A Second Chance at Forever novel (Eleanor and Bernard)

Chapter 1424

Gregory was nothing more than a lowly thug, a street rat who lacked any sophistication. How could a rat like him ever hope to stand against the towering might of Yates?

Even if Gregory had rallied many of his kind to form the Darkness gang, it would take a long time to amass the kind of power needed to take down Yates. “Gregory never got his chance for revenge, though. He was taken out by his own second-in-command before he could make his move.”

Yates got the picture, but he hadn’t realized that he had been living inside Gregory’s plot all along.

Gregory had offed Samantha early, so Yates never suspected a corpse he didn’t recognize.

Then, all the evidence of the gang assault on Pauline was cleverly redirected to point at the Hardys’ other enemies.

Meanwhile, Gregory had been using the turmoil as a smokescreen, looking to expand the Darkness, to eventually harness its power to exact his revenge.

It was a clever plan, indeed. A shame Gregory didn’t live long enough to see it through, taken out by his own brother in arms. In a way, it was instant karma.

The thought of Gregory’s demise brought a bitter sense of relief to Yates.

But how much better off was he, really?

This was all tied to him. It was his doing….

If he hadn’t killed Timothy, Samantha wouldn’t have had the chance to frame him, Gregory wouldn’t have directed his fury at Pauline, wouldn’t have unleashed his rage on her in such a vile way.

The image of Pauline, violated and broken, made Yates stagger backward, his aged body almost collapsing against the control panel. “No…It can’t be!” Yates refused to believe that he was the cause and Pauline was the outcome.

true, what face would he

kill Timothy, so how could you have caused

his own making; Pauline was just an innocent

certain whether it

too

were suddenly

to kill me first. I just…” If it hadn’t been for

who had been quietly listening, cut in sharply at this

Timothy’s relationship, why would Timothy have wanted you dead?”

woman standing serenely behind

was the spitting image

Yates was reminded of his first encounter with Pauline, love at first sight, a rescue turned romance.

was just her childhood sweetheart…” Yates aged eyes reddened as he spoke. “It was Timothy who sensed my interest in Pauline and preempted me by confessing his love… By the time I understood what love was, Timothy had already won her

voice broke with a sense of injustice. “I was just a

missed Pauline’s first love; a

painful memories of watching the woman he loved with another man, his nearly buried heart

feelings of sin, discomfort, regret, and longing, he slowly shifted his gaze to the

༐ འཇ ཧ ེ ཇ ཆ བ བ

you have done

believed they

wanted someone to tell him there was no other way but to take

just looked at him impassively.

Bernard’s answer, Yates responded to his