Lost and Found: Return of My Mysterious Fiancee

With Annabelle’s permission, under the pretense of tutoring Zackary, Lily began to visit Whispering Pines frequently. The Reed family was somewhat surprised to see her so often, but out of respect for the old lady, no one objected.

“Zackary, do this problem,” Lily said, flipping through his textbook out of boredom and tossing an exercise book in front of him. Zackary was still very young and couldn’t even do basic arithmetic. Looking at the exercises, she felt like a joke. What was she doing here, a medical genius admired by everyone, teaching a child how to count? If it weren’t for her ulterior motives, she would never have endured this.

“Miss Ward,” Zackary said hesitantly, holding the third-grade exercise book, “I don’t know how…”

“Stupid,” Lily scolded him, closing the book. “If it weren’t for your sister Tina, do you think you could stay with the Reed family? You have no relation to them. A distant relative trying to cling to the main family-what a joke!”

Zackary bit his lip in grievance, tears welling up in his eyes.

“And you still have the nerve to cry?” Lily sneered. “Just like your sister, pretending to be pitiful to disgust people. Who are you trying to fool? Do you think I’m as gullible as the Reed family?”

As she spoke, she pinched Zackary hard in frustration. “It’s all because of your sister! She took everything that belonged to me! You both deserve nothing!”

Zackary winced in pain but still defended Tina. “My sister isn’t like that! You can’t say bad things about her! She’s good to me! She’s good in every way!”

The more Zackary defended Tina, the angrier Lily became. Why did everyone think Tina was so great? Muff and Logan favored her, and Jared treated her like a treasure.

“Shut up!” Lily shouted furiously.

Zackary stubbornly stared at her, tears streaming down his face.

“Zackary, come have some fruit!” At that moment, Annabelle and a servant entered the room and saw what was happening. “What’s going on here? Why is he crying?”

The servant placed the fruit on the table while Annabelle quickly walked over to wipe Zackary’s tears. “Zackary, tell Grandma why you’re crying.”

“I…” Zackary started to speak honestly but stopped when Lily shot him a fierce glare.

He closed his mouth in fear and turned his head away.

“The problem was too hard,” Lily quickly answered with feigned concern. “Zackary couldn’t solve it and got upset.”

Annabelle believed her and comforted Zackary. “If you don’t know how to do it, take your time learning. Miss Ward is very capable; if you study with her, you’ll succeed too.”

“Of course,” Lily said with a threatening look in her eyes directed at Zackary. “Zackary is smart; he’ll catch up quickly.”

“Yes, Zackary is Tina’s brother; he’s very smart!” Annabelle patted Zackary’s head. “Study well; Grandma will have your favorite snacks ready after class.”

Zackary nodded timidly but didn’t dare look Annabelle in the eye.

Annabelle soon left with the servant, leaving only Lily and Zackary in the room again.

“Good,” Lily said satisfactorily. “Just like that. If you dare tell the truth, you’ll face the consequences!”

Zackary hung his head in fear and didn’t speak.

A few days later…

Tina had been busy investigating missing infants with Jared and had found some results. In three nearby counties, twenty infants had gone missing. These areas were impoverished, and each county had lost several children. The local authorities didn’t know about the GTO organization and treated it as a trafficking case. GTO operated covertly, so higher-ups hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

Tina and Jared visited these areas to understand the situation better. They wanted to rescue the children but didn’t know GTO’s exact location or if they would target other regions next. Most importantly, they didn’t know how many infants GTO wanted for their virus experiments-these were all unknowns.

Currently, finding Mr. Kim seemed like their best chance for answers. However, despite their efforts, neither Tina nor Jared could locate him. Even Callum Maguire and Snow Judd had tried contacting Mr. Kim without success.

As a result, they reported the matter to national authorities for further action.

After dealing with this issue, Tina returned to the Reed family just in time for lunch. As she entered, she saw Lily sitting at the dining table with the Reeds.

Frowning slightly, she walked over and sat next to Zackary.

Annabelle smiled at her. “Tina, we haven’t seen you for days; were you busy with something?”

Tina glanced at Zackary before responding briefly to Annabelle’s question. “Yes, I had some matters to attend to.”

She reached out to touch Zackary’s head, but he flinched away suddenly.

Tina paused slightly before asking softly, “Zackary, how have you been these past few days?”

“I-I’m fine,” Zackary replied in such a low voice that Tina could barely hear him even though she was sitting right next to him.

Tina’s eyes darkened as she looked at him and then scanned everyone at the table with a cold gaze.

She turned her icy stare toward Annabelle and asked sharply, “Who bullied Zackary while I was away?”

Annabelle was taken aback but quickly responded. “What are you talking about? I’ve told everyone here that no one is allowed to bully him.”

“Really?” Tina slammed her chopsticks on the table. “Do you think I’m blind? Can’t I see my brother’s changes?”

The Reed family members exchanged uneasy glances; they hadn’t expected Tina’s sudden outburst.

Annabelle hurriedly said, “Tina, you must be mistaken! I assure you that no one here would dare bully Zackary.”Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.

“Assure?” Tina scoffed coldly at her. “Do your assurances mean anything?”

Annabelle was momentarily speechless.

Despite previous incidents caused by Liliosa where punishment was promised but never enforced due to familial ties protecting her within the Reed family…

When Emerson family reported Liliosa missing recently-even though Annabelle had declared severing ties-she still sent people searching for Liliosa…

Her assurances indeed meant nothing now…

Annabelle looked at Zackary again but couldn’t see any obvious changes since he’d always been quiet and withdrawn around others…

Maybe something only close siblings like Tina could notice…

After pondering briefly… Annabelle asked thoughtfully… “Is it possible that extra tutoring made him unhappy?”

“Tutoring?” Tina frowned curiously…

“Yes,” replied Lily calmly… “Miss Reed… I am currently serving as Zackary’s tutor… Did you not know?”