?Chapter 2879:


    He gestured toward the bowl in her hands. She had drifted off, lost in thought, forgetting to feed him.


    “Oh.” She blinked, picking up the spoon again. A faint sigh escaped her.


    “I wonder if Joy has eaten…”


    Eric exhaled quietly, his tone soothing.


    “Since we found her once, I’m sure we’ll hear something soon. She might not have much with those mountain folk, but at least she won’t starve.”


    “Yes, you’re right.” Hadley nodded faintly.


    “And Locke…”


    Eric’s expression darkened. When he found Joy, Locke hadn’t been there. Were they still together—or had they been separated and sold to different people?


    Far away in the mountains stood an abandoned house, its silence broken by a couple sitting in the main room. The wife focused on preparing a meal, while the husband puffed on a cigarette, muttering with frustration, “This mess is on you. I told you before—we only needed a boy. We never should have taken that girl!”


    In those remote hills, a boy was the key to keeping a family name alive, and buying one wasn’t umon for those who couldn’t have their own.


    “My fault?” The wife had never been good at holding her tongue.


    “Weren’t you the one who demanded we get a boy no matter what?”


    The truth was, the seller had only onest boy to offer, and the boy wouldn’t let go of the little girl with him.


    “I said we could wait, but you wouldn’t hear of it!”


    Locke had clung to Joy with all his strength back then.


    “I’m staying with Joy! No one will tear us apart!”


    In the end, the couple had no choice but to pay for both children.


    “Because of you, we’ve spent too much!” Her voice rang with fury as she scolded him.


    “And now, because of that girl, we’re being chased and can’t even return to our own home!”


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    He remained silent, puffing on his cigarette.


    After a tense pause, he finally spoke.


    “Maybe it’s time we figure out how to get rid of her.”


    A memory surfaced.


    “That man from the city kept yelling her name—Joy…”


    He remembered Locke calling her the same.


    “It has to be her father searching for her,” he said.


    “That city man isn’t someone to cross. Keeping her will drag us into deeper trouble!”


    “Get rid of her?” The woman’s eyes widened in shock.


    “But we paid for that child as well!”


    Even if she wasn’t the boy they wanted.


    “Does money mean anything now? If you hold on to that girl, you might end up losing the boy, too!”


    “You’re right.” Fear flickered across her face as she swallowed hard. ncing inside, she whispered, “How… how do we get rid of her?”


    For several days now, the boy had clung to Joy as if letting go would tear his world apart.


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