Chapter 725: Horrible
Noah was startled by Judith Pierce’s sudden reaction. His small body flinched, and his big eyes darted around subconsciously, as if searching for something—or perhaps, fearing something.
Seeing this, Judith Pierce felt her heart was about to break. She held Noah in her arms, her voice trembling slightly. "Noah, don’t be afraid. This is your little uncle’s house. No one can bully you here. No one can hurt you. Don’t be afraid."
The little boy was scared; she could see it clearly.
Being comforted this way, Noah’s fear gradually subsided. He nestled into Judith Pierce’s embrace and said, "Mommy said this is our secret."
Judith Pierce closed her eyes in pain. She could already imagine just what kind of secret it was.
Noah looked up at her. "Grandma, please don’t tell Mommy the secret, okay?"
"Okay, Grandma will keep your secret," Judith Pierce soothed him in a gentle voice.
Noah seemed to finally relax and said, "Mommy said that if I just cry, my little uncle will come see me. But I couldn’t cry, so Mommy hit me..."
Judith Pierce’s face turned rigid and pale.
Just then, Chloe Reed and Fiona Linton walked out and heard what Noah said.
The child’s voice was innocent, but his words sent a shock through everyone present.
"Mommy made me stay in the pool, but I didn’t want to. The pool was so cold..." Noah recounted his most vivid memories. "Then my little uncle came. Every time my little uncle came, Mommy would be super, super nice to me, so I really hoped my little uncle would come over often."
"That’s enough, that’s enough... Grandma understands now. Don’t say any more, don’t think about it." Judith Pierce couldn’t bear to hear any more. She hugged Noah tightly. "Don’t be afraid. From now on, Grandma will protect you. No one will dare to bully you."
"I miss Mommy," Noah said, then paused and added, "But I don’t miss Mommy either."
A child’s feelings can be so contradictory.
He couldn’t resist it when Sunny Reed was nice to him. Whenever others were around, Sunny was unbelievably gentle. He craved that gentleness and wished his mother could be like that all the time.
But when no one else was there, his mother was cold and distant. When he went to her for a hug, she would shove him away, her face showing undisguised disgust.
Noah wouldn’t move. He just wanted his mommy to hold him.
Now, held in his grandma’s arms, Noah felt a sense of warmth. He couldn’t walk, but he had found this warmth, and he suddenly felt that it would be nice if he could never walk again.
"That’s horrible..."
Fiona Linton murmured, her hands and feet turning cold.
As someone who grew up surrounded by her parents’ love, she simply couldn’t understand why Sunny Reed would treat her own child this way.
Chloe Reed, however, lowered her gaze, her hands by her sides clenching into fists.
’She thought about all the times in the past when Sunny Reed had called Walker Grant away, always using Noah as an excuse.’
’Either he had a fever or a stomachache. She couldn’t handle it, she’d say, begging Walker Grant to go over and help.’
’And Walker Grant would rush over the moment he heard the child was unwell.’
’Because that was his older brother’s child—his only child.’
’And now, it turned out all of it had been an elaborate lie crafted by Sunny Reed. She had used a child to deceive Walker Grant.’
’He had been deceived all this time.’
’And what about her?’
’All her resentment and sadness before, the utter heartbreak that followed—what was it all for?’
’Every single emotion had been manipulated by Sunny Reed.’