From Ashes of Scandals to His Embrace novel Chapter 490

“To keep the real experimental data safe, my dad took off with the true files. Meanwhile, Leonard left another way, carrying a fake set to distract the people watching Dad.”

“Everything went fine at first. They both made it to their destinations safely. We all thought it was over. No one expected a traitor in Leonard’s group. Suddenly, Baily kidnapped Lucas’s mom to force Leonard into handing over the data.”

“That file was half-filled with fake info, but most of the research directions were actually real. If Leonard gave it up too easily, everyone would have been suspicious, and all of our careful planning would have gone to waste. Leonard refused. He held out, no matter what.”

“Baily got desperate. He did awful things. In the end, Lucas’s mom took her own life—she didn’t want to be used against Leonard, to affect his choices.”

“Leonard couldn’t handle losing her. He got seriously ill, and even after he recovered, he was never the same. He died later in a lab explosion.”

“From that day on, my dad treated Lucas like family—like his own son, actually. He took him in, mentored him.”

“Back when I hadn’t fallen out with Kenny, our relationship was a lot like brother and sister. He always called me Laurinda, but honestly, he’s a year older than me.”

Laurinda paused, her mind wandering back to old memories. It was strange—she couldn’t even tell when things had changed between her and Kenny. But they did, and there was no way to go back.

“If the Austin family treated the Ham family so badly, why does the Ham family still want you to marry his brother?”

The Austin family was scrambling, trying everything and failing every time.

“As for the engagement, I’ve never said yes. Nobody gets to dictate who I marry. Since the day Baily tried to play games with me, his plans were always going to fall apart.”

“So you and Kenny have some history?” Adolphus frowned. He hardly ever saw Laurinda get this upset just from hearing someone’s name. It had to be something she couldn’t forget or forgive.

“Oh, there’s definitely a story,” Laurinda muttered, her face darkening. She’d trusted Kenny, trusted him with everything. He was supposed to have her back, but he betrayed her. How was she supposed to just let that go?