Chapter 161: Bunny?
Evelyn didn’t care about her revenge anymore. She just couldn’t understand how her mother ended up in such a state and why William had never realized her death might have been faked?!
"W-what happened to her?" Evelyn asked, her voice breaking with pain. When Damien and Ronan exchanged glances, unsure if sharing this now would help, she pleaded, "Please! I deserve to know everything."
At Zevian’s nod, Damien let out a sigh. Gracia’s past was brutal, and for someone who dealt with death every day, even Damien felt it was cruel. Ronan agreed to it, hesitant to share the details. They both had become friends during this process, sharing same sympathy for Gracia.
Without each other’s help and a full day of brainstorming, they would never have found Gracia. Heck! They wouldn’t even have discovered her death was fake if not for the anonymous reports they’d received from an unknown source. It was still a mystery who had sent them and why, but out of all times, they chose now to help. Still, it had greatly helped them locate Gracia in just a few days.
"Damien!" Evelyn called, pulling him out of his thoughts. She looked at Ronan hopefully, who sighed, nodded, and slowly began to recount Gracia’s story.
"That day," Ronan started, recalling the time Evelyn was six and kidnapped from her school. "Your kidnapping was a tactic, a way to actually get to her. Gracia was only shot in non-fatal areas. Later, a dead body shot in all the critical places, with the same number of bullets, was switched in her place."
"Birthmarks and even the tattoo your mom had on her wrist—they mimicked them on the double and presented her body to your family," Damien continued, pausing for a second before adding, "They shot multiple times her in the face, leaving no room for doubt."
Evelyn remembered how her mother’s face was completely covered during the funeral. She’d tried to uncover it, but her grandmother had stopped her, saying Gracia wouldn’t want her daughter to remember her that way. The memory clenched Evelyn’s heart, and a fury rose in her at whoever had orchestrated it.
"Later, your mother was transferred somewhere we have no clue. She was kept there for nearly a decade, which we believe is the root cause of her current condition."
"You mean..." Evelyn trailed off, staring tearfully at Ronan. His words hinted at something her heart hated to imagine, but Damien spilled the truth.
"She was tortured, driven to madness, made to forget everything—even herself. Once they succeeded, Gracia was transferred here. Records say she’s been here for over five years, but we think it’s longer. They’re likely altering dates to prevent the government from feeling suspicious."