Clarence said, “Answer my question first.”
Stella frowned. After a few seconds, she answered, “After he died, I found something in the box under
his bed.”
“What did you find?”
“A few photos, one pocket watch, and Jeffrey Radomil’s diary.”
“What kind of pocket watch is it?”
Stella answered, “An ordinary one. Would there be any difference?”
Clarence said, “Of course. The producer and production series number are all useful flaws.”
Upon hearing it, Stella parted her lips, but she didn’t utter any word.
Clarence stared at her for a few seconds, pressing his thin lips slightly, “Don’t you want to find him?”
After a moment, Stella lowered her head and said, “I just don’t think it makes any sense.”
“Stella, it’s not the problem if it makes any sense. You should know the truth in the past.”
“What’s the use to know the truth? I just want to lead a peaceful life.”
Since she could remember anything, this had become her biggest wish.
In the fast, because of Jeffrey Radomil, her family was a mess. From time to time, the debtors would
come to their house, yelling outside the door. All she could do was to lock the door and hold Chan
tightly, not afraid to utter any sound.
Later, she met Clarence, making her messy life more difficult.
The man in the photo was a stranger to her completely. She didn’t remember her. She’d rather lead a
peaceful life than finding out why her mother married Jeffrey with her over twenty years ago.
Clarence said, “It’s not the excuse for you to skip. Sometimes, the truth might be crueler than the
reality, but I’ll always be with you.”
Stella was a bit startled, wondering why the wretched man changed the subject so suddenly.
Clarence continued, “Even if you don’t care what the truth is, a series of things have happened
because of it. You are one of the people involved. How can you only care about yourself?”
“Mr. Conrad, I don’t know what you meant.”
“Have you met Charles Steward tonight?”
Stella didn’t understand why he suddenly mentioned Phoebe’s father. She thought for a moment and
said, “Yes, I have.”
Clarence said, “Have you ever thought why there’s no news after your brother had posted the notice in
a missing-persons column for such a long time?”
Stella frowned, more confused.
Back then, when Channing was doing it, she hadn’t expected to get any feedback.
However, since Clarence mentioned it now, she sensed something weird.
After a thought, she didn’t answer. Instead, she asked, “Mr. Conrad, you haven’t answered me how you
knew it.”
Clarence knocked on his knee with his slender fingers, “Haven’t I told you before? There’s nothing you
can’t do without money.”
“Mr. Conrad, I don’t have anything to talk to you then. Bye.”
Stella just stood up, Clarence pulled her hand and chuckled, “All right. I’ll stop teasing. I found it when
looking into Charles Steward’s matters.”
Looking at her confused face, Clarence continued, “Probably the truth means nothing to you, but you
must know what has happened in the past, so you can be well prepared for the unknown things.”
“Mr. Conrad, in human language, please.”
She just wanted to know what Charles had to do with this matter.
Clarence explained, “I’m not certain why Charles Steward has done so, but one thing I’m sure that he
knows the man in the photo, your biological father. He has been preventing the news to spread and
doesn’t want you to find the man.”
Upon hearing it, Stella frowned deeply, lost in thought.
She didn’t have a deep impression of Phoebe’s father, but he looked like a gentle and quiet man. She
couldn’t believe that he had anything to do with her biological father.
Clarence said, “You don’t need to think about other things. I’m telling you now to get you prepared. You
can’t walk into others’ trap directly.”
Upon hearing it, Stella was unhappy, “When did I walk into others’ trap?”
“Did you know what the situation was tonight before you attended the banquet with Emmett Carter?”
“Nothing had happened to me, did it? Besides, even if I didn’t go with Emmett, Mr. Conrad, didn’t you
ask me to bet your date? Is there any difference then?”
Clarence answered, “Of course, there is.”
Stella snorted, “In what way?”
Clarence suddenly laughed, “Stella, do you know why Charles Steward still just stopped you from
finding your biological father instead of doing anything to you directly?”
“I...”
“Because he knows that I’m your backer. He doesn’t have the guts to do anything to you.”
Stella was speechless.
She wondered since when the wretched man had become her backer.
Before she answered, Clarence continued, “Use your brain and think about it - why all through the past
years, Charles Steward never wanted to let Phoebe marry Justin. Instead, just recently, he has taken
the initiative and asked the Conrad family to consider the marriage for convenience. Guess. What’s he
afraid of?”
Stella was still confused about what he had said to her just now. Right then, he switched the subject to
the engagement between Phoebe and Justin. After a moment of silence, she said, “Probably he
doesn’t like you.”
Clarence was speechless.
He said, “I’m discussing something serious with you.”
“Just tell me directly. Why do you keep beating around the bush?”
He asked her to guess. How could she be able to guess?
Clarence pressed his thin lips and said, “Let me tell you the exact timing. He proposed the marriage to
the Conrad family after your brother has posted the notice in a missing-persons column.”
“Do you mean this matter has anything to do with me?”
“Or in other words, your appearance made him scared.”
As for the reason that he was scared, only Charles knew himself what on earth he had done.
Stella’s heart sank bit by bit. Now she completely understood what Clarence meant.
Charles didn’t only know her biological father, but also something must have happened between them
so that Charles thought about something in the past when seeing Chan’s post.
He wasn’t afraid of her but her biological father. Or, in other words, he was afraid of the truth of twenty
years ago.
Hence, he cooperated with the Conrad family and wanted to bind the Steward and the Conrad families
completely together.
Clarence looked at her hand that he was gripping, gently rubbing it, “Aren’t you still not interested in the
truth?”
Stella gradually returned to her senses. Looking down at his hand, she immediately withdrew her own,
“Mr. Conrad, thank you for informing me about those things. I’m quite interested now. I’m so interested
that I wish I can rush over to Phoebe Steward’s house and ask her father what on earth the insane
things he had done in the past!”
Clarence was rendered speechless.
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