Chapter 416 The Lie About the Hairpins


    Chapter 416 The Lie About the Hairpins.


    “Mom, things were so dangerousst night. Why would you go back just to grab those cat–shaped hairpins you gave Lily?”


    Bodger furrowed his brow, looking at his mother with a mix of confusion and pain. “I know you can’t let Lily go. Those hairpins were her birthday present. You didn’t want to see them destroyed in the fire.”


    “Bute on–how could a pair of hairpins be worth your life? How could you…”


    <i>Hairpins</i>?


    When had she ever gone back for a pair of cat–shaped hairpins?


    But hearing Bodger say that brought the memory back. She did remember those diamond cat hairpins.


    She gave them to Lily for her eighth birthday.


    But when Lily turned eighteen, she had seen it herself–Mathilda, who had just returned to the Ginger family, snatched them from Lily’s hands.


    “Mom, you really shouldn’t have gone back for those hairpins.”


    “If you hadn’t gone back for them, you wouldn’t be this badly hurt. You care so much about Lily, and she doesn’t even care enough to visit you…”


    Listening to her sons vent their anger at Lily, Luna finally began to piece things together.


    Her injuries had nothing to do with Lily.


    She had been hit by that massive portrait because, at thest possible moment, her precious daughter had shoved her aside–selfishly–just to protect herself.


    Clearly, Mathilda was afraid her husband and brothers would find out she was the reason Luna got hurt. So she lied–she med everything on Lily.


    But Luna had already wronged Lily far too many times. How could she let her take the fall for something. she didn’t do?


    “I got hit by that portrait not because I went back for anything. It had nothing to do with Lily.”


    “I was hurt so badly simply because-”


    “Mom!”


    Mathilda shrieked in panic.


    She was terrified Luna would reveal what she had done–how she’d pushed her.


    She hadn’t meant to do it.


    She’d just been too scared.


    If she hadn’t pushed Lunn in the moment, the huge portrait would tended on her instead.


    Lans was already over fory. Even if she got badly binned, even disfigured, it didn’t matter.


    But sheshe was only twenty–two. She hadn’t even married James yet. If she ended up scarred beyond recognition, her life would be ruined forever.


    Lana noticed the panic and desperation in her daughter’s eyes.


    That selfish shove from the night before had crushed her.


    But when Mathilda was six, it was their carelessness that got her lost, that caused her to be sold into a den of monsters, where she endured unimaginable suffering. That’s what had shaped her into someone so selfish and self–serving.


    In the end, it was their fault. They had let her down. They were the ones who had failed her.


    How could she bear to let her be a target now?


    In her heart, she whispered, <i>For </i><i>the </i><ist </i><i>time</i><i>. </i>


    Then, with effort, she bit her tongue and changed her words. “I was hurt because I happened to get hit by the portrait. It had nothing to do with anyone else.”


    At those words, Mathilda let out a quiet sigh of relief.


    Thank God. Her mom was still choosing to protect her.


    But who could say whether one day, she’d change her mind?


    As long as her mother was alive, the truth could stille out.


    She couldn’t leave a time bomb like that ticking.


    “You should all go. I want to be alone for a while.”


    Bodger and the others wanted to stay and keep herpany.


    But Luna clearly didn’t want to talk, and the doctors had warned against spending too much time in the ICU. So they left.


    In the past twenty–four hours since Luna’s ident, Jerome hadn’t slept a wink. The three Ginger sons. urged him to rest. Once he was gone, they turned on Mathilda.


    Bodger nced toward the ICU and snapped, “Mathilda, Mom never went back for any cat–shaped hairpins. So why’d you lie and make us believe she got hurt trying to save something of Lily’s?”


    “I… I didn’t mean to lie, I just thought you’d me me for not protecting her…”


    Mathilda looked pale as death. She was struggling toe up with an excuse when Taylor’s voice cut through the air like ice.


    “I don’t believe for a second that Randy acted alone when Lily was trafficked–or that you had nothing to do with it. Mathilda, why did you have Lily sold like that? She was pregnant. The two men who bought her


    had blood on their hands. If she’d really fallen into the hands of those monsters, she’d be as good as dead. Why were you so set on destroying her?”


    Thinking about how Lily might’ve ended up–tortured, used, discarded–if James hadn’t gotten there in time, Mergan’s face darkened with rage.