He Threw Me Out At Six And Came Back Twenty Years Later To Marry Into My Family Chapter 09

My mother charged the stage like she’d lost her mind.

“Elowen!”

All five Voss brothers blocked her at once.

Ronan held her back, his voice cold as ice.

“Mrs. Hale. Don’t touch her.”

Security stopped my mother. She was crying so hard she couldn’t stand straight.

“Elowen, Mom didn’t know you were alive. Mom really didn’t know…”

I looked at her.

“The police notified the Hales.”

“The hospital notified the Hales.”

“The Voss family posted missing-person notices.”

“You knew all along.”

“You didn’t want to claim me.”

My mother trembled all over.

“That’s not it. I just loved your father too much.”

She was rambling.

“Back then, if he got angry, he’d ignore me. I was scared he’d leave me. I just wanted him to feel sorry for me.

I didn’t think you’d disappear.”

I listened quietly,

So after twenty years, all she cared about was whether my father felt sorry for her.

She didn’t ask if I’d been scared that day.

Didn’t ask if it hurt later.

Didn’t ask how I’d lived these twenty years.

Her first explanation was still: I loved him too much.

My father stood below the stage, face ashen, still trying to hold things together.

“Elowen, Dad was wrong back then.”

Dad.

That word from his mouth was pure irony.

He continued, “But with all these media and partners here today, Hale Enterprises can’t be destroyed by old news. Come down first. We’ll talk as a family behind closed doors.”

I looked at him.

“Your so-called family-which one?”

His face froze.

“You, me, your mother, and Liora.”

Liora stood where she was, tears streaming.

She looked at me like she was seeing her parents for the first time.

My father spoke again.

“Liora is innocent. She and Ronan genuinely love each other. You can’t destroy her happiness because you hate your mother and me.”

Ronan walked to the microphone.

“My relationship with Liora ends here.”

Liora’s head snapped toward him.

“Ronan…”

There was apology in Ronan’s eyes, but no hesitation.

“Before the truth came out, I shouldn’t have discussed marriage. Now that the truth is out, I won’t let the

Hales use Elowen’s pain as leverage to stage a comeback.”

Liora covered her mouth, sobbing too hard to speak.

My father snarled, “Ronan, that’s kicking someone when they’re down!”

Ronan looked at him coldly.

“Mr. Hale, you brought this on yourself.”

Less than a day after the briefing, Hale Enterprises’ stock crashed sharply.

Partner banks suspended credit.

The Eastridge project was put under review.

Starlight Haven Foundation was placed under regulatory investigation.

My father and mother trended for three straight days.

The people who’d once praised their fairy-tale love cursed them the hardest.

[Possessive and dangerous obsession counts as loving your wife?]

[That line-“making him feel sorry for me is enough”-gave me chills.]

[A six-year-old thrown into traffic, and they used her to package charity for twenty years. Disgusting.]

The Voss family issued a statement.

Twenty years ago, upon finding the frightened girl, the Voss family immediately called the police, got her to a hospital, and completed the legal adoption process.

The Voss family never concealed the child’s identity and never used a child’s suffering to attack Hale Enterprises.

All files have been submitted to the relevant authorities.

Liora came to see me once.

She stood outside the Voss manor gates, face pale.

“Elowen, I didn’t know.”

I didn’t let her in.

I only looked at her through the gate.

She cried, “I really thought Mom and Dad were looking for you. I thought bad people took you.”

I said, “What happened back then wasn’t your doing.”

Hope flickered in her eyes.

I continued, “But when you posted that I was cold-blooded and jealous, when you played the victim for them

-you weren’t completely innocent.”

She lowered her head.

I looked at her.

“You enjoyed the reputation they built from ‘losing a daughter, and you stood inside that reputation to accuse me.”

“Now you know the truth.”

“From now on, don’t forgive the people who hurt someone on behalf of any victim.”

She cried for a long time, then said, “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t say it was okay.

I only said, “Take care.”