Regret Came Too Late

"The meeting dragged on until 10:00 pm.

Everyone was completely drained, and even Grace herself answered candidly when asked about the company's future. What they needed now were profitable projects. Without them, the company would continue their slow death march until they inevitably collapsed.

After all, under the executives were still thousands of employees relying on a paycheck. The monthly expenses were astronomical. Once the cash ran dry, bankruptcy would be inevitable.

By the tGrace got home, her eyes were burning from exhaustion. All she wanted now was to crash and get ssleep.

Unbeknownst to her, someone was already on their way to Carmen that very night.

After Quentin's funeral, Carmen chose to leave the world behind and beca nun at a convent nestled four hours outside the city.

Someone made the long drive through the night to reach her, ready to twist the truth.

"Your beloved son was led astray by her," the visitor said in a steady, patient voice.

"All the old executives who built the company alongside Quentin-she fired them all. Don't you want to cout and set things right? Don't you want to see your son, who's been suffering?" Carmen kept her eyes closed, slowly rolling her rosary beads between her fingers while continuing to mutter verses under her breath.

The visitor wasn't fazed by the cold reception and kept going.

"Mrs. Lambert, you're Quentin's wife. The public trusts you. If you cforward and tell everyone that Grace orchestrated all of this out of greed for the Lambert family's fortune, then Liam might still have a chance.

"People won't blhim; they'll just pity him for being betrayed by his own sister." Still, Carmen's eyes remained shut, and her lips moved in constant prayer.

The visitor sneered, "Why don't you try calling Liam yourself? Everything I'm telling you is real. I'm not lying. Oh, right. I almost forgot. Even if you want to reach him, you can't. Grace has already got him locked down. Until she secures her spot as CEO, there's no way she's letting him out." No matter what that person said, Carmen continued praying, unmoved. Finally, the visitor's patience cracked. "Mrs. Lambert, I've been speaking all this time, and you've been keeping your eyes closed. Don't you think that's a little disrespectful?" Carmen had shaved off all her hair and now wore only coarse, plain robes. "When Quentin was alive, he was really nice to her. She used to wear luxury brands, dine on the finest delicacies, and live a life most could only dream of. They had started from nothing together, and he had never once let her down. She had loved Quentin more deeply than she had ever loved anyone-or anything. Now that he was gone, life itself had lost all meaning for her. And after seeing Alice's true colors, Carmen could no longer tell what was real and what was false.

In the silence of the convent, with only her prayers and the distant echo of hymns for company, she found a bittersweet kind of peace.

She slowly lit a candle beside her and made a cross with quiet reverence. Only then did she speak.

"I know why you came. In the past, I was blind-blinded by my own prejudice. I forgot that Grace was my daughter too. The rift between us was my failure as a mother. I tried to make her life harder, thinking it would somehow make up for what I owed Alice all these years.

"But in the end, it was all a lie. Every word Alice said was a lie. And because of it, I lost everything-my husband, my father... Even my daughter. I have nothing left. When your own daughter can deceive you so completely, tell me, why should I believe a single word you say?" Her voice was calm, almost detached as if she had truly seen through the illusions of the world.

The visitor grew more desperate. "You don't even care about your own son? Liam is locked away right now. Only you can save him!" Carmen lit another candle, kneeled down again, and resumed her prayers. She gave a small, almost sorrowful smile.

"Save him? For what? He crossed a line no one should cross. Wrong is wrong-and he should be punished. I know my son. If he truly felt wronged, he would've crawled here on his hands and knees to plead with me. But if he's hiding. It's because he knows he's guilty." The visitor was speechless, his anger flaring uncontrollably. She knocked over a stand of prayer candles, the sound echoing sharply through the quiet convent. "Now you want to play the saint, Mrs. Lambert? Fine. When you lose your son too, maybe then you'll finally realize how wrong you are. Keep turning a blind eye to Grace's ambition and you'll end up an old woman, abandoned and alone!" But Carmen remained still and undisturbed, her fingers moving even faster over her rosary beads as she whispered her prayers without pause.

The one who had rushed in to convince her was none other than Joanne. Shaking with rage, Joanne let out a cold laugh and stormed toward the door. But just as she was about to step out of the hall, Carmen's voice called out from behind her. "Keep walking down the wrong road and it'll destroy you. Take that as my parting gift to you," she said steadily.

Joanne froze, her hand gripping the edge of the doorfrso tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"Mrs. Lambert, there are no gods in this world. My life is mine to shape. Fate has nothing to do with it. I'm going to build the life I want, and no one can stop me. You've given up, so now, you pin all your hopes on gods that don't even exist.

"If there really were shigher power watching over us, the Lambert family wouldn't have ended up like this. From what I've heard, your husband spent his life doing good... And look where that got him." She let out a dry laugh.

Even as she turned to leave, Joanne still wanted to break Carmen's faith.

But Carmen only trembled slightly as if something had struck her deep inside.

Then, her fingers moved even faster along the rosary beads, her prayers steady and unwavering.

Outside, Joanne climbed into her car, her chest still tight with frustration. She had ctonight ready to expose everything-to reveal that the man who had been arrested was Liam, to watch him and Lambert Group burn beyond repair.

But Grace had beaten her to it. Not only had she defused the entire crisis, but she had even turned the narrative in her favor.

Now, the public wasn't attacking Liam; they were starting to pity him.

Joanne inhaled sharply and slammed her fist against the steering wheel. Still, she wasn't the kind of woman to fall apart over one setback. In less than ten minutes, she had pulled herself together.

She had nothing but disdain for people like Carmen, those who acted like they had seen through the world when really, all they had done was run from it. Fate wasn't something you waited on. It was something you took. And Joanne had never once forgotten what she was after."