chapter1313

When Kylie heard that, her heart clenched so tight it hurt. She squeezed Lydia's hand, eyes brimming with tears. "It's my fault. I've been so blind all these years, looking after a traitor in the house and never even realizing everything you've been through."

Juna made a little sound of disapproval and handed Kylie a tissue. Don't blame yourself. Lucinda and Grace are experts at hiding who they really are. If not, we wouldn't still be stuck dealing with them."

Kylie dabbed at her eyes and nodded, steeling herself. "So... what do we do now?"

Lydia's voice was calm and steady. "We let them meet."

To keep things under wraps, Grace set up the meeting with Lucinda at a busy night market. There were barely any cameras around, and if things went south, it'd be easy to slip away in the crowd. The real reason for meeting was simple-she needed to get her hands on a certain phone. Once she had it, she was out of there.

Raised as a sheltered heiress, Lucinda had never set foot in a place like this before. She stuck out even with her hat and mask on. Waves of people surrounded her, and she couldn't spot Grace anywhere. Annoyed, she muttered to herself, "What is Grace even thinking? Why here? It's dirty and chaotic. How does anyone eat this stuff?"

She was still grumbling when she spotted someone in the far corner, bundled up even more than she was, waving. It had to be Grace. Lucinda hurried over, frowning. "Grace, why do we have to meet somewhere like this..."

She eyed the wobbly plastic table and chairs, hesitating. There had to be germs everywhere. How could anyone sit here? It was unthinkable.

Grace, knowing exactly how Lucinda was, quickly pulled out tissues and wiped down the chair over and over. "Alright, Lucinda, it's clean now. Sit."

Lucinda made a face, then stacked a few more tissues on the seat before she finally sat down, looking like she was bracing herself for a medical procedure.

"Lucinda, hand me the phone. Now," Grace whispered urgently.

Lucinda had been dying to get rid of it anyway. She reached into her bag and passed it over. "Here."

She leaned in, voice low. "Grace, you have to stop with all this stuff. It's too dangerous."

ok fazed. Her tone

Grace didn't look

turned serious. Listen to me, Lucinda. be gone for a couple of

days. Don't do anything while I'm

gone. Most importantly, don't let

anyone in the Norwood family notice anything strange. Got it?"

Lucinda scowled. "When are you coming back? When are you actually going to help me get rid of Lydia?"

She was so done with Lydia. She couldn't stand another minute with her in the Norwood family. She wanted her gone, for good.

"Don't worry. I'll be back in five days, tops. When I get back, it'll be time to deal with Lydia. But until then, you have to keep calm. Don't do anything reckless."

Grace was honestly a little scared after everything Lucinda had done recently. She didn't want her to mess up the plan again.

But what Grace didn't realize was that Lucinda was fed up with her, too. Nothing had been accomplished. That billion dollars she'd handed over had disappeared into thin air.

"Alright, Grace."

Grace could hear the frustration in Lucinda's voice. She lowered hers, trying to soothe her. "Just a little

longer. When I get back and we finally deal with Lydia, I'll tell?ou something amazing. Really."

After catching Lydia, Grace planned to reveal the truth about Lucinda's past. She was convinced. Lucinda. still didn't fully trust her but once she found out Grace was her real mother, willing to do anything for her, maybe then she'd stop questioning everything.

But for Lucinda, nothing counted as good news except Lydia's death or marrying Connor. So she just assumed that's what Grace meant and nodded right away. "Alright, Grace. I'll wait for you."