Chapter 1032 – His Second Chance Love: The Freezing Silence

Chapter 1032 – His Second Chance Love: The Freezing Silence

Anthony would never say something he wasn’t sure of. Hence, it could only mean that Summer had really known about her identity.

To hide what happened between Macy and Jared from her is a silent rule that everyone obeys. In that case, who is the one that wastes all our efforts?

Before Summer could answer him, he reminded again, “If you still acknowledge us as your parents, you better be honest.”

He was too overbearing. Previously, I would have already taken Summer’s side and gone against him. Yet, at that point, I could only frown as I waited silently for the way everything would turn out later.

Fortunately, Summer’s true nature was a kind girl. Knowing that we wouldn’t hurt her intentionally, she decided to reveal to us her secret obediently.

“Two years ago, Mr. Cress accompanied me to the entrance ball of my college. Everyone who saw us together thought that he was my father. I’d never examined our looks, but from that day onward, a seed of suspicion got planted in my mind.”

She then abruptly stopped as though she felt bad about it.

However, even if she didn’t finish her words, what happened afterward was predictable.

With her strong talent in Math, she started to recall how Jared stuck close to her all the time. As a result, everything Jared did before, which she thought was the care from a teacher, had evolved into the hidden affection from a father.

Silence enveloped the cemetery. The three of us stood in front of Macy’s tombstone, lost for words.

A long while later, I finally managed to regain my composure. I struggled to appear calm as I tried to talk to Summer. “How much do you know?”

Feeling that the question was a bit inappropriate after giving it a thought, I rephrased it. “Tell us everything that you know.”

I believed that with Summer’s intelligence, she could find out the truth with ease. However, there was always a possibility that Jared would take advantage and twist the truth. To help her out, I had to know the process of her investigation.

Summer nodded calmly. “I only took his and my hair to conduct a paternity test. That was the only thing that I did. He doesn’t even know that I’ve found out that he’s my biological father.”

“That’s all?” I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly at her answer. It’s better than what I imagined.

She repeated my words as she continued, “That’s all. I know that there is a reason for Mr. Cress and the both of you to hide the truth from me, so I don’t dare to investigate it publicly. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Do you think that we won’t be worrying now?” Anthony spoke coldly, clearly reprimanding her.

I could understand his feeling. After all, he had been through the same before, getting torn by the biological relationship that he couldn’t make his own decision. How could he not be upset now that Summer was going to take the same path, isolating and distancing herself from us because of Jared?

“Let me talk to her.” I intentionally lower my voice, hoping to comfort him.

Thankfully, he chose to do me a favor, turned around, and stepped aside to give us time to converse.

Peace washed over me as I gazed at his muscular back. When I turned around to take in Summer’s darkened face, I decided to take my time instead of starting the conversation right away.

After staring at Macy’s photo for two seconds, I bent down and sat on the stairs beside her tombstone to pretend that we were sitting side by side.

By doing so, it was as though Macy was present beside me at that instant. The thought caused a sincere smile to crawl onto my face. I then cast my eyes down and mumbled, “Your daughter isn’t a bit like you at all. She’s so good at keeping secrets, even managing to keep me in the dark.”

Summer didn’t react as she remained standing silently at the side. However, her rolling eyes gave her away, proving that she was in deep thought at the moment.

Seeing that, I changed my tone to make it more targeting, as I wanted to get her attention this time. “I’m such a disqualified adoptive mother that she didn’t dare to call you mom in front of me. What a failure. Don’t you think so, Macy?”

At last, Summer didn’t stay indifferent anymore as she muttered in comfort, “Mommy, it isn’t like that. You treat me well. I’m the one…”

She seemed to be suffering. Yet, no words could describe her feeling at the instant, so she could only shut her mouth after a while of struggling with her words.

After treating her as my biological daughter for years, how could I feel good when she was sad?

Anyways, whoever had started the trouble should end it. Perhaps only the truth could smooth out all the uncontrollable variables.

Hence, I said, “I’ll tell you everything that happened in the past in front of your mother today.”

“From my perspective, the process of falling in love between Jared and Macy had always been a meticulously-designed scheme. Initially, I thought that you were a product of their drunken stupor that one night. After all, an accident was inevitable when two adults satisfied their needs. I was fully supportive of Macy of her decision to give birth to you since she wanted to have a child of her own.”

Then, I said, “I got her belonging from the lawyer after she was dead, and through her WhatsApp chat history, I found that Jared had already taken the initiative to acquaint himself with her back when I first knew Anthony. Yet, they had never mentioned it throughout the years. Do you know that the reason Jared stayed by Anthony’s and my side previously was to take revenge on us? Thus, it was apparent why he approached Macy. His principle was that he would do whatever it took to achieve his goal. It wasn’t righteous but wasn’t enough to be disdainful as well.”

After taking a deep breath, I said, “The most despicable thing was his trampling on Macy. Just like me, she was an orphan. What orphans craved the most was the sense of security. Jared’s appearance was like a ray of light in Macy’s life. He appeared when her classmates gave her a hard time, supported her every decision, and contributed half to her dream and the money to open the bar. He was such a fine man, yet he treated Macy, who was merely an ordinary woman, with immeasurable gentleness. Moreover, he was never absent in every crucial stage of her life. Despite not having a proper status, she was willing to dwell on the continuous companionship.”

Slowly, I continued, “For Macy, they would still be as close as before when he stood in front of her after not meeting for a long time. However, he didn’t want their firstborn. Macy listened to his words, aborted the baby, and crushed her hopes. From that day onward, she knew there was no future between them. Unfortunately, Jared took that incident as proof of her unwavering love for him that she could even give up on her child for him. He was sure that Macy would do everything for him. Finally, he exposed himself, his purpose, and the impurity of their relationship in front of her. When she asked him to give up on his revenge, he refused, and they ended up splitting their ways.”

Rage surged through me as I went on, “If it ended here and he let Macy off, I would still be willing to regard him as a man. Nevertheless, since then, he started to torture her. He was always a scum in front of her. Again and again, he slept with her while calling out to another woman. Since he couldn’t be happy, he wanted her to drown in sadness with him by destroying Macy’s happiness as well. As for you, do you remember the time when you had a major illness? You nearly lost your life that time, and it was all because of him. He had kidnapped you and trapped you in the chemical plant, inflicting physical and mental torment on you. Moreover, he even destroyed hundreds of innocent families for his opinionated truth.”

At that, I let out a deep breath and licked my dried lips. Then, I looked up at Summer with a bitter smile plastered on my face. “Now, do you still want to get close to him? Do you still want to keep him close to your side?”

Summer pressed her lips together and looked up for a long time as she immersed herself in her thought.

Indeed, how could she accept it with ease in such a short time when a father-like figure suddenly became the culprit who caused her mother’s death and hurt her?

At such a moment, she would feel better to have some alone time.

“You try to calm yourself down. If you have any questions later, feel free to ask me anytime. Regardless of who your biological mother is, you would forever be my daughter and always be one of the Featherstones.”

I inhaled sharply to compose myself. Then, I walked toward Anthony, preparing to ask him to leave the cemetery together.

However, he seemed to be listening to our conversation the entire time. Before I could say something, he turned around and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. His lips curved upward as comfort before reverting to the original position.

He then looked at Summer and said, “I still have high hopes for you, so please don’t disappoint us.”

With that said, he motioned me to leave with him. Without resisting, I followed behind him and left.

I did not manage to go far before a sense of intuition made me turn my head. The sight that greeted me was one that had my chest clench tightly. Summer was on her knees in front of the tombstone, her thin frame shaking as she sobbed uncontrollably and helplessly.

It was painful to see her like this, and I could feel my own tears threatening to fall. Unable to bear the sight a second longer, I turned and walked away with haste.

Once I was in the car, Anthony instructed Joseph to stay behind with Summer. “Make sure she’s okay,” he told him. “She’s your boss now from today onwards.”

Joseph looked surprised for a second before inclining his head respectfully. “Of course. Not to worry, Mr. Anthony. Ms. Summer is safe with me.”

Anthony nodded, giving his subordinate a grateful pat on the back. The gesture conveyed all that he had to say to the man.

Without further ado, Anthony got into the driver’s seat and ignited the engine, driving us away.

I leaned my head against the window, staring listlessly at the rapidly receding view. A part of me wondered how long it would be until my next visit to Macy’s grave.

If Macy were here, she’d probably be disappointed in me. I closed my eyes wearily. She lost her life because of me, yet I’ve failed her. I didn’t take good enough care of her only daughter. Even after all this while, Summer doesn’t feel a sense of belonging to the family.

I knew that Summer must have wished to go back to the way things were before she found out that Jared was her biological father. Regardless, she could not help but put her walls up and distance herself from us. Knowing my daughter, doing so must have hurt her more than it did us. My heart ached at the thought.

Anthony had been peering at me time and again from the rearview mirror. I ignored him, still somewhat annoyed by the heavy-handed approach he had taken earlier when it came to Summer.

“Are you mad at me?” He broke the silence a while later.

I was not about to continue giving him the cold shoulder now that he gave me an opening. “Why didn’t you tell me if you knew Summer might have found out about her identity?” I blurted out in not exactly the friendliest tone. “You could’ve discussed it with me. Maybe there could’ve been a better way to do this.”

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