From His Fake Wife to Billionaire Heiress (Riley and Lucas) novel Chapter 385

Me

Chapter 385 The Same Orphanage as Me

All she had to do was squeeze that weak spot tight–and Melissa would dance like a puppet on strings.

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Forget being the Harper family’s precious daughter. Forget blood ties. if I’ve got Melissa in my pocket, I’ll get my piece of the Harper family sooner or later.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the study, Raymond didn’t rush to talk about the urgent project proposal sitting on the desk.

He looked at Riley’s face–too calm, as usual–and hesitated for a moment. Then he spoke up, trying to defend Melissa. “Riley, about what happened downstairs… don’t take Mom’s attitude personally. You’re her real daughter. She cares about you–I know she does. It’s just… over the years, she and Elsie have become close. Like mother and daughter. Feelings like that don’t change overnight. Just give her some time.TM

Riley’s expression didn’t flicker.

She gave a faint, unreadable smile. Her voice gave nothing away. “I’m not bothered. You don’t have to explain for her. To be honest, I didn’t come back expecting to suddenly gain a family.”

Riley’saw things clearly.

You can’t fake real care. It shows in the warmth of someone’s touch, the look in their eyes–like Sebastian’s occasional overprotective stubbornness, or the uncomfortable guilt in Raymond’s face right now.

But Melissa’s eyes? All I see is distance. And annoyance, really–like I’m bothering her.

Riley shifted gears, her tone turning casual. “Speaking of which, I’m a little curious. What’s the story with Elsie? It seems like Mom cares more about her than she does about you.”

At that, Raymond’s brow furrowed deeply. He let out a long sigh. “Honestly? I don’t really know the whole story either. After you went missing back then, Mom completely fell apart. She was a mess–blamed herself for everything. She tried to kill herself a few times. Dad canceled all his meetings and stayed home to watch her. But even he couldn’t stop her from slipping away.”

He turned to face Riley, his expression heavy as he recalled the memory. “One time, she snuck out during a shift change with the caretakers. She was gone for a whole day and night. The whole family was losing their minds–we were about to call the cops. But then she just showed back up on her own. And she had a little girl by the hand–skinny kid. That was Elsie. Mom was like a woman possessed. She kept pointing at Elsie and saying, ‘This is my daughter. I finally found her.“”

Raymond let out a bitter laugh. “Dad saw how bad her mental state was. The doctors said one more shock, and she might really lose it. So he agreed to adopt Elsie as something for Mom to hold onto. Later, after we found you, Dad quietly sent people to look into Elsie’s background. But here’s the weird thing–all we could find out was that she’d been in the same orphanage as you. Everything else? Wiped clean. Like someone erased it.”

A sharp, cold glint flashed in Riley’s eyes.

“The same orphanage as me…” She repeated the words quietly, her calm surface starting to crack.

Coincidences like that don’t just happen.

Melissa has a breakdown, runs out into the world, and just happens to find–out of millions of people–a kid from the exact same orphanage as her missing daughter?

Oh, there’s something buried here. Something big.

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1:20 pm P P

Chapter 385 The Same Orphanage as Me

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see,” Riley said evenly, tucking away the storm brewing inside her.

She had a plan now.

If Elsie’s past crossed paths with her own childhood, then she needed to go back to that place herself.

Who knew what she might dig up?

Riley had gotten what she wanted. She pulled back the coldness deep in her eyes.

She looked up, her voice shifting back to the calm, sharp tone of a businesswoman. She shut down the heavy family talk herself. “Let’s put Elsie aside for now. Raymond. Tell me about the project.”

Raymond smacked his forehead and let out an embarrassed laugh. “Right–business first. See? The second I start talking about this family mess, I get off track.”

He walked quickly behind the desk, pulled out the project proposal, and handed it to Riley.

“This is the island development plan. It’s been keeping Dad up at night,” Raymond pointed at the coordinates on the file and explained. “We bought the land–paid a fortune for it. We also got the rights to develop the surrounding waters. Dad’s vision is to build the most high–end private resort island in all of Yunaris.”

Riley opened the file and flipped through it page by page.

“We’ve got the land. We’ve got the permits. But the project is stuck on one thing.” Raymond let out a helpless sigh. “Dad can’t decide who to hire for the construction. The market is cutthroat right now–a regular resort island isn’t exciting anymore. He wants to follow the global trend–add smart tech and innovation to the island’s infrastructure. There are plenty of construction companies in the country, but when it comes to smart tech… we don’t know who can actually deliver. So we signed the deal over a month ago, and the land’s just been sitting there. No work done.“/

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