Chapter 432 There's a Clue
The noisy street, bustling crowd.
The sound of traffic was incessant, but Katniss always had a ringing in her ears.
Her clear eyes trembled slightly, her gaze shifting from Ember's face at her feet to Sophia. "Mom, what did you say?"
"Don't talk nonsense!" Ember suddenly stood up. "Sophia, I'm telling you, you can't spread rumors here just because you're jealous that I gave birth to such an amazing daughter like Katniss. I'll... I'll sue you!"
Sophia opened her mouth, seeing Katniss's shocked expression. She couldn't say anything, not knowing if revealing this fact was good or bad.
"Go ahead and sue." Katniss didn't even look at Ember. "You'd better get the truth out. I want to see what this is all about!"
Ember shivered, seeing Katniss's cold gaze, as if it was laced with ice. She stammered, "I was just saying it casually. Don't listen to Sophia, she's just trying to ruin our mother-daughter relationship! She's afraid you'll buy me a villa. You know people can be deceitful. You think she's been good to you all these years, but..."
The rest of her words were forced back by Katniss's gaze.
"I wasn't talking nonsense, Ember. If you have the guts, do a paternity test with Katniss to prove it!" Sophia steadied her emotions. Seeing Katniss's expression, she knew she had heard everything clearly; there was no need to hide it anymore.
Ember's face turned pale, she simply put her hands on her hips and said, "I won't, she's my daughter, no need for a paternity test, you're crazy! I'm not talking to you anymore."
With that, she ran off.
Katniss took Sophia back to the car, but didn't start the engine for a long time, her gaze falling on the bustling street outside the window.
Before she could clear her thoughts and start asking, Sophia spoke up, "I've been with your dad for a long time, and only then did I find out that you're not his biological daughter."
Back then, Ryder and Ember had been married for a long time without having children. They went to the hospital for check-ups but found nothing wrong. The doctor said their genes were incompatible, making it difficult to conceive, and suggested artificial insemination.
But they were poor and couldn't afford it, so they went back to their lives. Soon, someone brought them a baby girl, and they decisively spent money to buy her.
They thought, at least when they got old, there would be someone to take care of them.
But unexpectedly, a few years after adopting Katniss, Ember got pregnant with Rupert.
Later, when their relationship soured and they divorced, they both fought for Rupert's custody, but neither wanted Katniss.
"Actually, Katniss, knowing that they're not your real parents should make you feel a bit better." Sophia didn't know how to comfort her, or if this was the right way to do it.
Katniss leaned back in the seat, her hands resting at her sides, her seemingly calm eyes showing a hint of turmoil.
It wasn't a huge upheaval, just a bit uncomfortable."If you want to find your biological parents, I do have a clue." Sophia spoke again, "When they brought you back, you were wearing a small gold locket with the name 'Katniss' engraved on it. But that locket was taken by the seller when Mr. Grey saw it, he only took a photo of it, which I still have."
Katniss vaguely remembered seeing a photo of a small gold locket at Sophia's place, tucked in a book, well-preserved.
They had a rough time, moved several times, and lost the photo during one of the moves. Sophia had gone back to search for it for a long time.
She had told Katniss that this item was related to her fate, which Katniss didn't understand at the time; now she did."I'll give it to you when we get back. With your current resources, you should be able to find your biological parents." Sophia encouraged.
Katniss moved slightly, glanced at Sophia, and smiled. "I'm getting married tomorrow, let's not talk about this. Whether I find them or not isn't that important to me. What's important is that I have you all now, and that's enough."
That small gold locket was probably valuable, so she guessed her biological parents were well-off.
Whether she was lost or stolen, with her biological parents' resources, they should have been able to find her.
But there had been no news, so they probably didn't intend to look for her. Why should she make herself uncomfortable?
"Katniss, whether you look for them or not, and no matter what kind of people your biological parents are, I'll always consider you my daughter. For your wedding, I don't have much money for a gift, so I asked Matilda for some money. Don't despise this gift, it's my heartfelt intention."
Sophia had planned to give it to Katniss in the evening, but couldn't help but mention it now.
"You don't have to refuse, Matilda's money is also yours; we're just using your money to do you a favor." She felt a bit ashamed.
Ember wasn't wrong about one thing.
She had indeed taken advantage of Katniss, and could never repay it in this lifetime.
"You've suffered so much these past few years with your illness, and it brought me and Tristan to where we are now. In other words, without you, I wouldn't have met him, and we wouldn't have the life we have now."
Katniss started the engine, drove into the traffic, and headed home.
Her mood was relatively calm, just a bit more reflective.
Sophia was relieved to see that Katniss wasn't too affected by her background.
At the Emory household, Natalia was busy finding a match for Emory again.
In the villa, besides Emory and Tristan, there was also Nicholas.
Tristan sat on the soft sofa, hands crossed on his lap, calmly watching the two of them fussing in front of the TV.
"This thing is too high-tech, are you sure it's not a porn movie Lucas put on?" Nicholas was holding an oddly shaped USB drive.
After fiddling with it for a long time, he couldn't get it to connect to the projector, getting frustrated.
Emory squatted by the projector, constantly testing and re-inserting it. "Even if it is a porn movie, we have to watch it to know; we have no choice."
Nicholas snorted, "Tristan anticipated that Lucas would cause some trouble before the wedding once the news got out. Are you sure this isn't a trap?"
"You're right about everything, okay?" Emory snatched the USB drive from his hand and tried inserting it again. "You really praise Tristan, do you know how much he exploited me abroad?"
After grumbling a bunch of bad things about Tristan, suddenly the TV made a sound.
He was stunned for a moment, then looked up to see that it was reading the file.
He lowered his head and cursed, "Fuck, this thing is wireless, no need to plug it in."
The projector had a sensing area, and it had just been placed there temporarily, and it sensed it.
Nicholas, "What do you have for him to exploit? With your intelligence?"
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