Chapter 269

“Be careful of Donald. He might have been taken by those people. Make sure your brother assigns you bodyguards,” Maelis said, her eyes filled with worry.

After hearing Maelis’s words, Zinnia’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She rose to her feet, ready to leave.

Maelis’s gaze followed Zinnia to the door, her hand hovering over the doorknob. Through the glass, Maelis saw Yannis waiting outside. “Zinnia,” she called, her voice trembling with emotion. Zinnia hesitated, her steps faltering at the sound of Maelis’s voice.

“I’m sorry. From now on, forget about me as your mother. I hope you never meet someone like me again,” Maelis said softly. Her gaze lingered affectionately on Zinnia’s slender and graceful figure.

She had grown up just as Maelis had always imagined, but Maelis hadn’t been the one to raise her. That was a debt she could never repay.

As a mother, she had failed Zinnia–perhaps even left her with psychological scars. With so little time left, Maelis just wanted to make up for it, even if only a little. For example, to heal the wounds caused by this so-called mother.

At the very least, she hoped Zinnia wouldn’t think all mothers were like her. She wanted her to believe there were other moms out there who would truly love her.

Hearing the sorrow and calm in Maelis’s voice, Zinnia felt a strange, indescribable pang in her chest. Zinnia didn’t turn around. “Serve your sentence well,” she said quietly. Her voice was steady, showing no emotion.

Leaving those words behind, she opened the door and walked out.

Maelis watched as Zinnia stood beside Yannis. He took her bag from her with practiced ease, his eyes full of concern. ‘Yannis is really good to her,’ Maelis thought.

As someone who had been through life’s ups and downs, she knew exactly what Yannis thought. ‘With Yannis protecting her, no one would dare bully her again,’ she mused.

The Perkins family stands by whoever they recognize. If Yannis protects her, her future will be smooth. Maelis gazed at Zinnia’s face, her eyes lingering, as if to forever remember Zinnia.

“What did she tell you?” Yannis asked, his voice laced with concern. Zinnia stepped out of the visiting room, letting out a heavy sigh as she tried to shake off the suffocating tightness in her chest.

“Let’s talk outside first,” she murmured. ‘I really don’t want to stay here any longer,’ Zinnia thought.

“Alright,” Yannis said gently. Noticing Zinnia was feeling down, Yannis rummaged through his bag, unwrapped a creamy milk candy, and handed it to her.

As the milky sweetness filled her mouth, Zinnia felt the heaviness in her heart lift a little. Zinnia and Yannis walked out together. “Wait here a moment,” Yannis said as they reached the car. He held the door open for Zinnia to get in first.

Zinnia wasn’t sure what he was up to, but she softly murmured, “Okay.”

Yannis watched as Zinnia picked at the pom-poms on her scarf, then quickly headed to a nearby juice stand. Zinnia didn’t have to wait long before the driver’s door opened, letting in a rush of cold air with a faint hint of mint.

She turned to see his slender, fair hand holding out a cup of orange juice. Seeing the orange juice, she reached out her hand, which was covered in tiny soft fibers from the pom-pom. She just held out her hand, not moving.

Amused, Yannis set the orange juice on the armrest and took out a wet wipe to clean her hand. “Little lazybones,” he teased.

Zinnia didn’t argue. Once the little fibers were wiped away, she picked up the orange juice from the armrest and started sipping.

Zinnia took a sip of her orange juice, trying to soothe the tightness in her chest before speaking softly. “Yannis, Maelis said a mysterious organization with skull insignias on their shoulders once approached Donald. She believes he might have been taken and hidden by them.”

“She also mentioned that someone had interrogated her before, asking about me. But she didn’t tell them anything,” Zinnia added.

Maelis did have some leads on Donald. She told Zinnia that when the Shaw family was surrounded by wolves and on the verge of bankruptcy, some mysterious people had approached Donald.

Maelis hadn’t known about this before; it was only when Donald begged for mercy and promised that if she let him go, he could revive the Shaw family and they could return to their old life, that she found out.

That was when Maelis learned the truth, but at the time, she was in a frenzied state and didn’t believe a word he said.

Later, on the day they were taken away by the police, Maelis strangled Donald half to death. A doctor gave her a sedative, and after she was sent to prison, Maelis became eerily calm.

It was only then that she heard from the police that Donald had gone missing. Maelis and her two sons were already in police custody, only Howard was still outside. Donald would never lay a hand on Howard.

She knew Donald all too well. Even she had once pinned all her resentment on Zinnia, so after being cuckolded for over a decade and suffering such humiliation, Donald must be desperate to see Zinnia dead.

Not long ago, someone interrogated Maelis, but the questions weren’t about her. They were all about Zinnia.

“What is she afraid of? What is she allergic to? Does she have anyone she cares about?” they asked.

Maelis instantly sensed something was wrong and pretended to be out of her mind, rambling nonsense. Besides, she barely knew anything about Zinnia in the first place. She’d never really paid attention to Zinnia.

It wasn’t until the interrogators left that Maelis calmed down and realized something was off. Worried Zinnia might be in danger, she begged the police to let her call Zinnia, hoping to warn her.

She couldn’t deny she wanted to see Zinnia, even if her daughter didn’t want to see her. But Zinnia refused to meet her. With no other choice, Maelis had to turn to Howard, asking him to find a way to arrange a meeting with Zinnia.

“Skull insignia?” Yannis’s heart skipped a beat as he heard the news.

‘If I remember correctly, the underground organization Nathan wiped out overseas used a skull as their insignia,’ Yannis thought, his expression turning grave.

‘Is she being targeted after all?’ A heavy sense of foreboding settled over him. ‘Looks like I need to find a way to contact Jackson. Foreign organizations wouldn’t target Donald without a reason.

‘I’d even considered that someone might have deliberately hidden Donald, but there was no evidence of any contact with overseas underground groups.

‘After all, we had only just learned about Zinnia’s connection to Nathan. How could anyone else possibly know about Zinnia and Nathan? No wonder we couldn’t find Donald. We’d been searching in all the wrong places from the start.

‘Since they’ve already approached Maelis, it means they must have infiltrated the prison too. Also, last time, Emily mentioned it felt like someone was tailing them. Now that I think about it, it must be related to the underground organization.

‘Their ranks are full of skilled operatives. If they could slip past Nathan, they’re definitely not underestimated. No wonder we’ve had no luck finding Donald,’ Yannis thought.