Chapter 275 The Truth
Eloise dashed downstairs and quietly trailed Clio to the back door.
Clio must've heard something because she glanced back, and Eloise ducked behind a bush.
The wooden door creaked open.
Eloise could barely make out Clio talking to another woman.
Eloise stepped out from her hiding spot and stood in front of them.
Clio looked startled to see her.
The woman with Clio tugged her sleeve and said, "Clio, chill. Ms. Thomas won't rat us out."
Eloise frowned and asked, "Clio, who is this? Why are you sneaking around with her?"
Clio looked down and said, "Ms. Thomas, I was going to tell you. But I thought it might be better not to bother you with this."
Eloise's curiosity piqued, "What's going on? Do you need my help?"
Clio shook her head, "No, Ms. Thomas, I've helped Hestia get everything ready. She's leaving Aurora Bay today and won't be back."
Eloise looked at the woman by the door. No wonder she seemed familiar—it was Mary's maid, Hestia.
Eloise said, "Hestia, weren't you at the Thomas Mansion? I get it now. Mary passed away, and you don't want to stay there with all those memories. You want to leave that sad place, right?"
Hestia's eyes welled up, and she grabbed Eloise's hand, "Ms. Thomas, I took money to keep a secret. But I can't live with myself without telling you."
Eloise looked confused.
Tears streaming down her face, Hestia said, "Ms. Thomas, Mrs. Thomas is actually your real mother!"
Eloise's eyes widened, and Clio held her up to keep her from collapsing.
Hestia continued, "Ms. Thomas, Mrs. Thomas was scared to shock you, so she never told you. For years, she suffered being apart from you. She could only be kind to you from a distance, waiting for you to recover."
"That day, Mrs. Thomas didn't fall down the stairs by accident. Someone pushed her, and she hit her head, which killed her. Before she died, she called Elizabeth and said she knew about Nolan's parentage. She had the paternity test report for Nolan and Michael. But after she died, the report vanished. Someone didn't want it to come out, so they killed her."
Eloise was stunned by the news and stood there, dazed.
Clio, worried she might relapse, handed a bag to Hestia, "Hestia, take this and go. Don't come back."
Hestia nodded and leaned in to whisper to Eloise, "Ms. Thomas, don't tell anyone what I said, especially those at the old house. You're still weak and can't avenge your mother yet. Keep this secret to stay safe. When you're stronger..."
Voices came from inside the villa.
Clio quickly pushed her, "Go! Don't let anyone else see you!"
Hestia clutched the bag and hurried away.
Clio shut the back door and helped the shaken Eloise back to her room.
At breakfast, Eloise sat at the table, lost in thought, while Michael kept glancing at her.
Usually, she'd notice his looks and flash him a sweet smile. But today, she just furrowed her brows and picked at her food.
After breakfast, Michael didn't head straight to work. Instead, he followed Eloise back to her room and closed the door behind them.
Seeing this, Eloise quickly moved to his side.
Before Michael could ask what was up, Eloise grabbed his hand and blurted out, "Michael, is Mary my mom?"
Michael was taken aback.
Eloise's odd behavior made sense now—someone must've told her something. But now wasn't the time to figure out who.
He nodded, "Yeah, Eloise. She was our mom. Sadly, she's gone. She never got to hear you call her 'Mom'."
In Eloise's memories, Mary always tried to get close to her, always smiled warmly, and looked at her with gentle eyes.
Before, Eloise didn't get that it was a mother's pure love for her daughter.
She thought Mary was kind to her because Michael was kind to her, so his mom was too.
But it turned out Mary was her mom too! Mary was the one, besides Michael, who wanted to be good to her.
Sadly, Eloise never got to show Mary any appreciation before she passed away.
Seeing her about to cry, Michael's heart ached. "Eloise, don't cry. Even though she's gone, she's still watching over us from heaven."
Eloise looked up at him, "Michael, does that mean you're my real brother?"
Michael nodded, "Yeah, Eloise, you're my sister. We're twins."
Over at Whispering Pines Estates, the housekeepers Elizabeth hired only worked on the first floor.
The second floor was where she and the kids had their rooms. She didn't want outsiders in such a private area. So, Elizabeth and the kids cleaned the second-floor rooms themselves.
That day, Nolan and Pearl were playing outside in the yard. Elizabeth went to Nolan's room on the second floor to tidy up his desk.
Despite daily cleaning, Nolan's room was still a bit messy.
While wiping the desk, Elizabeth accidentally knocked over a bottle of drink. The cap wasn't screwed on tight, and the drink spilled out.
Nolan's laptop was open and off to the side. Inevitably, the drink got into the laptop.
Elizabeth quickly used paper towels to soak up the liquid.
To prevent the laptop from getting damaged, she decided to take it to Dean for help.
Dean was a computer whiz, after all.
Elizabeth said, "Dean, can you check if this laptop is damaged? I accidentally spilled a drink on it."
Dean took it and glanced at it. "Isn't this Nolan's laptop? You gave it back to him?" he asked.
Elizabeth replied, "Nolan's taking programming classes and needs it."
Dean said, "No problem, leave it to me. I'll recover the data."
He then turned on the laptop and started recovering the lost data.
In a hidden folder, a video file caught Dean's eye.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
