Chapter 1098 The Truth Behind The Secret 2
Anna seized Natalie’s wrist and demanded, “What do you know about that? My mother died because he was obsessed with carving and messed with the wrong people.” My earliest memories are of him burying himself in carving, never caring about how Mom and I felt. Everyone else had a loving father, but not me. Mom was the only one by my side when I was burning up with a forty-degree fever. All that man did was turn his back on us!
“It is not like that.” Natalie shook her head, resolution hardening her eyes.
“He enjoys carving, but he loves you and your mother more. His time is almost up, yet he bore the agony in his liver and ceaselessly worked for more than ten hours to replicate the jade key at your request.”
Anna blinked back tears and looked up with a derisive smile. “He owes me that, Natalie! He only did it to assuage his guilt.”
“Anna, what if Mr. Varre’s so-called ‘obsession’ is because he was forced to do it?” Natalie finally blurted it out after giving it a thought.
“T-That’s not possible…” Anna released her arm and staggered a few steps back. “I wanted to beg him to take me to the amusement park when I was younger, so I went into his workspace and touched the jade in curiosity. He caned me until I was bruised all over. Never in my life will I forget the hatred in his eyes.”
“That jade was so important to him because it was related to you and your mother’s lives.” Natalie continued with a frown, “Someone threatened Mr. Varre with your and your mother’s lives to carve this jade key, but they had a different request. I gave Mr. Varre the real jade key to replicate, but he wanted to follow the old fragmentary records and completely duplicate the jade key. He had never seen it before, and the records only chronicled eyewitness accounts, so determining its authenticity was difficult. When Mr. Varre didn’t finish the carving in time, the person who had been threatening him for several years burned your mother alive in front of you.”
Anna did not think there was more to what had happened, and the tears she tried to hold back came spilling out.
“Is that true? If it was, why didn’t he tell me?”
“He wanted to protect you.” Natalie approached Anna and stopped in front of her, wiping her tears. “That man wanted your mother’s life, and Mr. Varre knew all of you were not his match, so he shouldered your hate and went along with it.”
Anna was sobbing uncontrollably.
He was the person she hated the most, but now she realized she had made a mistake.
Her heart ached as the image of him enduring the pain during the night as he concentrated on carving kept replaying in her head.
She snapped out of it and pleaded with Natalie, “I know your medical skills are excellent, Natalie, so would you please help him? Can you think of a way to save him?”
“It is too late.” Natalie sighed. “I could have extended his life by three to five years if it had been sooner, but his cancer had spread all over his body by the time we arrived, and he is living on borrowed time.”
I would have tried every method if I had any, despite knowing the truth and the fact that you hated him.
“How… How could this happen?”
“Anna, you have helped me enough.” Natalie pulled her into a hug. “Stay here by his side since time is running out. To Mr. Varre, nothing compares to your forgiveness and company.”
Anna bawled her heart out as she nodded fervently.
I will! Yes, I will! I will cherish every last moment I have with my father.
