Marianne breathed a sigh of relief as she was inford of the task she had given her assistant as she disconnected the call. Then, she looked at lody who was was busy eating the ’cake’ that Adam brought her and glared at her, scolding coldly, "Look at you. You want to pretend to be lanie, but you don’t even bother to hide evidence. Did you know that the entire video of you arriving at the hospital was available for anyone to see? One look at the video and Adam would know that you are not lanie. Why are you so thoughtless, lody?"
lody looked up at her mother and gave a tremulous smile as she realized that her mother had once again stepped up to protect her. Pushing the cake in front of her, she stood up and went to her, "Are you really going to help pretend to be lanie? You’re not going to expose ? Or are you? You’re not angry at for what happened?"
Marianne gave her daughter a sad look before walking over to her and patting her head. "I can do anything, but I cannot see you harm yourself, lody. Do you have any idea, how scared mom was when you threatened to harm yourself just now? How can I be angry at you under such circumstances when I know you did what you did to protect yourself?"
"If anything, I’m angry at myself that I could not teach you to be stronger." Marianne paused and then imdiately took lody’s hand in hers, "I won’t reveal anything. But you have to promise to behave yourself, lody. You cannot cross the line with Adam. Only in this way will lanie not bla you when she finds out what she did. Your mother has always covered up for your mistakes and I will continue to always protect you in the future! But breaking your sister’s marriage would be a sin. So,promise you won’t do it."
lody let her tears fall and imidately hugged her mother. " Mama! I thought that with lanie having returned, you would love less. Or at least be less tolerant of my mistakes. But that is not so. Thank you, Mama. Thank you for loving more than anyone."
Marianne Thomas patted her back and sighed as she kissed the top og lody’s head, a frown on her face and tears in her eyes. "Foolish girl. You’ve been by my side for more than twenty years. I’ve raised you myself. How could I see you suffer?"
Then she wiped her tears and looked moved away, looking at lody carefully. "l, your older sister has suffered a lot as well, with no parents by her side to protect her. And even now she is suffering in your stead. You have to be good to her when she returns. You cannot cling to Adam. Until she cos back, treat it as though you are going to live your lifeti of love in this short period. Okay?"
lody nodded her head vigorously at that. "Don’t worry, Mother. I won’t create trouble if lanie returns."
Relieved that lody was willing to compromise, Marianne nodded, even missing out on the words that lody uttered, her intentions clear that ’if’ lanie returned and not when. Instead, she said, "I’ll go now. You take care, okay? And if you fear anything, just co to your Mom."
She stood up to leave but as she would have walked away, she paused at the door, and turned back again. "Also, in a few days, talk to Adam about sending you to . If you stay with him too long, he might get suspicious. But if you co to us, you can always claim stress and emotional imbalance as excuses. Okay? Now, lody, tell - where could this man have taken lanie? I’ll tell Adam and your father to look up in those places. We should find her as soon as possible, before sothing untoward happens."
lody shook her head vigorously then and clenched her hands. Never woudl she tell her mother where lanie could be found. She knew Cadence hated crowded places so she said, "I don’t know where he might have taken her. I... I think it should be a crowded place so that they would be able to rge easily. Like densely populated areas. He does not have much money..."
Marianne frowned. "rge? What do you an rge with the crowd?"
lody hesitated. She knew she had to say just enough, not too little, not too much. "Just... that if soone wanted to keep her hidden, a place with constant foot traffic would be ideal. A transit hub, maybe a railway station, a large shopping complex, or a market. Sowhere people wouldn’t look too closely."
"You’re sure you don’t know anything else, lody? Where did he take you?" Marianne pressed, her tone sharper and her eyes narrowed.
"I swear it, Mama," lody whispered, her eyes wide and pleading. "If I knew where she was, wouldn’t I have told you? When he took to that place that he claid was his villa, I was asleep. I don’t even know how long we had driven when we arrived there..."
Marianne stared at her for a long mont, her instincts warring with her reason. Finally, she sighed. "Alright. But if anything cos to mind, even the smallest thing, you tell . Don’t lie to , lody. Not now."
lody nodded quickly, "I won’t. I promise."
There was a mont of silence before Marianne stepped forward and tucked a stray lock of lody’s hair behind her ear in a small gesture. "You’re still my child, lody. No matter what lies you’ve told, no matter what role you’re playing now. But rember, pretending to be soone else always cos at a price. And I don’t want you to suffer for it. So, rember what Mom has told you and be careful. Okay?"
lody nodded at the older woman with a grateful look but when the woman had walked out, she gave a triumphant smile. By now, sothing ’untoward’ would already have happened to lanie...
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