Chapter 384 Deceived By Others
Josiah looked toward Lysander.
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At first, his eyes revealed shock, which quickly gave way to confusion, only to finally settle on a sense of
urgency.
At that moment, Josiah desperately wanted to confirm something.
“Lysanne was adopted? At what age?” Josiah questioned.
Howard sighed and answered, “When Lysa went missing, she was just over four years old. Molly blamed herself, believing she had failed to look after her daughter properly. She was filled with guilt every day as we waited for news after reporting to the police. We waited for more than half a year, but in the end, the police told us that the chances of such a young child surviving alone outside for so many days were very slim. They asked us to face the reality…”
With that. Howard cast a glance at Lysander.
Lysander stood there quietly, her head bowed down. Her lips were tightly pursed, and no one knew what she had on her mind.
Howard then uttered with a hint of bitterness, “The way you look now, it’s just like how your mother was when you went missing. For more than half a year, she sat idle, waiting for news every day. Every time the phone rang, she would shout out, believing it was news about you. I was no different. But every time we picked up the phone, it was either a relative or friend checking in or the police saying there was no progress. The worst part was that most of the calls were telemarketers or scams…”
Josiah’s hands, hanging by his sides, clenched and unclenched repeatedly. “You never told us about your daughter going missing…”
“Your mother knew all along,” Howard said. “After we adopted Lyss, we were concerned that she might feel she didn’t belong. Hence, we made it clear to all our relatives and friends that they had to treat Lyss like our own biological daughter from then on. We wanted to make up for everything our biological daughter missed out on by giving it all to Lyss.”
Josiah turned toward Susan. “Mom, you’ve known all along?”
Susan gave a nod. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Josiah questioned.
“Back then, you were just a kid. What good would it have done to tell you? Besides, children are notorious for not keeping secrets. Imagine if you had accidentally let it slip and Lysanue heard it. It would have upset
her, too.
Anxiously, Josiah said, “If I had known it wasn’t her, I wouldn’t have-”
Right then, Lysanne called out to him, “Josiah!”
Her eyes were filled with pleading, and she cautiously wanted to grasp his sleeve. “I…”
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Chapter 384 Deceived By Others
“I…”
“How old?” Josiah roared.
Lysanne was startled, and tears quickly welled up in her eyes.
Howard answered on her behalf, “When Molly and I went to the orphanage, we originally wanted to find a girl about the same age as Lysa. However, we searched through several orphanages in Harborbrook and couldn’t find any girl the same age as Lysa, except for one, and that was Lysanne. When we brought her back, she was already seven years old.
A wave of paleness instantly washed over Lysanne’s face when she heard those words.
A child at the age of seven was already capable of remembering things.
In other words, from the moment Lysanne arrived at the Thorne manor, she was acutely aware that she wasn’t Lysander. Instead, she was a child adopted from the orphanage.
The look in Josiah’s eyes shifted gradually from indifference.to anger as he gazed at Lysanne. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he thundered.
“Josiah, it’s not that I didn’t tell you. It’s just that I-”
“Why didn’t you deny it when I mentioned we met once as children?” Josiah was p*ssed off.
Lysanne was so nervous that her whole body was shaking.
“Lysanne, I told you I hated being lied to the most, didn’t I?”