A kiss

When Andrew and Madelyn returned to the Miller residence, Athena’s face glowed with affection as she looked at the latter, clearly showing how much she adored her.

“How could I have been so blind despite being so sharp my whole life?” Athena lamented.

“She swapped all the jewels–an entire box of them!”

Madelyn was clueless about what had happened at the Garcia residence after she left. She only knew that Ryan had taken Samuel to retrieve the items. She had wondered why he needed Samuel, a jewelry appraisal expert, to accompany him.

But now, hearing Athena’s words, Madelyn was shocked.

Elena had done something so shameless and disgraceful. This scandal had ruined her image entirely in the Miller family’s eyes, making all her previous efforts worthless.

“She swapped everything?” Madelyn asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Athena replied. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Can you believe how deep her schemes go? She knew planned to take them back and made such elaborate preparations.

“It’s a good thing Mr. Sanchez Senior went along. Otherwise, they would have fled abroad by now.”

The more Athena talked, the angrier she became. She thought about how much she had doted on Elena over the years as she felt sorry for the latter for losing her mother at a young age.

Despite Amelia’s poor parenting, Elena had grown up to be graceful and gentle, which was admirable. But recent events made it clear that one couldn’t just ignore a person’s true nature.

“Alright, Grandma Athena. Don’t be angry. Let’s eat, shall we? I’m starving,” Madelyn said, trying to lighten the mood.

She genuinely didn’t want to hear about Elena anymore, and more importantly, she was hungry. It was already almost 7:00 pm.

When Athena heard that Madelyn was hungry, she quickly had Grace arrange the meal. They were all hungry at that hour.

But seeing Madelyn, Athena couldn’t help but complain about Elena. She had almost suffered a huge loss this time and needed to vent.

Grace kept serving Madelyn her favorite dishes during the meal and asked, “Can your not return to the Garcia family anymore?”

Grace was blunt. After all, the Garcia family hadn’t treated Madelyn well. She couldn’t understand why Madelyn insisted on returning to the Garcias when the Millers treated her so well.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t go back anymore,” Madelyn reassured her.

“Really?”

Grace looked at Madelyn in disbelief. Hearing Madelyns firm tone, she was worried about being disappointed again.

Madelyn nodded.

IPS 2/2

“Practically” meant “completely“.

Grace looked at Madelyn and then at Andrew. Andrew pulled the residency documentation out of his bag

and handed it to Grace.

She opened it and found two papers inside–a court ruling document and a family dissolution agreement signed by Madelyn and Caleb.

“What? How did it come to this?”

Grace was shocked. They had only been out of touch for a few days, yet it seemed that Madelyn and the Garcia family had been secretly at war, and they knew nothing about it.

Andrew said, “Even without these documents, she was never really part of the Garcia family.”

Andrew didn’t intend to hide anything from his family He wanted Grace and Athena to know that there was no need to feel awkward around Amelia and the others or to keep Madelyn’s connection to them in mind.

Grace and Athena were even more confused.

“What do you mean?” Athena asked.

Andrew glanced at Madelyn, who seemed unfazed. So, he recounted the entire story of Madelyn and the Garcia family.

The more Grace and Athena listened, the more shocked they became. They had no idea things were so complicated.

When Andrew finished speaking, Grace murmured, “So, the Maddie we brought home all those years ago. was never the daughter Caleb and Amelia lost?”

Andrew nodded.