"What do you an?!" Rory imdiately asked. "Did he do sothing to my mother?"
"..."
Only then did Auntie Vincent realize she had said the wrong thing in her agitation.
"Auntie?" Rory asked again. "Did Grandpa Harrison mistreat my mother?"
"No, no."
Auntie Vincent imdiately denied it.
Rory lowered her gaze, seemingly lost in thought.
The room fell silent.
After a few minutes, Rory finally stood up. "Auntie Vincent, I’ll do the dishes and help you tidy up the room before I go."
"No, no, you don’t have to."
When Auntie Vincent saw Rory clearing the table, she quickly went to grab the serving dishes herself.
The two of them went into the kitchen together.
Rory insisted on doing the chores and quickly tidied up the place.
Back in the living room, Rory stood still for a long while before finally speaking up. "Auntie Vincent, I’m sorry..."
Auntie Vincent looked over.
Rory took Auntie Vincent’s hand and apologized sincerely. "The truth is, I ca to find you for another reason, besides just wanting to see how you were doing..."
"What is it?"
"I had an argunt with Miles Harrison’s grandmother. She said my mother... seduced her husband. I don’t believe my mother was that kind of person, which is why... I asked Young Master Harrison for your contact information."
In those few minutes of silence at the dining table, Rory had thought things through.
’I could visit Auntie Vincent every week, play on her emotions, and eventually coax the truth out of her.’
’But doing it that way...’
’My sincerity would be called into question.’
’It’s better to be upfront from the beginning. Even if Auntie Vincent doesn’t say anything now, I can visit a few more tis before and after my dical aid trip to the countryside. That would give her so ti to consider it.’
Auntie Vincent didn’t look surprised at all. She smiled and said, "Actually, the young master already told . He said you would probably have sothing to ask, and that I should tell you as much as I could."
"Miles Harrison?"
Rory, on the other hand, was surprised.
"Yes, the young master contacted a couple of days ago and said you’d be in touch soon." Auntie Vincent paused for a mont before adding, "I just didn’t expect this was what you wanted to ask about."
"It is..."
"Sigh! This is exactly what I was afraid you’d ask about." Auntie Vincent sighed. "Seeing that you’re doing so well, and with Quinn Linden gone for so many years... I really didn’t want to bring any of it up again."
"Then... can you tell what happened back then?"
Rory asked tentatively.
Auntie Vincent looked at Rory’s face, so similar to Quinn Linden’s, and thought for a mont before speaking. "No one knows the whole truth of what happened back then. It’s just that soone secretly read Quinn Linden’s diary. It said she had been pregnant and had an abortion. The diary didn’t explicitly na the father, but everyone knew... it was Old Mr. Harrison."
"..."
Word by word, Auntie Vincent laid bare the grueso truth.
Only then did Rory realize what a terrible injustice her mother had suffered in the Harrington family.
’And even after her death, they were still slandering her as a howrecker!’
Auntie Vincent also told Rory that her mother had indeed been away for over a month, and when she returned, she brought Rory with her.
It was as if...
she had made so kind of deal with soone.
Rory left Auntie Vincent’s ho, and just as she got into the car, she received a call from Sean Harrison.
"Did you find anything out?"
he asked.
Rory stared out the window at the old residential complex.
Auntie Vincent’s final words echoed in her mind.
The thought that the man who had wronged her mother was Sean Harrison’s father... she suddenly didn’t know how to face Sean.
Rory opened her mouth, but only said, "...No."
"Rory Linden, you’re a terrible liar. Even over the phone."
Sean rcilessly called her out.
"..."
Rory didn’t say anything, nor did she deny it.
’What could I even say?’
’Am I supposed to tell Sean that his father raped my mother and got her pregnant?’
’That I want his mother to apologize at my mother’s grave?’
’I have no proof.’
’What right do I have to say sothing like that?’
"If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. I won’t ask. But if my father did sothing wrong, I will apologize on his behalf. I’ll do anything."
Sean said, his every word deliberate.
Even over the phone, Rory could sense his sincerity.
Rory’s grip on her phone tightened. After a long pause, she said, "What I want... is for your mother to apologize to my mother."
"She..."
"I don’t need you to ask her. I’ll find so concrete evidence myself. I’ll make her understand that she wronged my mother, and then she will apologize."
Rory didn’t want to put Sean in a difficult position.
She didn’t want Charlotte Rhodes to apologize just for her son’s sake.
She was going to prove to Charlotte Rhodes that she had been mistaken—that she had wronged her mother for twenty years!
But so much ti had passed. She didn’t know if she could still find any proof.
’Still...’
’I have to at least try to find my mother’s diary.’
Sean asked her, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No." Rory shook her head, though he couldn’t see it. "You already helped with my father’s situation. Let handle my mother’s."
The call ended.
Rory tried to recall her childhood.
She had been too young when her mother died and had no idea what happened to her belongings.
’Could they... have been thrown away?’
After a mont’s thought, Rory dialed Evelyn Irving’s number.
She wanted to ask about her mother’s possessions.
The answer she received was that her mother’s more valuable belongings had been buried with her.
The rest had been disposed of.
Rory wasn’t entirely surprised.
’Her mother was just a nanny, after all.’
’Why would anyone have kept her things?’
But Rory couldn’t give up. Just before hanging up, she asked, "Auntie Irving, my mom had a diary. Do you rember seeing it?"
"A diary? Hmm... I don’t recall one."
Evelyn Irving seed to think for a mont before answering.
Her casual words extinguished Rory’s last glimr of hope.
Rory held the phone, her mind blank for a few seconds. Then she said to the driver, "Driver, could you please take to Cetery No. 7?"
"Of course."
The driver agreed and made a U-turn at the next intersection.
Quinn Linden was buried in an ordinary cetery on the outskirts of the city.
Rory usually visited her mother’s grave twice a year.
Once for the Qingming Festival, and again for the Winter Clothing Festival in October.
She would likely still be on her dical aid trip during the Winter Clothing Festival this year, so she considered this an early visit.
The car drove for nearly an hour before arriving at the cetery gates.
On an ordinary weekday afternoon like this, there were very few cars at the cetery.
In the small parking lot, one car stood out.
It was Sean Harrison’s limited-edition Bentley.
’What... is he doing here?’
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