Chapter 511: Her Thoughts Begin to Waver
Chapter 511: Chapter 511: Her Thoughts Begin to Waver
Seeing his wife getting more and more agitated, Felix Sutton placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Helen, I know you’re worried about Addie," he reminded her calmly. "But you’ll scare her if you get this worked up."
Then, his eyes behind his lenses focused on Addie Sutton, and his tone softened. "Addie, we are a family. If you run into trouble in the future, you can tell your mother and me. Don’t keep it all bottled up inside, and don’t do anything foolish, okay?"
Hearing this, Addie Sutton’s lips moved. She asked softly, "Would it do any good if I told you?"
Felix Sutton’s brow furrowed slightly, a hint of displeasure rising within him.
He adjusted his glasses, maintaining his gentle tone. "Of course it would. Like I said, we are a family."
"We’re not." Addie Sutton’s voice was quiet, but it carried an unshakable resolve.
"What did you say?" Felix Sutton seemed to doubt his own ears, unable to believe her response.
Addie Sutton’s gaze bore straight into his eyes, as if trying to see right through him. "You’ve never treated me like family."
"Who told you that?" Felix Sutton practically squeezed the words through his teeth.
"I figured it out myself. It wouldn’t have done any good even if I had told you," Addie Sutton said calmly. "Grandma would hit me without any rhyme or reason. You saw it with your own eyes, but you never stopped her."
"The fact that we didn’t stop her proves we truly see you as family," Felix Sutton explained. "Because she’s your grandmother and you’re her granddaughter, we felt it was perfectly natural for her to discipline you."
Addie Sutton suddenly found this laughable. "I said she hit me without any rhyme or reason. Do you not understand what that means?"
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Felix Sutton’s face. He clenched his fists and said in a low voice, "Let’s go home and have a proper talk about this."
He looked at his wife. "Take Addie home."
"Okay." Helen Lockwood agreed, grabbing Addie Sutton’s wrist and pulling her up. "Let’s go. We’re going home."
Addie Sutton wrenched her hand free and declared, "I’m not going home."
"What do you mean by that?" Felix Sutton asked.
"Uncle Sutton, Auntie Sutton." Addie Sutton looked at them, her tone earnest. "I know I’m not your biological daughter."
"What did you call us?" Helen Lockwood stared at her, stunned.
Addie Sutton continued slowly, "And I know that now that you have Sunny, you don’t need me anymore."
"Who said that?" Helen Lockwood’s brows knitted tightly. "Who said we don’t need you? You’re the daughter I worked so hard to raise for seventeen years!"
"I can feel it." Addie Sutton met Helen Lockwood’s angry eyes and gave a faint smile. "I’m a living person. I have my own feelings. Whether or not you have me in your hearts, whether or not you love me... I know better than anyone."
Hearing these words, a barely perceptible flicker crossed Helen Lockwood’s eyes, and a trace of guilt crept into her heart.
"I’m very grateful that you raised me." Addie Sutton’s straight back slowly bent as she gave them a formal bow. "I won’t cause you any more trouble in the future."
Helen Lockwood had originally thought it would be fine if Addie left. After all, she wasn’t her biological child.
But then she remembered what her mother-in-law had said last night—
"We worked so hard to raise that girl to the point where she can earn money for the family, so how can we just let her go? Our Sunny is waiting for her to support him. She’ll only be twenty-one or twenty-two when she graduates from vocational college. If she waits until she’s thirty to get married, she can earn a lot of money for the family."
Helen Lockwood thought it made perfect sense. They couldn’t have raised her for so many years for nothing. No matter what, she had to coax Addie back home.
At this thought, her legs gave way, and she plopped right onto the floor, starting to wail. "Addie, Mommy can’t live without you! Addie, you’re my daughter... If you don’t want me anymore, then I don’t want to live! I’ll just smash my head against the wall and die right here!"
Addie Sutton never expected Helen Lockwood to do something like this. She stood frozen to the spot, her expression dazed.
Renee Jennings saw this and her slender brows furrowed slightly. ’I wonder if Addie’s resolve will waver?’
Michelle Fuller’s heart lurched as well.
’Oh no, this woman is playing the victim! Addie is no match for that!’
"You’re faking..." Michelle Fuller started to say, but Renee Jennings raised a hand to stop her.
Michelle Fuller turned to look at her, silently mouthing the question: ’Renee, what is it?’
Renee Jennings typed a line of text into her phone’s notepad and showed it to her:
[Let Addie choose for herself. This is her destiny; we can’t interfere too much.]
Addie Sutton knew full well her adoptive parents didn’t love her. If her resolve wavered because of Helen Lockwood’s histrionics, then Renee Jennings could only respect her choice.
Some things, perhaps, were simply destined to be.
Michelle Fuller understood. She nodded and took out her own phone to type: [I get it. Don’t interfere with another’s karma.]
Renee Jennings stared blankly at the text, thinking of the Michelle Fuller from her premonition.
She could have enjoyed a stable, happy, and wonderful life as a rich young lady, but she was led astray by a malicious female side character and met a tragic end.
Fortunately, that wouldn’t happen this time.
Renee Jennings would protect the people who loved her.
Helen Lockwood’s wails echoed throughout the police station. It was a heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching performance.
Felix Sutton took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes hard, preparing to guilt-trip Addie Sutton.
His eyes were red and his voice choked with emotion. "Addie, can you really bear to abandon your mother and me, to abandon this family? Without you, our family will never be whole again..."
Raleigh watched from the side, utterly speechless.
’These two are pretty good actors.’
"Addie, won’t you please come home?" Helen Lockwood seemed to be giving it her all. She knelt before Addie Sutton and asked in a hoarse voice, "Mommy is begging you, please come home, okay?"
Watching this scene, Addie Sutton felt conflicted and extremely frustrated.
’They clearly don’t love me anymore, so why are they doing this?’
She squeezed her eyes shut in anguish, and finally, with a THUD, she knelt down opposite Helen Lockwood.
Helen Lockwood was so stunned that for a moment, she forgot to keep crying.
"Dad, Mom." Tears welled in Addie Sutton’s eyes as her gaze shifted between the two of them.
When Helen Lockwood and Felix Sutton heard her switch back to these terms of address, their hearts leaped with joy.
’Knew it. The girl’s a soft touch.’
But just as they began to feel happy, they heard Addie Sutton say, "This is the last time I will ever call you that."
Anger flared up in Helen Lockwood and Felix Sutton’s hearts once again.
’What the hell?’
"I think I need to tell you, very seriously, that I’m not the one abandoning you, and I’m certainly not the one abandoning this family." Addie Sutton’s expression was firm, and every word resonated with conviction. "You were the ones who didn’t want me first. You chose me, and then you pushed me away with your own hands."
A sheen of tears gradually coated her eyes, and her voice trembled slightly. "Every night, I would hide under my blanket and cry until I had no tears left, then I’d convince myself to stay. But you pushed me away again and again... I’m just so tired, and I’m scared."