Faux Vows, True Desires
Chapter 82

"My baby..."

A soft whisper escaped Janice's lips, "My baby is gone, they took my baby from me."

Tears slid down her cheeks.

Ethan, heart aching, helped his mother sit down on the bed. He knelt before her, taking her hands in his, and said, "Mom, I promise you Lucy is safe. You just chill, no matter where she is in the world, I'll replace her."

"Mom, can you snap out of it for a bit? If you can pull yourself together, I can go replace Lucy."

Ethan had been sending people to search for Lucy, as he couldn't go himself for fear of leaving his mother vulnerable.

Janice stared blankly at him.

"Mom, I'm Ethan, your son, not Dad. Look at me clearly."

He thought his mother had come to her senses.

"Ethan...my son, yes, my son's name is Ethan, and my daughter's name is Lucinda. Honey, we had twins, our son looks like you, but our daughter looks like your mother, that's why your mom loved Lucy the most."

Ethan was stunned.

He always thought his sister and he looked alike. Hence, when searching for his sister, he looked for girls that resembled him.

Sometimes, they did replace girls who looked like him.

But, even though they looked like him, DNA tests showed they were not his sister. They had no blood relation at all.

To protect them, they only had photos of them at one month and one hundred days old, no more pictures of his sister.

From the photos at one month and one hundred days, it was hard to tell anything.

Turns out, his sister took after their grandmother.

Ethan had seen photos of his grandmother when she was young.

She was incredibly beautiful.

Otherwise, his grandfather wouldn't have married and adored her for decades.

Ethan felt a pang in his heart.

Now, his grandmother treated his mother terribly, and even favored his uncle's family. And his only sister looked like his grandmother!

"Mom, does Lucy have any distinctive features?"

Janice smiled, gently tapping Ethan's forehead, "You and your memory, can't even remember your sister's features. Let me tell you, our Lucy has a mole the size of a green bean behind her left ear." "Lucy...Lucy is gone. Honey, Lucy is gone."

Mrs. Janice grabbed Ethan's hand again, starting to sob.

"Mom."

Ethan couldn't help but stood up and hugged his mother tightly.

His poor mother!

For his mother's sake, he had to replace Lucy.

Lucy, she might still be alive.

It took Ethan a long time to get his mother to sleep.

Meanwhile, Lucinda was awakened by a dream and couldn't fall asleep again.

Stefan noticed her room light is on and immediately came to knock on the door.

"Lucy, what's up? I saw your room light on, have you had a nightmare?"

Stefan asked worriedly from outside the door.

Lucinda opened the door and threw herself into Stefan's arms.

Stefan immediately embraced her, not rushing to ask what happened, just holding her quietly.

After a while, Lucinda looked up at him, her voice soft and shy, "Stefan, I didn't wake you, did I?"

Stefan lowered his head, his forehead against hers, whispered, "No, you didn't disturb me. I just happened to wake up and needed to use the restroom. I saw your room light on, so I came to check on you." Lucinda said, "I had that dream again. It's really strange, the last time I had this dream, and this time, it's the same dream, as though I am the baby in the dream."

Lucinda's words reminded Stefan of a secret his grandparents shared with him before they returned home. Someone had sent them a photo of Lucinda and George, with a note revealing that Lucinda was an abandoned baby, not a biological daughter of the Moore family.

This news surprised Stefan.

He's known Lucinda for eleven years, thinking he knew her well, he had never thought to investigate her past or the fact she wasn't a biological child of the Moore family.

It seemed, he couldn't let his cousin, Ike Moore, get too close to Lucinda, as they were not siblings.

Stefan's way of thinking was always so unique.

Stefan took Lucinda back to his room, both sitting on the bed.

"Lucinda, everyone has dreams, don't take it to heart. You're always thinking about this, so it's easy to have the same dream."

Lucinda shook her head, "The last time I had this dream I didn't pay much attention to it, I didn't keep thinking about it either, it just suddenly appeared. The woman in the dream who's in pain, I feel like I'm her, I can feel her pain. Her daughter was taken away, her crying is heartbreaking."

Stefan didn't immediately tell Lucinda that she's not the biological daughter of the Moore family.

Lucinda's dream might be related to her biological mother, maybe the woman in pain in her dream was her biological mother.

The connection between kin was very peculiar.

"Don't think about it anymore, go to sleep."

He kissed her forehead gently, and whispered, "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Lucinda replied with a simple, "Okay", then holds him tightly and whispers, "Stay with me."

Stefan smiled, "I'd love to."

Ever since her mother left, Lucinda had been avoiding him.

Stefan knew, Lucinda's mother was worried because of his high status.

Most people were despised because of their poverty, but his mother was unique, she worried because he was too rich!

Lucinda never told him this, and Stefan never asked.

He believed, one day his wife would choose to share her concerns with him.

With Stefan's company, Lucinda felt reassured, she fell asleep quickly and didn't dream anymore.

The next day, by the time she woke up, Stefan had already gone to work.

He left her a breakfast he made himself.

Fancy Stefan could even cook.

Plus, his cooking was crazy good, even better than hers.

Lucinda thought of Stefan as a thick book, full of substance, but needed patience to read. Each new page delivered a different content, giving her a fresh surprise.

Inside the president's office of Ascend Global. Edgar scratched his ear after hearing Stefan's instructions, doubting if he heard it right.

"Boss, ain't Lucinda your other half? You want me to dig into her? Questioning if she's really a Moore? You and Ike went to school together, right? Why not just ask him straight up?" Edgar thought that snooping on the boss's wife in private could upset their marital bliss if she found out.

Ever since the boss got hitched, Edgar felt like the boss had become a different person, his mood was always up.

Even though he still had a cold vibe, it was pretty much weakened by his good mood.

Not just him, a lot of people mentioned that the boss was a lot nicer now.

All thanks to the boss's wife.

Stefan said seriously, "The Moore family didn't tell Lucy, so I won't be the one to spill the beans. I want you to dig a little, mainly to know if Lucy was dumped by her parents or kidnapped."