Larissa Judson and Haskell Palmer novel Chapter 5

The next day at noon, a black Bentley pulled up in front of Larissa’s humble cottage.

Larissa, who was grinding yesterday’s harvest of herbs, heard the engine and glanced out the window. The license plate confirmed it was from Regal City.

After packing the ground herbs into a jar, she wiped her hands, walked out of the cottage, and knocked on the car window.

The window slid down to reveal the face of a handsome middle-aged man, around fifty, with impeccably styled hair. Beside him sat an elegant woman of a similar age, so well-preserved she could have passed for her late thirties.

Larissa got straight to the point. “Are you here for me?”

The man in the back seat looked from her to a photograph in his hand, his eyes lighting up.

“Sapphira, it’s her! She’s the one we’re looking for!”

The beautiful woman’s eyes also filled with delighted surprise, tears welling up. “Yes, it’s her. There’s no doubt.”

They excitedly opened the car doors and stepped out, approaching Larissa.

The man nodded. “Yes, honey. You are the long-lost heiress of the Judson family. We’ve come to take you home.”

Larissa looked into the man’s eyes. His expression, like the woman’s, was one of genuine excitement. It didn’t seem fake. It seemed the people who had hired the thug last night weren’t this couple.

“How did you know we were…” the man began, then shook his head, brushing the question aside. He explained, “Child, you are a daughter of the Judson family. You were swapped at birth, which is why you’ve been living out here. You’ve suffered for twenty years.”

As he finished, the woman beside him choked back a sob. “You poor child.”

“So you’re my birth parents?” Larissa asked calmly.

The question made the man and woman freeze. They exchanged a look of helplessness.

“Child, we’re not your birth parents. We are your Uncle Neville and Aunt Sapphira.”

Uncle and Aunt?

Larissa let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Hah.”

She continued, “Uncle Neville, Aunt Sapphira, why didn’t my parents come to get me themselves?”

Neville and Sapphira, waiting outside, watched in confusion. Soon, villagers, drawn by the sound, gathered around, all looking at Larissa.

“Larissa, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

Larissa set down the gong and cleared her throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, I’m an orphan. I grew up without parents, raised by all of you. But now, I’ve found them. It turns out I’m the heiress of the Judson family in Regal City.”

The villagers were about to cheer for her when she continued, “But here’s the thing. My birth parents knew about me for a long time but never came to get me. The only reason they’re acknowledging me now is to have me marry a disabled young master in place of their adopted daughter.”

Neville and Sapphira stared in shock. This was news to them.

The villagers erupted in indignation. “What kind of monsters are they! They knew you were their daughter and left you here, and now they only want you back to marry you off to some cripple!”

“They’re blind fools! You’re a brilliant girl, and they’re treating you like a tool! Making you marry a disabled man in place of some other girl!”

“Larissa, don’t go back to those heartless people!”

“That’s right! Don’t go! I’ll get some people to teach them a lesson!”