The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

Chapter 465

Hilda had sent Vernon to investigate Mirage Cay, but he came back empty- handed.

She didn't dare dwell on how her daughter had managed to survive that island-a place that chewed people up and spat them out.

For days now, Hilda hadn't slept. The moment she closed her eyes, her mind conjured up images of Citrine struggling to survive on Mirage Cay. Sometimes, she even thought she could hear her daughter's desperate, helpless cries for help.

Saunders Manor.

That afternoon, Monica Wade and her brother dropped by the old family home to visit Inez and Herschel. The four of them sat down to dinner together.

Nathalie, knowing the siblings were coming, had gone out of her way to prepare several extra dishes each one a favorite of theirs.

Wade was shoveling food onto his fork, pausing only to exclaim, "Nathalie, this roast chicken is incredible! Honestly, it's like you read my mind and made exactly what I wanted."

Nothing made Nathalie happier than having her cooking praised.

Her grin stretched from ear to ear as she replied, "Young master, your compliments are too sweet."

"Nathalie, I heard you visited Hilda's new place the other day.

a month since Hilda last came

looked at Nathalie as well. “That's right. Is Hilda eating well? Sleeping alright? She's not staying up too late,

for

She spent the whole day cooking with me, and she

stared in disbelief. “Cooking? Hilda? That girl always

by Herschel and the Wade siblings. All four paused mid- bite,

frowned. "Did she actually

never thought I'd see the day Aunt Hilda set foot in a kitchen." She tried to imagine those hands, usually so comfortable holding a

mind?" The thought of her cooking

laugh at

been just as

completely

chuckling.

a dish wasn't

I've never seen her so determined-she even burned her

tight with worry. "She burned herself? Was it