Chapter 136
Daniel forced a smile. “Mrs. Kingsley.”
Daniel, once the epitome of striking and noble character, now stood gaunt and haggard. Amelia wondered if Daniel ran into trouble getting the engagement gifts list back in Lunova. Amelia’s heart churned with conflicting emotions. Daniel was her half-brother, yet she didn’t dare to acknowledge him right away. She thought, ‘What if both the Zuckerberg and Hughes families want nothing to do with me?’
“I’ve brought the engagement gifts list; Mr. Kingsley has looked it over. As for the Amber Vase… I’d appreciate it if you could part with it,” Daniel said politely.
Amelia turned her gaze to Landon.
“Honey, come here,” Landon said with a gentle smile.
Amelia walked over and sat beside him. The sofa armrest touched the wheelchair, practically putting the two of them side by side.
“Mr. Zuckerberg is telling the truth, and he’s willing to pay a high price to buy back the Amber Vase. What do you think?” Landon whispered, seeking her opinion.
The tension in the air had built to its peak. This was the perfect moment for the siblings to finally acknowledge each other. But whether to acknowledge Daniel or not, the decision was hers to make.
“Mrs. Kingsley, besides offering a generous repurchase price, I can also sweeten the deal,” Daniel said nervously.
Daniel thought, ‘If they refuse to let me have it, do I really have to use force? I kind of don’t want to.’ Amelia missed her late mother deeply. Daniel thought that using force to take anything from her would only break her heart. Even though he’d only met her a few times, he didn’t want to hurt her.
Amelia’s fingers subconsciously tightened on her pant leg. “Mr. Zuckerberg, I’d like to hear about your mother’s story.”
Amelia wanted to know what her mother went through before she became mentally ill and ended up in Pinecrest. She wanted to see if that experience was worth telling Daniel the truth.
Daniel’s eyes clouded with pain, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper. “Family matters are not for outsiders to know.”
Amelia’s heart clenched as she blurted out, “Why?”
“Mrs. Kingsley, are you… really that curious?”
“Yes.” Amelia nodded firmly. “If Mr. Zuckerberg is willing to be completely honest, the Amber Vase is yours, no strings attached.”
If he wasn’t honest, then Amelia wouldn’t sell it to him.
Daniel hesitated, frowning. He thought, ‘If I reveal all this family mess, won’t it make us a laughingstock? But compared to the Amber Vase…”
Chapter 136
After much deliberation, the scales of Daniel’s heart finally tipped toward his birth mother. Maybe the Amber Vase could lead him to news about his mother. Even if it meant getting kicked out of the Zuckerberg family, that was a price he was willing to pay.
Daniel took a deep breath and began to recount the extraordinary life of Catherine.
“It’s a long story. My mother, Catherine, was the beloved youngest daughter of the Hughes family. At eighteen, she met my father through her parents' arrangement. They fell in love at first sight and married soon after.
“The extravagance of the wedding back then could be glimpsed from the engagement gifts list alone. But the good times didn’t last. When I was three, my father started having an affair. From then on, they were trapped in endless arguments.
“My mother was so heartbroken that her mental state gradually deteriorated. In the end, she couldn’t even leave the house, let alone fulfill her duties as the matriarch of the Zuckerberg family.
“My father brought Joanna into our home and let her take charge of the household affairs. That was the final straw that broke my mother. She ran away from home.
“The Zuckerberg and Hughes families searched everywhere for my mother, but eventually declared her dead, and even held a funeral.
“Back then, I was just a kid. I really thought my mother was dead. It wasn’t until six months ago that I found out she’d actually taken a few of the most valuable antiques from her engagement gifts with her.
“How could a mentally ill person possibly know to take those valuables with her?
“Thus, I began to search for my mother secretly. Then one day, by chance, I managed to reacquire an antique from her engagement gifts, and that finally led me to Pinecrest. Well, you know the rest.”
Daniel’s usually clear, resolute eyes shimmered with unshed tears. The antiques from the engagement gifts list had turned up one by one, but he still didn’t have his mother’s whereabouts.
After hearing his story, both Amelia and Landon fell silent. The Zuckerberg family, like all prominent families, had their share of skeletons in the closet, and Daniel likely didn’t know the full story. Otherwise, why would the Zuckerberg and Hughes families agree that Catherine was dead when they couldn’t even find her?
Landon recalled what Walter had said about him raising someone else’s child all along. Landon thought, ‘Could it be that Catherine fled the Zuckerberg family while pregnant back then? But the timeline doesn’t add up.
‘Amelia has just turned twenty, making her over four years younger than Daniel. This indicates that Catherine wasn’t pregnant when she left the Zuckerberg family. Then whose child is Amelia?’
Unable to bear seeing Daniel so upset, Amelia clutched Landon’s hand tightly. “Honey, tell him.”
“Okay.” Landon pulled out a photo of Debra and asked Daniel, “Do you recognize her?”
Daniel blurted out, “Mom…”
“This is Debra, Amelia’s mother,” Landon said.
Daniel shot to his feet, unusually agitated. “No way. That’s my mother. I remember her face. I have her photo… Wait a second.”
He stopped short, staring at Amelia in disbelief. It just hit him that Amelia’s face had his mother’s unmistakable features.
Chapter 136
“You–you…” Daniel pointed at Amelia, his face shifting from joy to overwhelming grief. He thought, ‘Debra is dead. If Amelia really is my sister, then… Mom is gone forever!’
Amelia struggled to get the words out. “If you want, let’s do a DNA test.”
Daniel stared at her for a long moment before finally nodding, “Alright.”
That same day, Landon had Wesley arrange for them to undergo DNA testing. Maybe the shock was just too much, Daniel fell completely silent. Daniel’s silence left Amelia so heartbroken that she almost gave up on acknowledging him as family.
“Give him some time,” Landon comforted softly. “I think he just can’t accept that Catherine is gone.”
“Mm,” Amelia murmured, her eyes red-rimmed with unshed tears.
There was another reason why Amelia was sad. Given the age gap, there was no way she could be from the Zuckerberg family. From Daniel’s perspective, his father cheated, and then even his mother left to be with someone else.
Amelia thought, ‘Maybe Daniel can’t accept that fact. Yet, he couldn’t really let his mentally unstable mother wander the world all alone, could he?
‘With Catherine’s looks, she’d be easy prey no matter where she wandered. And with those treasures she carried, she could’ve been killed at any moment.’
Lost in a whirlwind of thoughts, Amelia realized for the first time since her second chance in life that maybe Walter didn’t seem quite as terrible after all. At least he took her mother in and gave her a home, even if it was one built on lies. And Amelia came into being because of their union.
Amelia’s heart churned with emotions so tangled she couldn’t tell one feeling from another.
“Walter isn’t a good man,” Landon said. “But those years might have been the most peaceful time your mother ever knew.”
“Yeah,” Amelia responded.
“And what’s more, you’re not Walter’s daughter.”
Amelia’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with shock, and her heart skipped a beat. “What?”
Landon sighed heavily. “I visited Walter in prison. He told me himself.”
“Then, whose child am I?”
Amelia was completely lost. She thought, ‘I’m not from the Zuckerberg family, nor the Edwards family. Then who am I? How did I even come into this world?’
“Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of it. Besides, it doesn’t even matter,” Landon said, squeezing her hand tightly. “Just remember, you’re Mrs. Kingsley now.”
Tears streamed down Amelia’s face uncontrollably. Stifling a sob, Amelia sank to her knees and buried her face in Landon’s chest.
Chapter 136
She wondered, ‘Who on earth am I?’