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.

a

for the meal, but just as he walked

it was his own, Sawyer hurried over to grab

phone on the table. It wasn't his

was about to put it back down when a new message popped

screen.

have said those things the other day. I

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

he saw Monica's name and read the message-his

hurried into the kitchen and called over the housekeeper. "Could you go wake Citrine and tell her dinner's

Raymond grabbed his coat

Verona

family was

see

had already told her family everything about Citrine-including the truth about her real father. Now everyone knew Raymond was Citrine's father-the man

it clear to her parents that it had all been a mistake and that neither she nor Raymond had known the truth back then. As a result, Herschel and¶nez didn't blame Raymond

from Hilda how well this man

found

exchanging a glance, Herschel and Inez nodded to each other before Herschel called out, "Let's get some tea ready for our