Chapter 371 He Died
The next day.
Winona had just wrapped up some super detailed restoration work and was about to grab a glass of water when her phone buzzed on the table.
She glanced at it—unknown number from Dreamopolis. "Hello?"
"Windy, it's me."
Winona recognized Eva's voice and immediately hung up, blocking her number for good measure. Two minutes later, another call from an unknown number. No prizes for guessing—it was her again.
What was wrong with Eva? She'd been quiet for a few days, and now she was back at it.
After hanging up, Winona set her phone to reject unknown calls, but before she could finish, the phone rang again.
She answered, fuming, "Eva, have you lost it? Trying to get me to scream at you this early? You think I'm dumb enough to..."
"Miss Sullivan?" The voice cut her off as she got more worked up. "This is Everglade Penitentiary. Xavier had a heart attack in his cell last night and didn't make it."
They only needed to notify family, but Winona was the only one who'd visited him regularly over the years, so the guards decided to tell her.
"We can't reach his family. His body is at the hospital. See if you can contact his relatives. If you are one of his relatives, please help with the paperwork and take him to the crematorium for cremation."
"What did you say?" It was so sudden that Winona didn't process it right away.
"Xavier had a heart attack last night and passed away."
Winona went silent.
He'd been fine all these years in prison, and now he suddenly died? What a coincidence.
Whoever was behind this was ruthless. Why had they only given her a minor warning yesterday? They must be wary of someone. Could it be Zachary?
The other party had enough power to reach into the prison. Her own fame wasn't enough to make them cautious.
"Miss Sullivan? Miss Sullivan?"
The guard's repeated calls snapped her back. "What is it?"
"What should we do with Xavier's body?"
"I can't reach his family," nor would she try. She wasn't big-hearted enough to forgive the man who killed her mom. "Just toss the body."
She hung up.
Just as she hung up, Eva showed up in front of her, and she wasn't alone—she had her dad with her.
She'd never met Kyle. He'd missed the last Turner Family banquet due to some last-minute issue. But when the father and daughter stood together, they looked identical, and it was obvious to everyone that they were related.
Kyle had a warm smile and a kind face, looking every bit the good-natured guy. But Winona had a low opinion of the Turner Family, so even his harmless demeanor seemed fake to her.
"Miss Sullivan, Eva's been a pain in the past. I've brought her to apologize. Please forgive her, she's still young. Frank's punished her pretty hard this time."
Winona shot back, "I'm a year younger than she is."
Kyle's face tightened. He pulled out a card from his bag and placed it on the table. "I didn't know what you liked, so I didn't buy anything. Here's five million dollars. The password's on the back. Consider it an apology from Eva. I know this might not mean much to you, but if you have any other requests, feel free to ask."
Even though she wasn't a fan of the Turner Family, Kyle's respectful tone made her squirm. "Kyle, you're too kind, but I don't need this money."
She wasn't about to forgive his daughter or buddy up with her. He should just quit trying.
The Turner Family sure knew how to throw money around—five million bucks to a stranger, just like that.
She kinda got why people would switch schools or quit jobs voluntarily. What she offered was way over the top.
"Just take it. This amount is chump change for the Turner Family. My bedsheets are Hermes," Eva chimed in, managing to sound all high and mighty even while apologizing. "I heard you climbed into Mr. Bailey's bed for a few million dollars. This amount isn't even my yearly allowance."
Kyle gave her a light slap, clearly for Winona's benefit. "I brought you here to apologize, and you can't keep your mouth shut? Can't you say anything nice?"
Winona watched the father-daughter duo put on their little act. How could he not know what his own daughter was like? If he really wanted to shut her up, he could've done it with a single word.
Winona pushed the card back. "Kyle, save this money for Miss Turner to buy more Hermes. Zachary gave me several black cards, and I can't even use them all. Keeping your money would be a waste."
The more they tried to be nice, the more she felt something was off.
They had to be planning something shady.
Eva's words were meant to show off, but they also hammered home how loaded the Turner Family was and how awesome it was to be one of them.
Thinking of this, Winona instinctively grabbed her hair.
"Winona, don't exaggerate. Mr. Bailey wouldn't give you several black cards. I won't look down on you because you're poor."
"Alright then, since you insist, I'll reluctantly accept it."
She opened her wallet and slipped the card inside. Eva saw the several black cards peeking out and looked like she was about to explode.
With Winona's income, getting even one black card was a stretch. So it was really Zachary who gave them? And he gave several at once?
Once they left, her colleagues, who had been eavesdropping, swarmed around. "Windy, what did Michelle do to you? Her dad just gave you five million dollars. That's crazy generous!"
"She had Aleah frame me."
The whole artifact headpiece incident had been a big deal, and everyone at the museum knew about it. "No way, Aleah admitted she did it out of jealousy."
Eva had done a good job keeping up her image. Everyone at the museum had enjoyed her afternoon teas and gifts.
"Windy, are you sure? If that were true, Aleah would have confessed by now. The penalties for the mastermind and the accomplice are different."
"Exactly, Michelle isn't even in our field. Her family is so rich, why would she be jealous of you?"
"Maybe it's true. Otherwise, why would they give Windy five million dollars? No one is that generous without a reason."
The room quickly split into two camps, arguing.
Winona ignored them and sent a message to Frank: [Kyle just came to the museum and gave me five million dollars as an apology. Have Rodolfo come and take it back.]
Frank replied casually: [If they gave it to you, it's yours. Spend it. Think carefully about going abroad, and don't listen to that idiot Zachary.]
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