Chapter 458 A Truth Too Late

White's concern left Sierra a little speechless, but also shifted her impression of him. Though his words and behavior could be a bit much at times, that was just who he was—blunt and unfiltered, always speaking his mind.

“I’m fine now. But thank you for your concern.”

Because of his genuine concern, Sierra found herself seeing White in a new light.

At lunch, when White brought his tray over to sit with her and Autumn, she didn’t mind at all.

White was funny and well-traveled. He shared stories from countries he’d visited, and since Sierra and Jonathan had just gone to many places for their honeymoon, they actually had things to talk about.

As the three chatted, Sierra’s phone rang. She glanced at the screen, pressed her lips together, and after a brief hesitation, answered.

“Sierra, it’s Susie. If you’re free right now, could we meet?”

Sierra honestly didn’t want to, but after a pause, she agreed.

She told Autumn and White she was stepping out and headed downstairs.

Susie was waiting outside the lab building—she couldn’t get inside without clearance.

“Can we find somewhere to talk?”

Sierra checked the time. “I don’t have much of a break. How about your car?”

Susie nodded quickly. “That works.”

Once in the car, aware of Sierra’s limited time, Susie carefully chose her words. “You probably know about what’s going on between us and Jonathan, right?”

Sierra lifted her eyes briefly. “I don’t. You’ve all been hiding it from him. How would I know?”

Susie heard the resentment in her tone and gave a bitter smile. “If we had had a choice, we wouldn’t have done things this way. I tried to explain to Jonathan, but he won’t listen.”

Sierra replied coldly, “If he doesn’t want to know, then don’t tell me either.”

She reached for the door, ready to leave, but Susie grabbed her hand. “Sierra, please. Just listen.”

She didn’t beg outright, but her eyes were full of silent pleading.

Sierra hesitated and didn’t pull away.

“The situation back then was really complicated. Wendy and I gave birth at nearly the same time.”

She continued, “But there was an accident—Wendy’s baby didn’t make it. And I couldn’t let anyone know I had given birth. So the three of us agreed that Wendy would raise my child as her own. To make it legitimate, she and Chase even got married.”

Hearing this, Sierra found the entire situation absurd. She couldn’t imagine what could drive three people to make such a decision.

Susie saw her confusion but didn’t explain. She went on, “We didn’t plan to keep it secret forever. When the child turned six, we wanted to tell him the truth. But Wendy’s health took a sharp decline. Mentally, she wasn’t well. She forgot that the child wasn’t hers. She truly believed he was her own.”

She continued, “We didn’t know what to do, so we kept delaying it. Then I got pregnant again. We kept searching for doctors to help Wendy, but she just kept getting worse. Eventually, she started forgetting everything, including the fact that she never liked Chase.”

Then, she added, “That time was agonizing. More than once, we wanted to tell Jonathan the truth, but we didn’t know how. Wendy’s condition was so severe—we just kept putting it off.”

She went on, “That day, our youngest son was sick. Chase and I took him to the hospital. We never expected Wendy would pass away while we were gone… and even less that Jonathan would witness it all. From that moment on, he hated us with everything he had, and we were too scared to tell him the truth, so we just went along with the lie.”

Back then, Jonathan had been unstable—filled with hatred, completely devoted to avenging his mother. No one dared speak the truth. They were afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

If that happened, they’d lose him completely.

“We never imagined things would turn out this way,” Susie said, eyes full of pain.

Her own son had treated her like an enemy all these years, and she couldn’t even let it show.

She knew he was surviving on hatred, and all they could do was help him hold on to it. Because without it, he might have lost himself.

When Susie finished speaking, Sierra stayed quiet for a long time. Maybe it had all been an unfortunate chain of events, but what had Jonathan done to deserve this? Why was he the one who had to carry all of it?