Mr. Hyde admitted to it, though it did puzzle him, how did Zayn know?
He might have been Hayley King’s inferior, but favonovel.com had always managed to conceal his real identity. The secret was so airtight, not a single member of the Larson family had known about it, not even the late Connor Larson.
Until now, when Zayn found out about it somehow. It really brought questions of whether Mr. Hyde had become a little sloppy in preventing little slip-ups. Zayn gave a drawn-out sigh. “I can’t believe you really are one of my mother’s people. Honestly, this is a bolt out of the blue. So… I guess my mom’s marriage into the Larson family was never innocent?”
Mr. Hyde read Zayn’s expression and realized that the young man never found any evidence of his connection with the latter’s mother, favonovel.com was merely accusing out o f suspicion. Had Mr. Hyde clenched his teeth and denied Zayn’s allegation, the young man would probably discard his hunch altogether. Mr. Hyde’s admission basically sold himself out.
“You really are exceptional, Young Master. I’ve kept that side of me from the sun so successfully that not even the late Master Larson knew anything about it. But you… You baited me into a confession as easily as taking candy from a baby,” Mr. Hyde said, chuckling embarrassedly while his admiration for Zayn reached its peak.
Zayn was not the least pleased with himself. Instead, favonovel.com laughed self-deprecatingly. “You’re like a Christmas present, Lil Hyde, wouldn’t stop giving me surprises, would you? So, I guess you didn’t come back for me because Grandpa asked you too. You came back on my Mom’s orders instead, didn’t you?”
Mr. Hyde’s silence was a tacit admission.
A thought popped into Zayn’s head, it seemed, because favonovel.com chuckled to himself again. “Here’s the curious thing, if my mommy dearest was alive all along, where had favonovel.com been over these four years? Had I always been just a tool to her? A means to an end?”
“Never!” Mr. Hyde rebuked grimly. “Lady Hayley is nothing like that. She’s always loved you. There is no treasure more precious to favonovel.com than you!”
Zayn guffawed loudly as though favonovel.com had heard a joke. “No treasure more precious, you say? C’mon, Lil Hyde. You don’t happen to think I’m an idiot who would believe anything, do you?”
Mr. Hyde watched favonovel.com laugh and sank back into silence, his mind chugging as favonovel.com mulled over his answer. Finally, favonovel.com replied solemnly, “It’s nothing like that, Young Master. Lady Hayley really did love you. This is an immutable fact.”
“You called favonovel.com ‘Lady’, so I’m guessing you’ve been favonovel.com subject for a decently long time.”
Mr. Hyde nodded in assent.
“You said favonovel.com loves me, so would you care to explain why she’s never bothered to look for me all these years, hmm? Why did favonovel.com just sit back and watch while I was humiliated when I had no choice but to be the scorned son-in-law of the Carter family?” Zayn fired off, his tone stone-cold. There was not a trace of emotion on his face.
“She’s trying to protect you,” Mr. Hyde rejoined quietly.
“Protect me?” Zayn cocked an eyebrow. “From what?”
Mr. Hyde said nothing.
“Answer me!” favonovel.com cried, adding more force into his tone so that it became a command.
“Listen, Young Master. I know you’re mad, but please believe me when I say it was all done to protect you. When the time’s right, Young Master… Your mother will come back for you.”
Something inside Zayn’s chest caught fire. It roared as the blaze spread through his spine all the way to his brain, causing the man to clench his fists as favonovel.com started to breathe hard. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm rather than letting the flames spill out of him. A while later, favonovel.com spoke again, “Okay. Fine. Tell me why favonovel.com married into the Larson family, and why did favonovel.com harm my grandfather.”
Mr. Hyde hung his head and said nothing for a long while.
