John? I pondered. That name sounds strangely familiar…
My eyes darted from him to the little girl standing just beside him. Realization dawned upon me.
John was a member of the Stanhope family and “Sienna”’s relative. I recalled briefly seeing him listed amongst the material that Anthony had given me. John had grown out his beard, which hindered me from recognizing him at first glance.
According to Anthony’s plan, I was to battle John in court over custody rights.
Why do I feel such an overwhelming surge of regret within me now? I wondered. The sight of John and the little girl standing next to each other caused an unspeakable ache in my heart.
I felt sorry for agreeing to Anthony, for using the pretense of “Sienna” to tear John and the little girl apart.
In the living room, John sat the girl down on the sofa facing me. He then placed the manila envelope he’d brought along with him on the table beside.
Before we’d entered, John had briefly announced, “I’m taking you with me.”
He seemed to be in a great hurry. Once the maid had brought us a round of water, John immediately broke the ice by saying frankly, “The Stanhope family and the Moore family have never given up on searching for you. To take care of the child, as well as to accumulate enough funds, we arranged to migrate. We’d even made the entire company move. It was all to no avail, however. That’s why I was only able to finally meet with you today.”
John sounded weary. He’d spoken calmly, but I could detect more than a hint of sorrow in his voice. In front of the child’s inquisitive eyes, however, John had to maintain his composure. He paused and took several long, deep breaths. Lowering his gaze for a while, John’s elegant fingers drumming furiously on the surface of the manila envelope as he contemplated how he should continue.
“I know you don’t remember anything. I’m here for you. Don’t worry about anything else. This envelope contains DNA proof of your relationship with Audrey, as well as a Share Transfer Agreement of half of Stanhope Corporation’s shares. When you return, you’ll be the second-largest major shareholder in Stanhope Corporation. Just focus on your own happiness for the rest of your life and leave the rest to me,” John finally declared.
Before I could respond, John exhaled, then turned towards the little girl. He took her hand gently, then led her over to me. “Audrey, this is your mommy,” he said tenderly.
Audrey bit her lip and looked at me uncertainly. She turned back to face John, who smiled at her encouragingly and gave her a nudge. Audrey turned back to look at me with an enormous beam on her face. “Mommy!” she called out with a sweet voice.
Audrey had initially appeared more cautious than Gregory had been at our first meeting. She seemed emboldened now by John’s affirmation that this was indeed her mommy. Audrey ran towards me as fast as her short legs could carry her and wrapped her stubby arms around my neck. Sobbing, she cried again, “Mommy! I missed you!”
Audrey spoke in Ustranasion, and even though I wasn’t fluent in the language, I was nonetheless moved by the earnestness with which Audrey cried. As she clung to my neck and wept, my heart broke. I, too, embraced her.
It was the oddest feeling. Just as I had when I’d hugged Gregory, I felt a sudden rush of tears now as I held Audrey’s small body in my arms.
After a long time, Audrey stopped crying. Both of us looked at each other, smiling despite our tear- stained faces.
Audrey’s resemblance to Anthony was uncanny. Their large, dark eyes were practically identical. The main difference, however, was that Audrey’s eyes were soft and gentle, without a trace of the ruthlessness in Anthony’s.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Audrey broke in, saying, “Mommy, it’s my birthday today. Are you going to spend it with me?”
She smiled winningly at me. However, I could see undercurrents of grief ripple beneath her sunny eyes.
As much as I did not want to cooperate with Anthony, I could not bring myself to refuse Audrey and shatter her heart.
Thus resolved, I swallowed the words that were on the tip of my tongue.
I reached out and ruffled her hair, saying, “Audrey, you haven’t met your brother, have you? Gregory will be coming back for lunch later. Do you want to go play in his room for a while? We’ll give Gregory a surprise when he comes home.”
“Sure!” Audrey bounced on her feet happily, clapping her hands in glee. “I have a brother! I want to meet my brother!”
I beckoned to the maid waiting to come over to clear the glasses of water, and gestured to Audrey, instructing, “Bring her to Mr. Gregory’s room.”
Excitedly, Audrey hopped over and took the maid’s hand, demurely allowing herself to be led upstairs to Gregory’s room.
I watched their departing figures until they had fully vanished upstairs, then turned back to gaze soberly at John. He looked a lot warmer and kinder than Anthony, but something about him raised my suspicions.
I vainly probed my memory in an attempt to uncover just what inspired my current feelings of uneasiness. In the face of John’s apparent sincerity, however, I found myself defenseless.
John and Anthony each maintained their respective versions of the truth. However, the identity Marcus had bestowed on me back then was clearly Carlette. My mind was in a whirlwind, uncertain of who I could trust.
“Don’t you trust me?” John persisted. His voice penetrated the fog of emotions in my head as if he could see right through my suspicion.
I felt strangely relieved that I no longer had to keep up my facade of confidence. I raised my head and met his eyes, saying gravely, “I’m sorry. I don’t think I have the capability to make a decision now.”
I shifted my gaze to the manila envelope on the table, then reached out to touch its smooth surface. I laughed awkwardly, then confessed, “To tell the truth, I’ve seen this DNA report more than three times already this month. It has outlined a different result every time. If even science can be as unreliable as all that, I really don’t know who I can trust.”
John was silent for a moment. He looked down, his nails digging into the flesh of his thighs. In a low voice, he muttered, “You’re blaming me.”
John’s words pierced my heart like a knife.
I had decided to trust Anthony’s claim that I wasn’t Sienna, largely because I could not bear to face the fact that my family had utterly abandoned Sienna for six whole years.
One could blame it on either mishap or mistake, but didn’t that mean that our familial ties couldn’t even endure a hurdle like that?
Having lost my memory, I felt as if I was spending every waking moment on thin ice, not knowing whether my next step would be fatal. On the bright side, if one could call it that, any loss would mean absolutely nothing to me. Without any ties whatsoever, I was completely at liberty to do anything, or go anywhere I pleased.
Whether I was Sienna or Carlette, I had been reborn. I no longer had any earthly attachments, nor was I under any obligation to forgive anyone.
I thus replied mildly, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to deal with this at the moment.”
John appeared devastated. Looking into his dark, troubled eyes, I added, “If I’m really Gregory and Audrey’s mother, however, I hope you will leave her with me. I’m thankful to you for having looked after her for so long, but raising her is my responsibility, after all. I don’t want to trouble you any further.”
“Trouble?” John blanched. He gave me a long, hard look, then said tersely, “I won’t leave either Audrey or you here. Now that I’m here, I’m taking you along with me.”
Are all of Sienna’s friends and family that domineering? I thought in despair.
I shrugged, then shook my head helplessly at John. “I’m sorry, but I can’t go with you.”
“You can’t go with me? Then, who did you intend to go with? Were you planning on staying here with Anthony instead, that pathetic excuse of a man?” John demanded, his voice trembling with agitation.
Without waiting for my reply, John turned towards the stairs and bellowed, “Audrey, get down here now!”
When Audrey heard John’s roar of rage, she raced out of the room and stood uncertainly at the top of the stairs. She was clutching a photo of Gregory tightly in one hand. In a meek voice, she ventured, “Uncle John, did you call me?”
Without saying a word, John bolted up the stairs two steps at a time. He swept Audrey up in his arms, then stormed downstairs. When they passed by me, John seized my arm and hauled me out together with them. “Follow me!” he commanded brusquely.
I hurried along with him. At the door, however, we almost collided headlong with an incoming Anthony.
The eyes of the two men met. I could almost feel the air crackling between them, charged with tension as it was. My hair stood on end.
Joseph followed behind Anthony, panting heavily. Both of them looked as if they had hurried over immediately after receiving the news.
Everyone froze. After a few moments, Anthony coldly surveyed our ensemble. His gaze landed on John’s hand, maintaining its tight grip on mine, and lingered. Without betraying any hint of emotion, Anthony said coolly, “Wasn’t it enough for you to take Audrey away? You had to come back and take Sienna too, hadn’t you? Did you think I’d stand idly by and let you do that?”
John laughed in derision. Narrowing his eyes, John looked at Anthony with evident contempt.
Anthony, however, did not take the bait. He slowly shifted his gaze to Audrey, who was still perched on John’s arms. Anthony’s gaze softened. Gently, he cooed, “Audrey!”
Audrey’s face burst into an expression of rapturous joy. Squirming in John’s arms, she proclaimed, “Mr. Featherstone, you’re so handsome!”
We were all rather nonplussed by Audrey’s sudden confession. Bemused, I reflected, Is this really the best time to be talking about looks?
The charged atmosphere was abruptly reduced to a state of awkwardness.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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