0009 Lizbeth Morgan

Francis and Liz Hunt trudged the hallway of the VIP ward arm in arm. Although the man looked haggard due to his days of staying up late and taking care of many things all at once, while the woman was tearstained, there were smiles on their faces. Also, for the very first time in years since they married, in their hearts and minds, they had peace. Even if they still had a lot of things to deal with, now that at least, their daughter was no longer antagonistic towards them, the rest would be easier.

The years had not been easy, but they were aware that it was because of their own choice to hide the truth. If they had been truthful towards Evely from the beginning, things wouldn’t have escalated to the point it did before their daughter’s incident. Also, Francis had to admit that even if he suffered as well, the one who was truly wronged was his wife.

“I made you suffer. It’s been hard on you,” he whispered to his wife who shook her head vehemently.

“No— no. I did not suffer. You told me everything from the start. It was my choice to be with you even if I knew I would be misunderstood.”

Liz Hunt was very firm with her answer. After all, their marriage was not because they were mutually in love at first. It was she who had fallen in love— had loved Francis since she was young.

She was born as Lizbeth Morgan, the princess of the Morgan Family. She was the queen of socialites in her early twenties, and was sought after by many admirers. However, she only had eyes for one man: Francis Hunt.

But circumstances back then were not in her favor as Francis had a legitimate fiancée, whom he loved so much. But that fiancée was unfortunately a very sick person. Then, she was gone too soon, but Francis had Evely and her sister with another woman, and married her.

She had been depressed but refused to marry some other man. Her family was at their wits’ end. But since Liz had always been the beloved child of the Morgans, they let her be. When the opportunity came and Francis divorced his wife, she came and begged Francis to accept her.

At that time, Francis dared not trust Evely to another woman after his disastrous marriage. But Liz was a family friend— someone who grew up with him and he knew her personality well. Also, with Liz’s standing in the social circle, she could be of help to Evely.

Still, since Liz was a family friend, he did not want to be unfair to her because he knew that marrying him would put her at a huge disadvantage. His ex-wife was a nasty person, but he could not do anything about her influence on their daughter because he did not want Evely to know the real circumstances of her birth. He refused her many times, but Liz persisted. She had vowed then and there that she did not care even if she would be wronged or misunderstood. In the end, after two years, Francis married her.

And her unfair treatment began and persisted for ten years.

The harassment she received from Francis’ ex-wife and the hate she got from Evely would have broken other people but not her. True to her words, she persisted and continued to take care of Evely and her needs, in spite of the treatment she received. It was a huge feat worthy of a martyr in love.

But Lizbeth Morgan vowed to suffer in silence, and suffer in silence she did. She did not even complain and continued with her responsibilities.

The only good thing she gained in the decade that she was married to Francis was his love. The man she had always yearned for finally loved her back, and the two of them had their own child five years ago. But even if that was the case, she never changed. Even if Evely’s bad treatment of her was escalating, she did not mind. After all, all Evely’s hate was only directed at her and her father, and not her little brother.

The way Evely looked and treated her little brother with care and kindness when she thought nobody was looking, was enough evidence that without the influence of her mother, Evely was a good and kind child. She’s very loyal too. This was why Liz could understand her antagonism towards her. To Evely, Liz was the reason why her mother had to leave.

But it seemed it was finally over. She had been shocked and elated that Evely called her mom. Never in her wildest dream did she ever think it would be possible.

Francis let out a sigh and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“I’m so sorry for being stubborn about keeping Evely’s birth a secret. Not only did I hurt you. It hurt Evely too— much more than we never thought it would.”

Liz looked up and gave her husband a confused look.

“I wanted to keep the secret, but that woman used it as a weapon again and again. This time, she even dared to harm Evely.”

“What do you mean?”

Francis’s ex-wife sure continued to make trouble by using Evely against them. But for sure, she would not really harm Evely, right? After all, she was still a child who grew in her womb.

“I mean what you think I mean. The police got those people who kidnapped Evely in custody. They found them buried alive— at least most of them are alive. One of them was dead from suffocation, and the rest were confused or mentally incapacitated. But one thing was for sure. Someone paid them to take Evely. I can’t think of anyone else who wants to hurt her. Have you forgotten why I divorced that woman in the first place?”

Francis’ jaws clenched after mentioning his divorce, and Liz’s eyes widened.

Francis divorced his previous wife because she was inflicting pain on Evely to make her sick. She used Evely’s poor health to show everyone, most especially her husband, how good and caring of a mother and wife she was. She was feeding her ego at the expense of the little girl’s health and safety.

Munchausen by proxy, the mental disorder was called. If one of the helpers at home did not blabber to him about it, Francis would never, ever know. He would have lost his daughter in the hands of the woman he trusted to care for her. Just thinking about him not noticing the strangeness of his daughter’s illness made him angry at himself. He had thought that Evely inherited her frail body from her real mother. After all, the other daughter who was registered as Evely’s twin was normal.

That’s right. His ex-wife who Evely thought was her biological mother was nothing but a surrogate. This was the secret of her birth that he had been keeping, thinking that knowing the truth would have a lot of psychological repercussions on his young daughter.

It was very lame and stupid. He should have told the truth to Evely from the start. But Francis truly felt that keeping the secret was the best choice at that time. He realized how foolish that was now.

“When Evely’s condition stabilizes in two days, I will tell her the truth.”