Chapter 126
“Mom and Dad have been so good to me. Why would I ever need to take money from our family? How could I possibly stage my kidnapping?”
Her words were double-edged-not only did she proclaim her innocence, but she also subtly reminded the Bennett Family that Emily had once staged her kidnapping for money.
Lydia’s pitiful look instantly melted the Bennett Family’s hearts. They quickly comforted her, saying, “Don’t take it to heart, Lydia. Bob just dotes on Emily and wants to stand up for her. That’s why he’s giving you a hard time.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. No one will bully you while we’re here.”
Yet Bob’s words hadn’t made them suspicious of Lydia in the slightest-instead, they felt a twinge of guilt toward Emily. So even when Lydia deliberately brought up Emily’s past scheme of faking her kidnapping for family pointedly remained silent.
money, the
To everyone’s surprise, Lucas even spoke up, suggesting, “Maybe we’ve misunderstood what Emily meant.”
Out of everyone’s sight, Lydia clenched her teeth so hard that she nearly cracked a tooth. She fumed inwardly, ‘What the hell has gotten into Lucas? Since when did he start standing up for Emily?’
To Lydia, Lucas—that hot-headed, dim-witted fool-was the perfect pawn to manipulate. To keep this pawn firmly under her control, Lydia would appear before Lucas every day with eyes deliberately reddened and brimming with tears, putting on a show of grievances and fears.
Now and then, she would casually insinuate, “Emily shows absolutely no signs of lingering trauma from the kidnapping.”
Lydia thought this should make Lucas see Emily’s scheming side again. Little did she know, Lucas’s mind was somewhere else entirely.
Lucas had vowed repeatedly to protect Lydia. Seeing her in this state, he was guilty and regretful. ‘Lydia must be carrying these emotional scars-it’s definitely because of what Bob said.’
Lucas thought anxiously, ‘I have to find a way to clear Bob’s suspicions. Otherwise, with Lydia’s kind heart, she’ll be haunted by this for ages.
Bob, for his part, had no idea about any of this. Although he had handed the surveillance footage to Andrew, he still remembered the license plate number. Following this lead, he traced it back to a man named Cale Harris.
The bank account provided by Lydia’s kidnapper was registered under none other than Cale. Bob immediately launched an investigation into this man.
Cale wasn’t from Cloudridge, and it seemed someone was deliberately covering his tracks. To complicate matters, Bob couldn’t risk worrying Charles about this information, which made digging up the truth more challenging.
Already overwhelmed by it all at his age, Bob didn’t need more trouble. Yet, Lucas chose that very moment to
- “Bob, can you tell me why you suspect Lydia?”
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Bob had assumed Lucas was asking because he, too, had doubts. But Lucas’s next words disappointed him. “Because of what you said before, Lydia has been miserable for days.
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her eyes ac puny num crying. Jus
Bob’s brow furrowed, his gaze on Lucas cold and weary. “So, have you come to champion Ms. Bennett’s cause today?”
Lucas, of course, wouldn’t dare confront him. He explained earnestly, “All I’m asking is for you to go and apologize to Lydia, and tell her you never suspected her, that it was all just a misunderstanding-”
“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not will be clear once we investigate,” Bob cut him off coldly. “If you trust her so much, you should focus on finding the mastermind behind this instead of coming to me without any evidence.”
He had thought that, even if his earlier words might not change the Bennett Family’s attitude toward Emily, they should at least have sparked some remorse in them. But now, it was clear-their hearts and minds were always, and only, on Lydia.
Lucas frowned, annoyed. “I don’t get it. Why are you suspecting Lydia without a shred of evidence? Why can’t you just trust her?”
Bob didn’t answer. Instead, he calmly shot back, “Then why did all of you suspect Emily without any evidence? Why couldn’t you trust her?”
