Catherine Lee paused for a second before continuing her statement. "She knew from the very beginning that my Derek would grow up to threaten her position as the family successor. That’s why... that’s why she wanted him dead. She wanted to eliminate him before he could take what’s hers."

Those venomous words echoed loudly throughout the sterile corridor. The surrounding nurses and medical staff looked at one another in absolute shock, exchanging wide-eyed glances. None of them had ever expected a mother to publicly and viciously accuse her own fourteen-year-old daughter of murdering her brother.

Richard Lee’s expression changed drastically, his face turning pale as the weight of his wife’s accusations sank in.

"Catherine! Shut your mouth! What kind of malicious nonsense are you spouting right now?!" Richard Lee exclaimed in pure disbelief, his grip tightening around her waist.

However, Catherine Lee seemed entirely incapable of hearing her husband’s pleas. At that precise moment, her rational mind had been consumed entirely by a toxic mixture of maternal grief and deep-seated suspicion. She kept staring at Angelica Lee with bloodshot, hateful eyes, as though she were looking at a treacherous, cold-blooded stranger rather than her own flesh and blood.

Albert Lee’s expression became increasingly stern, his brow furrowing into deep, imposing lines. His sharp, calculating eyes remained fixed directly on his unravelling daughter-in-law.

"Are you seriously standing in a public hospital and accusing your own daughter of fratricide right now?" Albert Lee asked, his deep, authoritative voice vibrating with immense gravity.

Catherine Lee bit her lower lip so hard it nearly bled, refusing to back down under the pressure.

"Father, I..." Catherine Lee began, her voice cracking.

"No," Albert interrupted her coldly, cutting her off with a single, sharp wave of his hand. "Answer my question directly, Catherine. Are you officially accusing Angelica of poisoning Derek?"

Catherine’s fingers slowly clenched into tight, white-knuckled fists against her husband’s chest. After several agonies of suffocating silence, she finally lifted her chin and nodded defiantly.

"Yes. I am." Catherine Lee stated firmly.

The exact moment that definitive answer left her mouth, the heavy atmosphere in the corridor became even more oppressive, almost suffocatingly thick. Albert Lee stared at her for a long, unblinking time, his face a completely unreadable mask. Then, he slowly shifted his piercing gaze away from Catherine Lee and toward Angelica Lee.

The fourteen-year-old girl was still standing perfectly quietly on the exact spot where she had been brutally slapped. The angry red handprint swelling against her pale cheek was painfully obvious to everyone present.

Yet, despite the violence of the blow, she had not shed a single tear. She had not raised her voice to defend her innocence. She had not even looked angry or indignant. She simply stood there in total, eerie silence, watching the family drama unfold like an outside observer.

For some reason, seeing his young granddaughter in such a detached, stoic state caused a rare ache deep inside Albert Lee’s hardened heart. He knew this child inside and out. Perhaps better than anyone else in the entire Lee Family.

Since she was a toddler, Angelica Lee had always been fiercely proud, profoundly intelligent, and exceptionally mature far beyond her years. She willingly worked harder than most seasoned corporate executives.

She spent countless hours studying complex business management, global economics, corporate finance, and foreign languages simply because she wanted to become absolutely worthy of the heavy position she had been promised. She never complained about her lost childhood. She never once asked for special treatment.

And despite her naturally cold, reserved personality, Albert Lee had personally witnessed the genuine, rare excitement she had displayed when she first learned she was going to have a younger brother. He had even seen the thoughtful gifts she had quietly prepared for the nursery.

How could a child like that suddenly turn around and systematically murder her own baby brother? Albert Lee found it entirely impossible to believe.

Finally, he looked back at Catherine Lee, his eyes narrowing to slits.

"Tell me.." Albert Lee said calmly, though his voice carried an immense, crushing pressure that demanded absolute compliance. "What concrete, undeniable evidence do you possess that proves Angelica poisoned Derek?"

"It is because she is terrified that her position..." Catherine Lee did not manage to finish her sentence before Albert Lee suddenly cut her off with a sharp, thunderous movement.

"That is not the evidence that I want to hear!" Albert Lee slammed the heavy silver handle of his cane against the polished hospital floor, his face darkening with absolute anger.

Catherine Lee immediately shut her mouth, her voice catching in her throat. She lowered her head and defensively looked away toward the far corner of the corridor, not daring to meet Albert Lee’s sharp, piercing gaze for even a second.

Seeing Catherine Lee acting like this, Albert Lee instantly understood that she did not possess a single piece of concrete, undeniable evidence to convict a twelve-year-old Angelica Lee as a murderer. It was entirely born from her own warped paranoia.

"Stop spouting such dangerous nonsense when you don’t have a shred of evidence to back it up. We need to thoroughly investigate how Derek was poisoned first before pointing fingers." Albert Lee stated sternly, his tone brooking no argument. Then, he turned his demanding gaze toward Richard Lee. "You know exactly what needs to be done."

"Yes, Father." Richard Lee nodded immediately, his expression grim.

"You should move quickly. Otherwise, the traces and physical evidence may disappear entirely before we can secure them." Albert Lee stated gravely.

"Yes, Father." Richard Lee nodded again.

Without wasting another single second, Richard Lee immediately launched a full-scale, private investigation into the estate’s staff and daily routines.

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