Chapter 72\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eventually, I left the studio, my mind heavy with questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow is Aria? Did she speak again?\u201d Daisy immediately approached me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She noticed the ruined painting in my hand and faltered. \u201cWhy are you taking that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis painting is quite different from Aria\u2019s usual style. I\u2019m going to show it to her therapist,\u201d I replied coldly. \u201cAria\u2019s care still rests in your hands. I expect your full attention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRidley, you know I\u2019ve always treated Aria like my own daughter. I will continue to do my absolute best for her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I gave her a long, searching look before turning to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Outside the apartment, I spoke quietly into the darkness. \u201cSean. Come out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the oak tree near the entrance, a lithe young man dropped down with practiced ease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSir.\u201d He stood respectfully in the shadows, awaiting instructions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHas Aria shown any unusual behavior while staying here?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, sir. Miss Aria follows her regular routine. She paints most of the day and rarely leaves her studio.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting tomorrow, shadow her. Never be more than thirty feet away from her. Understood?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean acknowledged the order and leapt back into the tree, disappearing among the branches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat in my car, massaging my temples. If there were any other solution, I would never leave my own flesh and blood in the care of a woman I didn\u2019t fully trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Aria refused to return home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mere mention of coming back to the main house filled her with terror.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t understand why my daughter harbored such intense fear toward her family\u2026 No matter how many child psychologists I\u2019d consulted, none could provide an answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then there was another puzzle-\u00a0<\/p>\n
8:53 Fri, Nov 7\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 72\u00a0<\/p>\n
I opened the painting in my hands. Why did Aria\u2019s eyes look so similar to Cedar\u2019s? Was there a connection I was missing?\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I was about to drive away, my phone vibrated in my pocket,\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was Albert.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Sterling, I\u2019ve completed the background check you requested. Ms. Wright was adopted by the Wright family when she was six months old. She moved out of the family home at eighteen for college but still regularly accompanied Mrs. Wright and Selena Wright to various social events. According to my research, Ms. Wright appeared at social functions approximately every two months. She has never disappeared from public view for as long as ten months.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I narrowed my eyes. \u201cAre there photographs from each of these appearances?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
If she had never disappeared for ten months, how could she have had a child out of wedlock?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or was she lying?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing adopted made Ms. Wright an easy target at these events. Some of the socialites would deliberately take bad photos of her and spread them online. There\u2019s documentation of nearly every public appearance she made, but it\u2019s all meant to make her look bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGet rid of all those photos,\u201d I said coldly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHold on.\u201d I hesitated. \u201cAnd find out about that child\u2013the one who was with her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ended the call and stared at the partly damaged painting again. Those eyes\u2026 they were unmistakably the same as Cedar\u2019s. And now that\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought about it, the woman in the painting wore the exact same outfit she had on earlier today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A strange, unsettling thought began to form in my mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Could it be possible that Cedar had somehow met my daughter today? And if so, why would Daisy lie about it?\u00a0<\/p>\n
More importantly, why would Aria, who rarely showed emotion toward anyone, look so comfortable in this stranger\u2019s arms?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I started the engine, my mind racing with questions that demanded answers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sky Remembered the Touch of Our Unfinished Goodbyes by Lysa Orion Rehn 72 Chapter 72\u00a0 Eventually, I left the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zero-stars-for-daddy-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}