Five Years Wasted Now They Beg Her Back novel Chapter 385

The drive to her grandmother's house was filled with a subtle, heavy atmosphere.

Grace clutched the faded photograph, her thumb repeatedly tracing the outline of the woman in the picture.

That was her biological mother.

The same woman the Hart family deemed unworthy of a proper memorial, the woman Alistair had called "dull and uninteresting" when she was alive, the woman whose ashes were unceremoniously scattered at sea after she died.

"What are you thinking about?"

Damien steered with one hand, his other naturally reaching over to envelop her cool hand in his.

His palm was warm, radiating a comforting heat.

"I was just thinking, if this letter is true..." Grace turned to look at him, her gaze distant. "Does that mean I'm the main character in some epic power-fantasy novel? The kind where the heroine is tortured relentlessly, only to find out she's actually a long-lost princess?"

Damien raised an eyebrow. "A princess? More like a queen, I'd say."

He paused, a hint of teasing in his voice. "If you really are the heir to some reclusive family, wouldn't that make me a kept man? I'd have to rely on Mrs. Clarke to take care of me."

Grace laughed, and the gloom in her heart lifted a little. "Alright, then. The day Mr. Clarke decides he's done trying, I'll support you. Five thousand a month, room and board included."

"Five thousand?" Damien clicked his tongue. "Mrs. Clarke, with my credentials, I should be worth at least... fifty-five hundred, don't you think?"

The air in the car finally felt lighter.

When they arrived at her grandmother's house, Grace knocked on the door and soon heard her grandmother's voice.

"Grace, Damien, you're here!"

Her grandmother beamed when she opened the door and saw them.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Grace got straight to the point.

She placed the photograph and the letter on the table.

"Grandma, is this real?"

The moment her grandmother's eyes fell on the photograph, the hand she was using to sort vegetables trembled violently.

After a long moment, the old woman sighed heavily, took off her reading glasses, and wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve.

"She cried and begged us to take the child, just to give her something to eat and let her live."

"We had been married for ten years at that point and could never have children. We'd always wanted a daughter. Looking at that precious little doll, our hearts just melted."

"Before we could even ask any questions, the woman pulled a cloth bundle from her clothes and pushed it into our hands."

"Inside were two large gold bars and a stack of foreign currency we'd never seen before."

"She told us to raise the child as our own. To never let her know her true origins, just let her live a peaceful life."

"After saying that, she clasped my hands with a desperate, tearful gratitude, then turned and ran back into the rain."

"The rain was so heavy, it swallowed her figure in an instant. It was like... like she had never even been there."

As her grandmother spoke, tears began to stream down her face.

"That night, I heard sirens wailing all night long. I was so scared, I held your mother and didn't dare to sleep a wink."

Grace listened to it all, her expression calm.