Can’t Win Me Back by Ginger Sue

Chapter 2460

Chapter 2460

The hospital ward grew heavy with silence.

Mandy and Neil stared at Alyssa, stunned beyond words.

"M-Ms. Alyssa, you knew that man was Mr. Damien?" Neil asked, disbelief etched into his voice.

"Yes." Alyssa's reply was quiet, her lips pressed into a thin line. She lowered her gaze, her voice barely above a whisper. "We found out when Cyrus took Damien's cigarette butt for a paternity test."

Mandy approached Alyssa, her shoulders trembling slightly.

"So, you and Cyrus knew... and you both kept it from me?" Mandy said, her voice catching in her throat, tears welling up.

Alyssa felt a sharp pang in her chest. "Mandy, I'm sorry. It was my decision. Cyrus had nothing to do with it."

Mandy's tears fell freely now, her grief spilling out in raw sobs. "Do you know what it's been like for me all these years, thinking Damien was gone? Winston, Miley, Lyla, and Colene kept telling me to move on. I tried to accept that he was dead, that we'd never find his body. But I never did."

Her voice broke. "Night after night, I'd dream of Damien, drenched to the bone, standing there. 'Mom... the water's freezing...' he'd say, again and again."

Neil sighed deeply, his heart heavy. Alyssa's hands trembled as guilt gnawed at her.

Uncontrollable tears flowed down Mandy's cheeks, her eyes burning with grief and resentment. "Lyse, you knew everything, and you hid it from me. Didn't you think about how selfish that was? How unfair, how cruel?"

This outburst, these harsh words, was unprecedented from Mandy, who loved Alyssa like her own child.

than her own child. But the intense pain she was experiencing now made

out again, her voice strained with

I completely understand how you feel." Neil stepped forward, unable to watch Alyssa take the blame alone. "Mrs. Taylor, you've watched Ms. Alyssa grow up. You know

hard, her voice shaky. "Mandy, Damien's in

Mandy froze.

He's being manipulated, a pawn in someone else's game. And the person pulling the strings could easily dispose of him if

was afraid that revealing his identity would put him in immediate danger-either by losing the manipulator's trust or by direct retaliation. That's why I kept it from you and Dad. I knew how much you both love him, and I was afraid you

with worry, her tear-filled

I can't say. It's

Her voice was laced with fear. "If this mastermind needs Damien for something, why

information. Damien hadn't regained his memory yet, and Justin was short on reliable men. So

be trying to eliminate Damien to

complexity of the

her own worries, attempted to comfort Mandy. "Mandy, try not to fret. Damien is different

resilient. No one can just hurt

Do you even know that when I took him to the hospital, the doctor

emotion. Alyssa immediately moved to her side, gently patting her back to

took me so long to meet with Damien again. I

This time, I

Mandy's cell

fell to the screen, where a blinking red dot moved steadily southward across the

asked,

Damien's phone while he was

silently grateful for