Lost and Found: Return of My Mysterious Fiancee

In the school, Emrys maintained his stroke-like pose, half-open mouth drooling, until the security guards dragged him away, looking utterly foolish. Once her backers left, Amber dared not make more trouble. After all, despite now being the darling daughter of the Ashbury Reed family, her notorious past in Ensford was still fresh in everyone’s memory, making few willing to associate with her. Those who did circle her were merely trying to climb the social ladder through her new family connections.

Trying to smooth things over, Amber approached Elena Heisler, “Elena, I might have misunderstood the situation earlier, I rushed upstairs too quickly…”

“Shut up!” Elena Heisler stepped forward and slapped her. “Stop pretending, you did this on purpose! Why else would you just cry and not stop your brother when he was hitting me?”

“You, you hit me!” Amber, having been elevated by the Reed family, was not accustomed to such treatment. She even thought that with the Reed family’s support, she would never face such indignities again.

“Yeah, I hit you because you framed me! Why shouldn’t I?” Elena Heisler, known for her fiery temper, was still furious about being used by Amber in the past.

“You didn’t fall earlier or later, just right by me, crying and screaming. How could anyone believe it wasn’t deliberate?” After saying this, Elena stormed off.

Halfway through, Elena felt uneasy. Since her family had been reprimanded by Jared Farrell, she was no longer the reckless troublemaker she had been. Now, having offended Amber and even slapped Emrys, she was somewhat afraid of retaliation from the Ashbury Reed family, which was no less influential than the Farrells.

Thinking it over, Elena decided to run to Tina’s office. Tina was busy planning for an upcoming exam in Class 22D, while Jared Farrell, having nothing better to do, was feeding her snacks. Tina, head down, mouth busy like a little squirrel, accepted whatever Jared popped in her mouth. Jared swallowed, his throat moving slightly. “The girl is truly enchanting!”

“Miss Reed,” Elena called out timidly from the office doorway.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“What is it?” Tina swallowed the nuts and turned to Elena, puzzled by Jared’s sudden enthusiasm for feeding her, her cheeks aching.

“I, can I transfer to Class 22D?” Elena asked, somewhat embarrassed, avoiding Tina’s gaze since she had previously looked down on Class 22D and had poor relations with many of its members.

“If you want to transfer, then transfer,” Tina responded nonchalantly, unbothered by the prospect of an additional student.

“I’ll have my mom come to the school to handle the paperwork right away,” Elena said, visibly relieved and quickly left.

As Tina returned to her documents, another nut was popped into her mouth. She glanced at Jared, who sat smiling broadly at her, his expression akin to admiring a masterpiece.

At the Reed residence in Ashbury, the living room was unusually quiet. Annabelle watched as her eldest son, Jasper Reed, took a phone call, nodding slightly. After hanging up, she inquired, “How did the investigation into Amber’s paternity test turn out?”

If Tina were there, she would recognize Annabelle as the elderly lady she had saved at Serenity Ridge. Jasper placed his phone on the coffee table, “It’s confirmed, no tampering. Amber is indeed my daughter.”

“Mom,” Garrett, Annabelle’s younger son, looked puzzled, “Didn’t we already do a paternity test when we first brought her back? Why another one?”

“Are you and Jasper doubting that Amber is Jasper’s daughter?” Esther, Annabelle’s daughter, chimed in.

After her comment, she shook her head, “I think you’re overthinking it. How could our aunt possibly tamper with the DNA test right under our eyes?” She referred to Elizabeth from Ensford.

Annabelle leaned back in her mahogany chair, her aged eyes serene yet commanding silence, not uttering a word. Jasper’s face remained impassive, his thoughts unreadable.

Sitting next to Esther, Audrey Woodwind smiled, “Mom, they must be shocked by all the terrible things Amber did in Ensford.”

As soon as she spoke, the room fell silent again. This morning, for some unknown reason, the tales of Amber’s repeated false accusations against her foster sister, and her attempts to frame her foster father for rape, which nearly killed a patient, swiftly spread throughout Ashbury. It seemed intentional that the Reed family was the last to know, as by the time they tried to intervene, every major family and their allies were already aware.

“I’ve counted, she’s been jailed twice in Ensford alone,” Audrey continued, counting on her fingers, “Once for nearly killing her patient due to incompetence, and once for trying to kill a witness to cover up her false accusationagainst her foster father. Despite her family’s attempts to stop her, the people outside still spoke ill of Amber.”

Originally, Audrey had been the youngest and most cherished daughter in the Reed family, constantly at the center of attention. However, Amber’s arrival quickly shifted the family’s focus away from her. Within just over a month, Audrey felt increasingly neglected.

This made Audrey dislike Amber even more. Despite her feelings, she knew she was not truly part of that family; Jasper was the head of the Reed family, and Amber was his only child. For her own sake and for her family’s, she couldn’t afford to openly resent Amber.

But Amber had been too much, even though Audrey had tried to get along. Amber always seemed to set traps, making the rest of the Reed family think Audrey was jealous and wanted to compete for affection, which cooled their behavior towards her.

But now…

“Grandma, Jasper, you have no idea how awful the things my classmates said were. They said our Reed family even acknowledges such a morally corrupt, ungrateful wretch,” Audrey said, her face showing a mix of schadenfreude. “They even said that if it weren’t for Amber’s foster father who took her in, she might have starved to death long ago, but she could bite the hand that fed her. They said she might stab us in the back someday too.

“Just think about it, she lived with her foster parents for eight years, but how long has she been with us?”

“Oh, and there’s more…” Audrey pulled out her phone to show everyone two videos where Amber, in moments of spite, had spoken ill of her foster parents for being poor and had disowned them in front of Hugo.

She looked meaningfully at Annabelle and Jasper, “Take a good look. Her foster parents saved her, but see how she despises them for their poverty. If it weren’t for our Reed family’s wealth and our willingness to acknowledge her, she probably wouldn’t have come back at all.”

“Audrey Woodwind!” Esther’s voice carried a stern warning.

The dynamics within the Reed family were clearly strained. Amber’s past actions and her current behavior continued to stir unrest and dissatisfaction among her new family members, revealing the complicated layers of personal and familial loyalty and betrayal.