.

But now the rest of the Parkers seemed pretty useless, none stepping up to fill Liam's shoes.

That's when Dylan stepped up, surprisingly handling the situation well, and stabilizing the shaking grounds.

The first thorough investigation of the accident site was carried out with Dylan's approval.

Dylan was all over it and made sure he was the first to see any findings before passing them on to Vincent and Thomas.

Turns out the truck driver was dead tired, took a turn badly, couldn't see right, and smashed into Liam's car.

The car flipped, got hit by the explosion from the truck, and then a second blast sent it off a cliff.

"The only camera around caught Liam being kicked out of the car just two minutes before the second explosion. He was already hurt, bleeding out, and couldn't do anything. All he could do was watch as the car got hit again and went over the edge. He got messed up badly because he was too close."

Dylan was holding the report, his hand shaking a bit like he was trying to hide just how much this was hitting him.

"This is the straight dope," Dylan said. "Charlotte traded her life for his. When push came to shove, she chose to save Liam."

"I don't wanna hear this!" Thomas was beyond upset, realizing Charlotte was thinking of Liam, that jerk, even when she was dying. "I want the truck driver's name! I want the real story behind the crash!"

"I told you, the driver was tired..."

"Do you buy that?!" Thomas was furious, grabbing Dylan by the collar and yelling, "You believe that excuse, Dylan?!"

Thomas was out of his mind with anger. "Charlotte was your girl, even if just for a show, and you just let her go without a clue as to why?!" holds this content.

"That's what the report says!" Dylan snapped back.

"That's total bullshit! You're full of it!" Thomas yelled, but his shouting didn't change a thing.

The Parkers had everything on lockdown, the crash details were sealed tight, and they weren't letting anyone else get a word in.

It took a whole month and a half before Liam finally came to from his coma.

He looked terrible like he'd been through the wringer. Vincent had dropped by once, hoping to grill him about what exactly happened on the day of the crash.

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But Liam... he was just lying there, lifeless, like a puppet with its strings cut. His eyes were dead, his body was all sharp angles and bones, and he seemed to have lost all his spirit. He was like a living corpse.

"You know Charlotte's dead. You know how she died, who she died for. You're in debt to her now, Liam, and she's gone for good."

Vincent left those words with Liam and never showed his face again.

He had his own Blackwood family burdens to deal with.

After getting Thomas to a mountain retreat to clear his head, Vincent was off to conquer new markets for the Blackwood.

In the meantime, the city was thrown into its biggest chaos in nearly ten years. Liam woke up from the accident a shell of his former self, wouldn't eat, wouldn't listen, just laid in bed all day long. What should've been a six-month recovery took a year.

In that year, Chloe had a baby boy.

And Dylan? He didn't waste any time while Liam was out of the picture, and started showing what he was made of, grabbing power.

By the time Liam got his act together, Dylan had already started cutting into his territory. Only the headquarters held by Daniel stood firm, keeping Dylan at bay.

That's when the city saw its biggest shake-up in a decade.

Liam and Dylan, brothers turned rivals, fighting for the throne.

And what do you know, the Beaumonts flipped the script this time, backing Dylan instead of Liam.

Liam was getting hit from all sides, struggling to fight back.

The whole city was dragged into their personal war, becoming casualties in a fight that had no end in sight.

And that wasn't the only big news rocking the city at the time.

Just a heads up: is the only place to read the complete version of this book for free. Don't miss out on the next chapter-visit us now and continue your journey! Kenneth passed away.

He was hanging on by a thread, fighting a losing battle with his illness for a year, just to see his favorite grandson bounce back.

Before he took his last breath, Kenneth had a final wish.

He wanted Liam to tie the knot with Chloe and have the kid acknowledge his roots.

Liam wasn't having any of it.

Three days after Kenneth bit the dust with that wish still hanging, Liam walked away from the Parkers, rolling up his sleeves for a showdown with Dylan and the whole bunch.

His anger, his frustration, and his wild side - he let it all out on the Parker family.

He'd wished Chloe out of the picture more times than he could count.

But even Liam, with his tough exterior, couldn't be harsh to a kid.

So, Chloe survived, riding on the coattails of her son, and she did more than just survive, she thrived.

Fast-forward three years, the chaos had calmed down. Dylan, with the full weight of the Parker family behind him, still couldn't hold a candle to Liam when he was on a rampage, and he had to bow out. Liam might not have acknowledged the kid, but now and then, he'd drop by to check on him.

He figured life would keep on cruising along like this.

That was until he caught wind that Vincent was back.

It had been ages, and Liam had nearly wiped Vincent from his memory.

But the things Vincent said? They were etched in his mind.

He knew the score about Charlotte, who she bit the dust for, and who had her blood on their hands.

Liam decided it was high time to pay Vincent a visit.