The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

Chapter 549

At that moment, everyone in the Saunders family was sitting in stony silence, their faces drawn and pale. Beneath the shock and disbelief in their eyes, there was a deep well of worry and heartbreak.

Monica and Wade stared down at the floor, looking ghostly white.

Only now did Monica truly understand what Hilda had meant.

It really was too cruel-asking someone who was already drowning in their own pain to empathize with someone else's suffering.

Especially when her own sister had endured even worse.

An eleven-year-old child, sent away to a place like that... No one really knew how she'd survived.

But everyone understood, in their hearts, that Citrine must have gone through unimaginable hardship just to stay alive.

After a long, heavy silence, Hilda finally spoke, her voice thick with guilt. "If I'd just watched Citrine more closely back then, the nanny wouldn't have taken her. She wouldn't have suffered at the Iversons', and she never would have ended up at Mirage Cay. This is all my fault-I failed her."

The Saunders family looked at Hilda, wanting to comfort her, but none of them could find the words. The same bitter regret weighed on every heart in the room.

Verona Heights.

rolled up his sleeves and cooked a full dinner

for the meal, but just as he walked into

Sawyer hurried over to grab

Citrine's," Sawyer said, glancing at the phone on the

about to put it back down when a new message popped up on

screen.

the other day. I shouldn't have meddled and tried to force you to empathize with Aunt

since learning Hilda was Citrine's biological mother, Raymond had thoroughly investigated the

moment he saw Monica's name

called over the housekeeper. "Could you go wake Citrine and

grabbed his coat

from Verona

arrived, the entire Saunders family was gathered in the

surprise to see

father. Now everyone knew Raymond was Citrine's father-the man Hilda had had a

a mistake and that neither she nor Raymond had known the truth back then.

the contrary, after hearing from Hilda

found themselves

Herschel and Inez nodded to each other before Herschel called out,