Chapter 203 - 202: Can Belated Deep Love Truly Be Forgiven?

Chapter 203: Chapter 202: Can Belated Deep Love Truly Be Forgiven?

"I knew from the very beginning. He was wary of everyone. Now he wants to clean house, eliminating them one by one..." Mrs. Fletcher muttered to herself.

I could see the veins on her temple throbbing as she suppressed her rage.

"Six o’clock, The Coastline Restaurant. Come see me. We’ll discuss new terms. If you don’t show up, don’t blame me for what happens next." Mrs. Fletcher was giving me an ultimatum.

After her car left, I turned and ran to a nearby trash can, rummaging for the envelope Asher had just thrown away. It contained the photos from Erin Whittaker.

Asher had already torn the photos to shreds, but I managed to piece them back together, bit by bit.

The photos were proof that Silvia Lynch had met with Victor Quinn.

They had been taken when Silvia Lynch and Howard Finch were secretly meeting with Victor Quinn.

There was also an image of Silvia Lynch taking a homeless child to meet a stranger.

’Wait... He’s not a stranger.’

My breath hitched as I pieced the photos together as best I could.

The man Silvia Lynch had taken the homeless child to see... was the second victim in the dismemberment case.

He was also supposedly in the import-export trade.

’Considering Mrs. Fletcher’s threat to "face the consequences"... it seems Silvia Lynch’s identity really isn’t as simple as I thought.’

...

「Six p.m.」

I arrived at The Coastline Restaurant early, but Mrs. Fletcher was already there. She seemed to have been waiting for some time.

Mrs. Fletcher was the quintessential powerhouse. My mother used to mention her often, saying that she single-handedly propped up the entire Fletcher Family, while her husband, Julian Fletcher’s father, was a husband in name only.

Mrs. Fletcher was a pitiful woman in her own right. She was in a "widowed" marriage; after Julian was born, Mr. Fletcher was almost never home. In all my years with the Fletcher family, I could count the number of times I’d seen her husband on one hand.

"How much did Victor Quinn pay you to imitate Cecilia Caldwell, get close to Sebastian Lancaster, and manipulate him into selling off the Lancaster Group to ruin the Lancaster Family?" Mrs. Fletcher asked coolly. "Is our Fletcher Family next?"

I froze. Instead of refuting her, I tried to process what she’d just said.

’She thinks I’m working for Victor Quinn. That he deliberately sent me to get close to Sebastian Lancaster and Julian Fletcher.’

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about," I said in a low voice.

’The Fletchers, the Lancasters... why does Victor Quinn want to eliminate both families?’

"There’s no need to play coy, Silvia Lynch. I wouldn’t have sought you out if I hadn’t done a thorough investigation. Did you really think I was on vacation all this time?" Mrs. Fletcher scoffed. "Victor Quinn has eliminated everyone he needed to. Does he really think I’m just going to sit back and wait for my turn?"

My brow furrowed, but I said nothing.

"I’ve investigated you. Do you know why you look so much like Cecilia Caldwell?" Mrs. Fletcher asked casually. "Do you know why he chose you to impersonate her? Because, in a way, you and Cecilia have identical genes."

I stared at Mrs. Fletcher in shock. "What do you mean?"

Mrs. Fletcher took a sip of her wine, a slight smile playing on her lips. "In exchange for this secret, you need to tell me what Victor Quinn offered you."

My head started to ache. I knew nothing about a deal between Silvia Lynch and Victor Quinn. "All I can say is... I don’t remember. But a classmate of mine, Chadwick Finch, once mentioned that a ’sir’ had us do certain things..."

’I don’t know if that ’sir’ was Victor Quinn.’

"Most likely, Victor Quinn has some kind of hold on you," Mrs. Fletcher said gravely. "That’s just like him. I figured he’d brainwash you, then use hypnosis to implant Cecilia Caldwell’s memories so that when you woke up, you’d believe you were her."

Mrs. Fletcher murmured, "The man is a complete lunatic."

I remained silent, my mind racing to understand what Mrs. Fletcher meant by ’identical genes’.

"Jude Lynch’s wife is unable to have children, and Jude Lynch himself has congenital azoospermia. In other words, it’s impossible for the two of them to have biological children in the traditional sense," Mrs. Fletcher explained quietly, her eyes fixed on me.

I stared at Mrs. Fletcher, stunned. ’So, Silvia Lynch wasn’t their biological daughter either?’

"Back then, Jude Lynch and his wife begged Cecilia Caldwell’s mother to help them have a child. Cecilia’s mother performed in vitro fertilization for Mrs. Lynch, transplanting an embryo. That embryo... was genetically identical to Cecilia’s," Mrs. Fletcher said with a frown.

"For now, that’s all I know."

She only knew that Cecilia and Silvia both came from a batch of experimental embryos frozen in a lab. Cecilia’s mother had only mentioned in passing that it was because their source genes were identical.

"After I married Sebastian Lancaster, Victor Quinn never had anyone contact me or order me to do anything. Everything that’s happened... it’s all been natural. Whether you believe me or not, Julian Fletcher’s suicide attempts have very little to do with me," I tried to explain.

Clearly, Mrs. Fletcher didn’t trust me.

"I know you’re short on money, and I know Victor Quinn is using those homeless children to threaten you. This card has three million in it. You only need to agree to one request, and I will pay you a handsome sum every three months," Mrs. Fletcher said, her gaze burning into me.

I frowned, watching Mrs. Fletcher with suspicion.

’Just as I thought. She knows far too much...’

’Considering the Angel Fund was established by the Fletcher Family, there must be some kind of connection between Mrs. Fletcher, Victor Quinn, my parents, and even the Lancaster Family.’

’No, now the Lynn Family is involved too.’

’Jude Lynch and his wife...’

’So that’s it. They couldn’t have a biological daughter of their own. Silvia Lynch was an IVF baby whose genes weren’t theirs. They just wanted a child, so they didn’t care if she was swapped by a nanny, replaced, or had wandered off somewhere.’

’That would explain the Lynn couple’s indifference, coldness, and how they exploited Silvia.’

’On one hand, there was a daughter with no blood relation. On the other, there was Noelle Lynch, whom they had raised for eighteen years. Of course they’d favor Noelle.’

’As for why Silvia Lynch and Cecilia Caldwell’s genes are identical... they came from the same batch of embryos. Does that mean, biologically speaking, they’re sisters?’

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, looking at Mrs. Fletcher.

"Divorce Sebastian Lancaster, stay by my son’s side, and continue pretending to be Cecilia Caldwell." Mrs. Fletcher slid the card across the table to me.

’She wants me to keep pretending to be Cecilia and stay with her son.’

"Why? You think I’m working for Victor Quinn," I said, unable to comprehend her logic.

Mrs. Fletcher’s brow furrowed, and she let out a bitter laugh. "It’s karmic retribution..."

"After Cece died, my boy went insane... He’s nothing like his father. I never imagined he could be so devoted to someone. I used to think he was just as cold, aloof, and foolish as his father."

Mrs. Fletcher continued, her tone laced with scorn. "But after Cece died, he completely lost it. He locked himself in his room, refused to eat or drink, and just kept hurting himself."

"I’d never seen him like that... Desperate, regretful, completely unhinged..."

’Julian’s behavior must have terrified her, too.’

"I had people force him to eat, but he threw it all up. He said... he said he didn’t know Cece loved him, and that he regretted everything."

Julian had never believed Cecilia loved him.

He didn’t know Cecilia had been pregnant.

He was so full of regret he could barely breathe.

"He wants to die. He says he’ll be able to see Cecilia once he’s dead." Mrs. Fletcher’s hands clenched into fists. "My son, falling in love with an experimental subject... It must be fate."

Mrs. Fletcher muttered under her breath.

I looked up at her, my gaze guarded.

’She knows about the experimental subjects, too...’

"After punishing himself listlessly for a few days, he started self-harming. I had no other choice, so I went to Victor Quinn, hoping he could help my son move on... I had no idea that was the beginning of Victor’s scheme." Mrs. Fletcher gritted her teeth. "He must have filled my son’s head with some nonsense, convincing him that Cecilia is still alive..."

"He really... tried to kill himself?" I was skeptical. ’Would someone like Julian Fletcher really try to kill himself and self-harm out of guilt?’

"The first time, he slit his wrists. The second time, after slitting his wrists, he also tried to drown himself in the bathtub. He kept saying... ’I wonder how much it hurt for Cece’... He said Cecilia was afraid of the dark, and he wanted to go be with her..."

"The third time, he starved himself to the brink of death."

"And the fourth time—this most recent time... he slit his wrists in Cecilia’s room. One cut horizontally, and one vertically..."

Julian Fletcher is still in a coma.

They were able to save him.

But no one knows when he’ll wake up...

"This is a letter he had the maid give to Cecilia before... this happened." Mrs. Fletcher gave a cold smile and pushed the letter toward me. "Consider this a mother’s sincere plea. I’m begging you to put on an act for me, even if it’s just to lie to him..."

"I just want him to live." Mrs. Fletcher’s voice choked with emotion. ’She’s actually begging me...’

’Begging me to help Julian Fletcher.’

’Even if it means just putting on an act, going back to his side, and lying to him.’

(To my dear readers: I know many of you feel the story is a bit wordy and the plot is moving slowly, right? My dears, because this is a first-person romantic suspense story, I have to describe the details with extreme care in order to build up to the final reveal. This ensures the truth is well-supported and allows all of you to have fun imagining, guessing, and trying to solve the mystery! *cries* You have to trust me—not a single plot point is unnecessary. They all have a purpose, especially the details I’ve emphasized multiple times. Those are definitely important clues.)