Chapter 82 The Suspicions Surrounding Emily

Emily dozed off in Mia's arms, and Mia couldn't help but feel a wave of pity wash over her as she watched Emily sleep.

When Mia first laid eyes on Emily, she looked so frail and pale. Now, she had a bit of color in her cheeks, but Mia still felt sorry for her.

Mia had her phone with her, and once she saw that Emily was out cold, she pulled it out and shot a message to David.

Mia: [Honey, seeing Emily like this breaks my heart. We really dropped the ball as parents. We should've protected her better.]

David had been waiting for Mia's update, and he replied right away.

David: [Did she have a nightmare?]

Mia: [She didn't say anything about it.]

David wasn't sleeping either; he was sitting on the bed, lost in thought, staring at some documents.

The papers detailed everything Emily had been through over the years, and each one was like a punch to the gut for him. He hadn't shown them to Mia; he knew she'd lose it if she saw them.

Gregory was still alive, but prison life was rough. Every year, he wanted Emily to visit, but she always turned him down.

David hated Gregory for kidnapping Emily and putting her through hell, so he had someone in prison break one of Gregory's legs.

He stared at the blank spots in Emily's records from when she was seven and fifteen.

When she was seven, Emily had gone missing and was brought back by the cops, but she had no memory of what happened. No one knew what she went through except her.

At fifteen, she disappeared again for a year but came back on her own. When the police asked her about it, she claimed she had lost her memory again. After that, she changed a lot.

Every month after that, Emily would vanish for a few days and then come back.

She barely managed to finish high school and didn't continue her education afterward.

Those missing pieces of her life haunted David.

The next morning, sunlight streamed in, waking Emily up. She saw Mia and thought she was dreaming for a second. Once she was fully awake, she realized it was real.

Emily shifted a bit, waking Mia up.

"Mom, sorry for waking you," she said.

Mia smiled, "It's okay, go get ready. Don't you have a meeting with the Smith Family today?"

Emily was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

Mia watched her go, wiping her eyes to hide the tears that were welling up.

When Emily stepped out of the bathroom, she noticed that Mia had already laid out the clothes for her on the bed.

She smiled and shook her head, but went ahead and put on the outfit.

Mia had chosen a red Chanel-style suit for Emily. When she wore it, it radiated confidence. The red drop earrings she paired with it were a rare, classic piece from a famous designer, probably from Mia's early collection.

Emily checked herself out in the mirror and felt pretty pleased. To complete the look, she put on some light makeup.

As she set down her lipstick, Emily blinked at it a few times.

James had given her that lipstick one night when he came home late.

She had been thrilled because James had never given her a gift before.

But when she saw the lipstick color, she froze, trembling, because she had just seen Olivia's post.

Olivia: [James picked out a gift I didn't like, so I made him buy me a necklace instead.]

The picture below was of the same lipstick she was holding.

Turned out, he had given her something Olivia didn't want.

She must have been heartbroken back then.

Without a second thought, Emily tossed the lipstick into the trash. She thought, 'Whoever wants this kind of love can have it! I sure don't!'

On her way to the Johnson Group, Emily fiddled with her phone.

The news about James and Olivia from last night had been removed, but people were still buzzing about it online.

A topic caught Emily's eye: #The Smith Family CEO James' Untold Stories

Curious, she clicked on it.

The top post by someone named "QuickIntel" was pinned.

QuickIntel: [Looks like everyone wants to know about James's background, so here's a secret: James isn't his mother's biological son.]

This statement set off a flurry of speculation.

[If James isn't her biological son, was he adopted?]

[How could a wealthy family just adopt a kid? There are two likely reasons. Either James's mother didn't have a son, so they swapped him with someone else's kid to keep the family fortune, or James is an illegitimate child, and his mother just raised him.]

QuickIntel: [Since the discussion is heating up, I'll spill a bit more. James's biological father died by jumping off a building on his wedding day. If you don't believe it, look up news from over twenty years ago. It was a huge scandal back then.]

People started chiming in.

[It's true, I just found it.]

[I found it too. Wealthy families really do have the juiciest secrets.]