Chapter 229 The Hidden Past
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Tristan said calmly, “Because of her long–term drug use and paranoid delusions, our legal mother often accused us of being illegitimate–children fathered with some other woman. She would burn us with red- hot spatulas, whip us with cords. Your mother caught her once in the act… and she couldn’t bear it. That’s why she chose to stay–to tend our wounds, to teach us how to live.”
As Tristan spoke, Eliza could almost see her mother coming to life before her eyes–someone vivid, someone real.
So this was the kind of woman her mother was. Tender–hearted, courageous, full of conviction.
Eliza fought back the burn in her eyes. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“I just want you to know–your mother wasn’t some woman without boundaries. She wasn’t the mistress the world painted her to be. She and our father truly loved each other. They did nothing wrong. The only thing wrong was the way people looked at them.”
Tristan’s voice grew even gentler as he continued, eyes fixed on Eliza. “In the end, your mother left not because she gave up, but because she didn’t want to make things harder for our father. After all, our legal mother was already terminally ill. She was still, by law, his wife. He couldn’t abandon her completely. So your mother decided to return to Westbrook and build a life of her own.”
Eliza’s voice was hushed. “And then?”
“Your mother once said… love isn’t everything in life. She was grateful for what they had, but their fate ended where it did.”
Love isn’t everything?
Eliza’s heart stirred. For the first time, she felt a deep admiration for her mother.
To be able to say something like that… what a remarkable woman.
“This is a photo of your parents,” Tristan said, handing her the picture from the desk. “The one in your hand–your father took it himself.”
Eliza looked down. Her father’s face was indeed dashing, his peach blossom eyes charming enough to steal anyone’s breath. No wonder her mother fell for him at first glance.
“Now that you know the truth… will you still leave the Sue family?” Tristan asked.
Eliza hesitated.
She had come here only to learn about the past between her father and mother. Nothing more.
She never truly intended to claim her place as a Sue.
“I have one last question,” she said, lifting her gaze to meet his. “Why did it take you so long to find me?”
In her past life, no one from the Sue family had come for her.
So why now? Why did they suddenly appear in this life?
Tristan answered steadily, “After your mother left, she was already pregnant. She didn’t want anything more to do with our father, so she raised the child on her own and never sent word back. We only found out
Chapter 229 The Hidden Past
about the pregnancy after she passed away.”
“What do you mean?”
Eliza frowned. Something didn’t add up.
Finished
“Your mother built up the Rivers family in Westbrook. She founded Rivers Corp and became known as a decisive, formidable CEO, Our father believed she was doing well, and she never breathed a word about the child. When she died from hemorrhaging, the media covered it widely–so naturally, the news reached
overseas.”
“We sent people to Westbrook immediately afterward,” Tristan continued. “They uncovered the truth. behind her death–and also that she’d been pregnant. But the Rivers family lied. They claimed she died giving birth, and that the baby died too–stillborn.”
Eliza laughed bitterly.
Such a ridiculous lie–and the Sue family just bought it?
“So you believed I was dead?”
“No. We never truly believed it.”
Tristan’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Our father refused to accept it. The autopsy revealed your mother’s body didn’t contain a fetus. That’s when he confronted the Rivers family, and under pressure, they admitted the truth–your mother gave birth and had someone take the baby away. They claimed they didn’t know where the child had gone.”
“Our father was already drowning in grief. He believed your mother had taken the child away out of resentment, to punish him. He thought she refused to let the child grow up in the Sue family. So, in her final moments, she had someone send the child away. Even so, he never gave up. He searched for eighteen years.”
Eliza’s eyes narrowed. “Then how did you suddenly find me now?”
Tristan smiled faintly. “You’d have to answer that.”
“…Me?”
“You registered a company,” he explained. “If it hadn’t been for this recent flu outbreak and the sudden emergence of your pharmaceutical business on a global scale, Ronaldo wouldn’t have noticed you. And your face–it resembles your mother’s so much. Once we saw you, it wasn’t hard to recognize you.”
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