Chapter 259 The Price They Owed


    Eddie stared at Abraham in disbelief. “If he’s still alive… then why hasn’t hee back to find Marie after all these years?”


    Abraham said nothing.


    For a moment, a dark shadow flickered through his eyes


    In the room upstairs-


    The call Ste answered was from an unfamiliar number. It was Susan <b>again</b>, having borrowed yet another phone to reach


    <b>her</b>.


    God knew <b>how </b>many phones the Reed family had borrowed by now, since their own numbers had already been blocked. Over the line, Susan’s hysterical shrieks filled Ste’s ears. “That’s your real brother! How could you be so heartless!” “Ste, is your heart made of stone? How could you be so cold? You destroyed your own brother’s hands–you–your”


    Susan’s anger almost made her faint again.


    The moment the call connected, she went insane, bombarding Ste with endless usations.


    Ste’s eyes narrowed. “How would you <b>know </b>if my heart is made of stone? You never tried warming it.”


    People said that a heart like stone could never be warmed.


    But her heart- The Reed family had never even tried.


    They <b>hadn’t </b>warmed it-


    “You” Susan choked


    they had only shown her, from beginning to end, that blood ties could be colder than anything


    Ste said coldly, Jonathan knows very well why he lost his hands.”


    “Ste“” Susan screamed,pletely losing it.


    <b>“</b>And after Lilian was sent overseas,” Ste continued calmly, he didn’t just stop.


    <b>Madam </b><b>Susan</b>, you knew, didn’t <b>you</b><b>?</b><b>” </b>


    Susan’s breathing stuttered.


    “What are you saying?”


    “I almost got kidnapped <b>once</b><b>. </b>You said I was <b>paranoid</b>. But deep down, you knew it was Jonathan’s doing. You just wanted to


    cover for him.


    Her voice was light.


    But the words she spoke-


    They made Susan suck in a <b>sharp</b>, audible breath on the other end.


    “You… you actually knew?”


    Ste caught the slip immediately.


    Ste let out a softugh. “Honestly, it’s no surprise. If you’re willing to defend an adopted daughter like Lilian that blindly. why wouldn’t you do even more for your own son?”


    Susan protested. “No, that time he was just… confused. I scolded him afterward, I really-


    “If I had been sessfully kidnapped that day, what would’ve happened to me?”


    Susan’s justifications made Ste’s skin crawl.


    What a great excuse — you scolded <i>him</i>. What was he, a three–year–old child<i>? </i>


    “He tried more than once. Ste said coldly. “Did you ‘scold‘ him each time?”


    Susan’s breathing grew more and more erratic.


    Ste pressed on. “And when I called the police… you used your influence to shut down the investigation, didn’t you?”


    The phone line went silent.


    Dead silent.


    “And after all that, you still expect me to speak up for him? <b>Save </b>the hands that should’ve been broken long ago?”


    Those hands should’ve been broken a long time ago


    In fact they had been broken once before.


    After Ste realized the police weren’t going to follow through, she had taken matters into her own hands.


    That very night, when Jonathan stumbled drunk out of a bar, she had dragged a sack over his head and broken his hands with a baseball bat


    Back then, before she left Fleule, she had been Abraham’s sheltered little girl.


    But after surviving the disaster with the Sheng family after leaving Fleule she had grown up


    fast


    She had shed all her softness and taught herself to be strong. At least until Abraham could find her again, she had to protect


    herself.


    And she had done it.


    Every person who hurt her–She had stabbed back.


    Susan wailed. “Even if he made mistakes, he didn’t actually hurt you! I stopped him! You weren’t really harmed“”


    <b>Ste </bughed coldly. “So in your eyes, I’m the one <b>who’s </b>always <b>wrong</b>? I’m the one who’s annoying?”


    Susan couldn’t answer.


    “I just wanted all of us to get along, Susan cried. I tried so hard to bnce everything Now Lilian can’t get treatment, your brother’s lost his hands, thepany’s copsing- Is this what you wanted? Is this the price you’re making us pay? Ste. what else <b>do </b><b>you </b>want from us?”


    <b>Susan </b>screamed hysterically.


    Listening to her, Ste realized even <b>now</b>, even after everything–Susan still believed she <b>had </b>done nothing wrong.


    And this woman… was supposed to be my mother.


    How ridiculous