Regret Came Too Late (Grace and Ethan)

"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 time Grace got home, her eyes were burning from exhaustion. All she

wanted now was to crash and get some sleep.

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 become a

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 come out 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 come forward

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 blame him; 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 younoveldrama

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 doorframe so 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 some higher 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

come tonight 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."