Thatch\u2019s jaw was set like stone. He glanced from his unconscious son to his pleading daughter, but his resolve held. Through gritted teeth, he repeated the lie: \u201cDraven is your brother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVery well,\u201d Haskell said, and without a flicker of hesitation, he gestured to Crispin. \u201cNext.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir.\u201d Crispin turned, the pouch of needles in hand, and started toward Valeria.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes flew wide. She gripped Thatch\u2019s arm with all her strength. \u201cDad! You promised you wouldn\u2019t let him hurt me! Is it because it\u2019s not you they\u2019re torturing? Dad, this is your fault! None of this would be happening if it weren\u2019t for you! Just tell him!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Thatch couldn\u2019t. Admitting the truth would mean the end of his life as he knew it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The realization that her father would sacrifice her to save himself finally broke Valeria. The dam of her fear and resentment burst, and she began to scream at him. \u201cThatch, we are your children! Your own flesh and blood! How can you just stand there and watch this happen? You\u2019re not a man, you\u2019re a\u00a0<\/p>\n
monster!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have known you were selfish! You left us to rot in that orphanage for years just to serve your\u00a0<\/p>\n
own ambitions!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou even sold your own son!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we trusted you! We did everything you said because we thought you would give us a better life!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re nothing but a selfish, cowardly, heartless bastard!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She pounded her fists against his arm, her voice raw with hysteria.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough!\u201d Thatch roared, grabbing her wrists. \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for me, would you have had three years of living in luxury in the Palmer family?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you dare!\u201d she shrieked back. \u201cYou\u2019re the one who threw me in that orphanage in the first place! If you weren\u2019t my father, I never would have suffered there at all!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But her tirade was cut short as Crispin reached her. Knowing she was abandoned, Valeria made a last, desperate move. She threw herself from her wheelchair and crawled frantically toward Haskell, bowing her head to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHaskell, bro, I\u2019m so sorry! I know I was wrong! For the sake of the three years I called you my brother, please, let me go!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was Thatch! He made us do it! The kidnapping, everything! He told us we had to listen to him if we wanted to stay with the Palmers!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haskell remained unmoved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa glanced at him. \u201cGoing soft? Don\u2019t forget, you nearly died. If it weren\u2019t for me, you would have been crippled for life, a laughingstock in high society. No matter how brilliant or handsome you were, you\u2019d forever be known as the cripple.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A bitter smile touched Haskell\u2019s lips. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Larissa. I\u2019m long past going soft. I just find it\u2026 tragic. In the end, Valeria and I are both just pathetic children of the same man.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 445\u00a0<\/p>\n
Valeria, oblivious, continued to knock her head against the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haskell sighed. \u201cWhat was I thinking? This is a man who sold his own son. A man who watched his other son be brutalized at my engagement party without lifting a finger. Why did I ever think threatening his children would make him talk? The only person he cares about is himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The realization seemed to drain the fight out of him. He had lost interest in this cruel game. \u201cCrispin.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSir.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTake them both, along with the evidence from the kidnapping. Hand them over to the police.\u201d He was done wasting time on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Valeria stopped, her head lifting in a daze.\u00a0<\/p>\n
09:39\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Wings of Broken Time by Alina Das 445 Thatch\u2019s jaw was set like stone. He glanced from his unconscious son […]<\/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":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-throne-of-thorns-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30970","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=30970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}