Chapter 348
What pissed Darren off the most wasn’t the fact that they had a son they paraded around in the spotlight back in Zosteylor, but that they kept an adopted child close while they dumped their own flesh and blood, Cassandra, in a hospital like she was nothing.
The irony of it all was that Darren had actually believed Maximilian’s words about going to find Cassandra right away.
The so–called “right away” they mentioned only came after everyone had waited. for Thomas’s surgery to be a success. By then, the best time had already slipped
away.
They were all the main cause of Cassandra’s tragedies over the years.
He had been concerned about them, just like Maximilian had been, all these years, only to find out that they were living it up in Zosteylor without a care in the world as if they had completely forgotten that they even had a daughter named Cassandra.
Darren’s expression turned stone–cold. The smile that previously graced his features was now long gone as he was fully aware of Kayden’s antagonism towards
him.
“Dad, Denzel, Devin, let’s go upstairs first. We can talk there.”
This was no place for such discussions–with too many people out there. Although they went upstairs, someone had already leaked the scene to the internet, and it didn’t take long before the true identity of Zosteylor’s prince consort was revealed.
Every piece of evidence pointed to him being named Darren Yates, the long–lost eldest son of the Yates family in Drieso, who had vanished almost 20 years ago. It was shocking to everyone that he had ended up as Zosteylor’s prince consort after so many years out of sight. People left comments about this issue online.
[Can’t believe the prince consort comes from the Yates family. That’s amazing.]
[If I remember correctly, the prince consort’s surname seems to be Yates. Doesn’t he have the same surname as the Queen?]
[That means the prince consort didn’t just marry into the family. They love each other so much!]
[Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering why he never went back home? Is
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Zosteylor a million miles away, or was it too chaotic before? I mean, come on, even leaders from the rowdiest countries have stopped by Clusia. How could he forget. about his family?]
[I actually think you have a point. Now I’m getting curious too.]
[And get this
Queen of Zosteylor has two adopted sons. They live with her.
So why couldn’t they visit his folks back home?],
[There might be more to it. These are private matters, probably all hashed out behind closed doors.]
[Check out this–Darren’s been ‘missing‘ for 20 years. That means zero contact, otherwise, it’s not ‘missing.]
[Any brave souls out there ready to uncover the truth?]
The buzz online grew exponentially, and it wasn’t long before Queen Leanna’s own affairs were dragged into the light, increasing the online spectacle and the fiery discourse to near fever pitch.
Eventually, with no other recourse, they decided to pull the trending topics, scrap the articles, and block the accounts spreading the news. As the frenzy began to die down, Twitter was suddenly flooded with new celebrity drama: pop idols dating and pressuring his girlfriend for an abortion, stars caught cheating, etc. With the fresh deluge of gossip, Darren’s now–forgotten story was left in the dust, no longer the talk of the town.
—–
In a hotel room, Maximilian sat on the sofa, his face ablaze with anger, looking at his son who once made him proud but now only elicited profound disappointment. He even had the urge to teach him a harsh lesson.
“Why on earth didn’t you come back? Why didn’t you even send a message?‘ Maximilian wondered.
Leanna and Darren exchanged glances and simultaneously knelt before. Maximilian. Leanna suddenly spoke up. “Dad, I’ve been unfilial for not being by your side all these years, leaving my duties to Denzel, Devin, and their wives. I’m sorry.”
Darren looked at his father, whom he hadn’t seen for years. “Dad, your son has returned.”
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It wasn’t that they hadn’t seen each other for many years. It was just that they hadn’t seen each other face–to–face. He was well aware of the Yates family’s affairs, just never physically present.
Leanna tugged at Harper’s hand, urging him to kneel as well, her voice shaking with emotion. “Dad, this is your grandson, Harper, almost 19 years old now. He and Cassie are twins.”
The mention of Cassandra darkened Maximilian’s face even more. “If they’re twins, why did you only take him and not bring Cassie? Why leave her in the hospital for us to find, giving evil–doers an opportunity? Cassie has suffered in the countryside for 18 years.” He turned to Darren, “Was it you who changed Cassie’s genetic sequence and caused Benjamin to think she was his daughter? Do you have any idea what she’s been through? How do you two plan to make amends for her?”
Maximilian’s words carried no sentiments of catching up or joy in reunion, just interrogation. Especially upon seeing Harper, the fury in his heart flared even more fiercely.
The Yates family finally had a girl, and yet she was lost–lost by her parents once and then again by Maximilian. What expectations could they have for her return
now?
It was already fortunate she didn’t harbor hate, so what more could they hope for?
Darren’s face was tinged with regret as he whispered an explanation, “Dad, the situation was critical back then. We could only take one child with us, which is why we sent you a message to ask you to pick up Cassie. I thought I had everything under control, but I was wrong… I’m sorry for what Cassie went through, but she’s my daughter. I couldn’t just…”
Yet there was that agreement between them, and Cassandra even had a recording. He didn’t know what to do. She was his child, and he had already made one mistake. He didn’t wanna make another.
“When you realized Cassie was missing, why didn’t you tell us? And you didn’t say where she was! For years, we didn’t even see her face, so how were we supposed to find her? It’s been 18 years. If it weren’t for that variety show where we saw Cassie, if it weren’t for her face so much like Leanna’s, how would I have recognized her?” Maximilian said, his voice filled with passion and laden with self–blame.
“Look, Dad, we had our reasons back in the day, reasons of absolute necessity,” Darren continued. “Leanna was poisoned, and Harper was born with the poison from her womb. What was I supposed to do? I feel guilty for what happened to
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Cassie. Leanna wanted to take her with us no matter what, but circumstances.
wouldn’t allow it. With Kamila’s people hunting us down and Leanna’s body weakened by the poison after childbirth,” Darren said.
He continued, “Plus, Kamila was close to claiming the throne of Zosteylor. Leanna couldn’t bear the thought of the people of Zosteylor suffering under her rule, so we rushed back to prevent it all.”
“It would be more difficult for us to leave if we took Cassie, but we had to take Harper with us in order to detoxify him,” Darren added. It was a dire necessity. back then, and he hoped someone would understand. He owed an apology to Cassandra, but he didn’t wanna live in remorse forever.
“What about after he’s cured?”
“Leanna and Harper were only cured of their poisoning recently,” Darren answered.
Kayden let out a sarcastic snort. “Oh, of course. The prince consort has been searching for his daughter for more than ten years with no luck, yet he found Dr. Quirke and Dr. Quirke’s assistant right away. And they were even sharp enough to kidnap Hugo to leverage Cassie. Think about it, after all these happened, would Cassie want to listen to your explanation?”
He continued fiercely, “A lot of people in the dark web want to find Dr. Quirke through Hugo, but no one dares to do that because everyone in the dark web knows the importance of Hugo to Dr. Quirke, but look at you, boldly snatching him away. Do you even realize what you’ve done? You’ve kidnapped a family member of Cassie’s.”
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