The Heiress's Comeback

Chapter 164: [Volume 1] - 164- Your father-in-law.

"Yes, Esme?" he responded, his usual professional tone slipping slightly.

Esme leaned back in her chair, her expression hardening as she spoke. "I need you to check something else for me. Find out how long she was with these men before marriage. How long did they date before she decided to marry them?"

Aron nodded immediately and returned to his laptop, his fingers tapping furiously on the keyboard. Esme waited in tense silence, her gaze fixed on the ceiling, the ticking of the clock in the background the only sound in the room.

After a few minutes, Aron stopped typing. He looked up, his face a mix of disbelief and understanding. "It’s all the same," he said, his voice low.

Esme’s heart sank. "What do you mean, ’the same’?"

"Five years," Aron said slowly. "She dated them for one year before having a child with each of them. Then, she waited four more years before actually marrying them."

Esme’s eyes narrowed. Her instincts had been right all along. She slammed her hand down on the desk, the sharp sound breaking the silence. "I knew it! Five years, and then they get pregnant right after. Every single time."

The pattern was unmistakable. "She’s completely insane," Esme muttered, more to herself than to Aron.

"One year of dating, then a child... and four years later, marriage? Every time?, and then they all... they all died within seven or eight years of marriage. What the hell is going on here?"

Her mind reeled with the implications. Why would anyone go to such lengths? The second aunt could have easily married those men openly, taken them into her household. Instead, she played this twisted game behind their backs, repeating the same pattern with each one. What was the end goal?

Esme leaned back in her chair, her fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest, the sound filling the room like a steady drumbeat. Something wasn’t adding up, but the pieces of the puzzle were slowly starting to click. Her fingers stopped mid-tap as an idea flashed in her mind. Her eyes shot open, her expression suddenly serious.

"Aron," she said, her voice sharp with resolve. "I need you to find everything—everything—about my father-in-law and his connection to the second aunt. How long they were in college together, if they spent time with each other, if there’s any connection at all. And while you’re at it, figure out how many years passed between when my mother-in-law met him and when they got married."

Aron blinked, surprised by the sudden intensity of her request, but he quickly jotted down notes and hurried out of the room.

Two hours later, Aron returned, his face ashen and his movements hurried. He locked the door behind him and rushed over to Esme, his voice trembling with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "That woman is completely insane!" he spat out.

Esme’s eyes narrowed, her heartbeat quickening. The look on Aron’s face was enough to tell her that whatever he had discovered was far worse than she had anticipated. She motioned for him to continue, bracing herself for the worst. "What did you find?"

Aron handed her a file, his hands shaking as he spoke. "You were right about a connection. As you guessed, your father-in-law and the second aunt were at the same college. Your mother-in-law and father-in-law were childhood sweethearts, but she was possessive. She didn’t allow the second aunt to be near him back then. But when your father-in-law started his PhD, the second aunt got into the same college. They spent five years in the same institution."

Esme clenched her jaw. Five years. That was a long time to keep someone so close.

"Your father-in-law didn’t care about her at first," Aron continued. "But after about a year, they became... friends. For him, it was normal. He’s the type of person who’s friendly with everyone. But for her, it became something else. Obsession. After four more years, when his PhD was completed, your mother-in-law proposed to him. They got married, and everything seemed fine."

Esme felt her stomach turn. Her mind raced, piecing together the tangled web of relationships. "And then?"

Aron’s face twisted with disgust as he pressed on. "After six or seven years of marriage, your father-in-law was declared dead in public. Everyone—including the second aunt—thought he was dead. But the truth is, his health deteriorated after your Father-in-law gave birth to four children at once he become too weak so She hid him away under a different name, because he needed protection due his health was fragile."

Esme sat in her chair, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of everything. Her mother-in-law, a brilliant woman known for her intelligence and fierce love for her husband, had hidden him away under the guise of sickness. It didn’t make sense at first. Why hide him instead of giving him the best medical treatment available? But then it hit her—her mother-in-law must have known about the second aunt’s obsessive infatuation. She wasn’t just protecting her husband’s health; she was protecting him from a woman whose obsession could destroy their lives.

But one thing still gnawed at Esme. Why hadn’t her mother-in-law dealt with the second aunt more directly? Given her cunning and influence, it wouldn’t have been difficult to remove her from the picture entirely. Why allow such a threat to linger?

Esme leaned forward, deep in thought. Perhaps the answer lay with her husbands—after all, they were the ones who knew their mother best. As Esme considered asking them, a sudden, chilling memory surfaced. Her hand clenched into a fist. The second aunt had introduced several fiancées before Esme had married her husbands, attempting to control their lives even before she came into the picture.

Her breath quickened as she hurriedly opened the file Aron had handed her. Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the photograph of her father-in-law. He was the spitting image of her husbands. Every detail, every feature—it was like looking at the same person, as if her husbands were a perfect copy of him.