Chapter 548 Homeless on the Streets
Chloe kicked the bucket!
Yesterday, when they rushed her to the hospital, the person who brought her in stuck around until the doc checked her out, making sure she just fainted from being too worked up.
But now, just a day later, Chloe's gone.
Gabriel broke the news to Sophia, and she felt all kinds of mixed-up inside.
"What's the deal now?"
Gabriel frowned a bit and said seriously, "Logan's Chloe's only kid. The lawyer's already bailed him out to handle her funeral."
"How'd it happen so fast?"
Gabriel replied, "The coroner said Chloe had a minor brain bleed when she got sick before. This time, with her family getting arrested, she got so worked up that her condition got way worse, and they couldn't save her at the hospital."
Sophia still couldn't wrap her head around it.
She thought, 'Who'd wanna off an old lady like Chloe?'
'What could anyone gain from Chloe's death?'
'Did Logan have someone take Chloe out just to get bail?'
If so, Logan was one cold-hearted dude.
Gabriel was thinking the same thing.
Chloe's death could be chalked up to sudden illness, but with everything going on, it was super suspicious.
"Even though the cops looked into it, it's true Chloe died from a brain hemorrhage."
"Also, Logan's still denying the fraud, while Ella's starting to crack. Looks like Ella might take all the blame, while Logan and Patricia..."
Sophia clenched her fists, thinking, 'I knew it...'
She always thought taking down the Browns by exposing their scam on the Blackwoods would be a piece of cake.
"But don't sweat it, David's already made sure the Brown Group can't keep going with that big project they took on. Logan threw all his cash into it, and now that it's dead in the water, the Brown Group's gonna go belly up. Even if Logan doesn't end up in jail, he'll be drowning in debt, and jail might actually be a break for him."
Sophia still felt uneasy.
Except for Austin, the Browns had treated her and her mom like dirt. She didn't feel bad for them; actually, she thought they deserved worse.
But she also knew that from now on, Logan and Patricia would be living like trapped rats, their dreams crushed.
Gabriel saw Sophia still looked worried. He reached out, gently smoothing the crease between her brows.
Sophia looked up, meeting his deep, worried eyes, and felt like she was getting lost in them.
"Don't overthink it, or you'll lose more hair and end up bald," Gabriel teased.
Sophia lightly swatted his hand away. "You're the bald one."
She turned around and took a sip of her coffee.
The Blackwoods had also heard the news.
"Dad, does this mean Logan and Patricia..."
David snorted. "Do they think they can get away with pinning everything on one person? The Brown Group's been hanging by a thread for years; it's time for it to go down."
Colin nodded, knowing David wouldn't let the Browns off easy.
Chloe bit the dust, and on the second day of the new year, Ella took the fall for scamming the Blackwoods. Patricia and Logan played dumb, saying they only found out at the end and that Ella had duped them too.
With no solid proof that Logan and Patricia were in on it, and with Chloe's death, Patricia got bailed out pretty quick.
But Ella? She was never getting out.
That same day, word got out that the Brown Group's big project was shut down, and all the cash was gone. Suppliers and banks were banging on the door for their money.
Logan was flat broke.
The tax guys were sniffing around the Brown Group too, and the whole place was a dumpster fire, teetering on the edge of collapse.
Logan looked around the once pristine, spacious office, now a total wreck. Papers everywhere, tables and chairs flipped over.
His bloodshot eyes were burning with rage.
His phone buzzed; it was Patricia.
Patricia was freaking out, "Dad, get home now! People barged in and are taking our stuff. They said they're repossessing the house and we gotta move out ASAP. Dad, I'm scared out of my mind."
Logan felt like his head was gonna explode.
Just last year, he was the big-shot president of the Brown Group.
In just a few days, he'd been to the police station, lost his mom, and his company was in ruins.
Logan looked like he'd aged a decade overnight.
He rushed home to find their fancy villa completely cleaned out.
Patricia was sitting on the floor, clutching a necklace.
It was the only thing she managed to keep, worth just thirty grand.
She'd snatched it from Sophia when she was a kid.
Looking at the empty house, Logan stumbled and hit the ground.
"Dad, what do we do? Everything's gone. They said, out of respect for our loss, they'll give us three days. If we don't move out by then, they'll kick us out."
"Dad, where are we gonna live if we get kicked out?"
"Dad, do something. I don't wanna end up on the streets. I don't wanna be a laughingstock."
Patricia kept crying, her sobs full of despair.
"No money, nothing left," Logan suddenly roared.
He glared at Patricia with eyes full of rage.
Patricia backed away, scared.
"Dad, calm down."
"Calm down? How can I calm down?" Logan stood up and slapped Patricia hard. "It's all your mother's fault. If she hadn't suggested you pretend to be Sophia, none of this would have happened."
"And you, why didn't you cozy up to the Blackwoods? Why did you blow your cover? If you hadn't, we'd be rolling in it. We'd be richer than the Lancasters, richer than the Blackwoods. It's all your fault!"
With each curse, Logan hit Patricia, eventually kicking her.
"No, stop, Dad. It's not me, it's Sophia. It's their fault, not mine. Stop hitting me."
Patricia screamed in pain, rolling on the ground from the beating.
Logan couldn't hear a word she was saying. He just needed to let it out. If he didn't, he felt like he'd explode.
He punched and kicked until Patricia passed out and stopped moving. Only then did Logan, panting heavily, sit on the ground.
After a while, he realized what he'd done, his rage turning into fear.
"Patricia!"
He rushed over and held her.
"Patricia, wake up."
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