Chapter 717 Is She Rina?
I can’t believe it’s the 3rd of May! Julia immediately turned to address Titus in a shaky voice. “Did you see that, darling? The date… Sonia’s date of adoption. Did you see it?”
“I saw it!” Titus responded with a grim nod. He gripped the railing of the bed so hard that his arm began to tremble. Julia pressed a hand over her mouth as her eyes began to water. “Why would it be the 3rd of May?” She couldn’t understand. Why isn’t Sonia their biological daughter? How could she be adopted?
It’s the 3rd of May, a day that I’ll never forget. This is still the most painful month to go through every year because the 1st of May was the day that Henry stole my daughter and threw her into the river! The day that Sonia was adopted was just two days after Henry threw my daughter into the water. Does that mean…
“Darling, do you think it’s possible that Sonia might actually be our daughter, Rina?” Julia held onto her husband’s hand as she spoke in a hurried voice. Titus frowned. “Are you getting confused? How could Sonia be Rina?”
“But Sonia isn’t Henry’s biological daughter—she was adopted. If you look at the dates, it’s just such a coincidence! That’s why I thought she might be our daughter,” Julia cried in an increasingly emotional tone.
Titus patted the back of her hand. “That’s impossible.”
“Why is it impossible?” Julia flung his hand off of hers before she glared at the TV. “The date itself seems like pretty solid evidence. Weren’t you shocked when you saw the date? That shows that you considered the possibility of Sonia being Rina, right?”
For a moment, Titus didn’t know what to say. She’s right; I did think that Sonia might be Rina when I first saw the date. First, it’s the fact that Sonia and Rina were born in the same year.
Next is the fact that Henry kidnapped and threw Rina into the river on the 1st of May, but two days later, he decided to adopt a baby girl. No matter how I try to look at it, it just seems like Henry hadn’t thrown the child away and had secretly decided to nurture the child instead. But that’s just so unlikely.
Since Rina is my daughter, she’s technically Henry’s enemy as well. If I were Henry, I wouldn’t care for my enemy’s daughter, and I certainly wouldn’t allow her to live such a good life. That’s why it’s impossible for Sonia to be Rina. Titus sighed at that thought. “Why don’t you calm down? If Sonia is Rina, then who’s the daughter we have at home now? Rina did a DNA test that proved she’s our biological daughter, so Sonia can’t be Rina. She just happened to be adopted by Henry during the same period of time when Rina was thrown into the river.”
“I know, but I still care a lot about this for some reason.” Julia sat down on the hospital bed and covered her face with her hands as she sobbed. “I’ve never told you this, Titus, but my maternal instincts aren’t very strong when it comes to Rina.”
“What do you mean?’ Titus looked at her.
Julia bit her bottom lip before she explained herself. “I’m not sure, but I just feel like I can’t get close to Rina. I know she’s my daughter, and I know I should love and care for her to make her feel like the happiest child on earth, yet for some reason, I can’t seem to do it. I feel like I’m just acting whenever I show love and care for Rina. Deep down, I feel rather reluctant whenever I’m interacting with her, and I—“
“Rina!” Before Julia could finish her words, Titus let out a loud cry. Julia’s heart sank when she looked up to find Titus looking past her. He had an extremely helpless and awkward look on his face. Julia’s expression changed and she immediately turned around to look in the direction of the room door. Rina stood by the door with tears in her eyes and a hurt expression on her face.
“Rina…” Julia’s face turned pale.
“You’re too much, Mom!” Rina balled her hands into fists and shouted at Julia before she turned around and ran off. “Rina!” Julia reached her hand out to stop Rina, but she was too late. “Darling, I…” Julia was too shocked to know what to do, so she turned to look at Titus. She had just been telling him her deepest thoughts, and she hadn’t expected Rina to show up at that exact moment. Rina even ran off because she was too upset by what Julia said.
A heavy sense of guilt surfaced in Julia’s chest, and it made her feel like she couldn’t breathe at all. Similarly, Titus hadn’t expected such a thing to happen. He hadn’t expected Rina to show up at the hospital. “What else can you do? You should go after her,” he uttered as he massaged his temples to soothe his headache.
“Oh! Okay.” Julia only came to her senses then. She hastily stood up and jogged out of the room, leaving Titus alone in the ward. He looked at the TV in front of him with a complicated look on his face. After thinking about it for a while, he pulled his phone out to contact his assistant. “I want you to check how Henry managed to adopt Sonia and where he got her from!”
“Okay,” the assistant replied. Titus lowered his phone with the same serious expression on his face. Although he didn’t think that Sonia was Rina, and although he didn’t think that the ‘Rina’ living with them was a fake, he still felt deeply concerned because of when Sonia had been adopted. He agreed with Julia—he knew that he wouldn’t be able to find peace until he got a clear answer as to how Henry had adopted Sonia and from where.
…
Meanwhile, all of the reporters at the press conference and the viewers on the live stream had seen Sonia’s adoption documents. Daphne finally retrieved the copy of the adoption documents from the crowd before placing it in front of Sonia and Toby. Then, Sonia picked the microphone up to address everyone with a friendly smile. “Does anyone still think my adoption documents were forged?’
“Of course not.” Everyone shook their heads. Is she kidding? Only one person questioned Sonia earlier, and they already called the police on her. The police are on their way now. We’d be idiots to question her! the crowd thought.
“Well, if no one else suspects anything, then I’m sure you guys don’t have an issue with my identity anymore, right?’ Sonia placed her hand on top of the file that consisted of her adoption documents. “My mom didn’t cheat and get pregnant with another man. On the contrary, my parents have gone through official procedures to adopt me.
I may not be biologically related to my parents, but legally speaking, I am their daughter. This also means that I’m just as entitled as Jessica to receive an inheritance from the Reed Family. Jessica claimed that I snatched all of the Reed Family’s fortune, but I don’t think her argument sounds right now, does it?” Sonia asked.
“You’re absolutely right, Miss Reed.” The crowd nodded once more.
“Jessica said that I stole all of Paradigm Co.’s shares. I don’t see a point in explaining much on this matter, as any one of the shareholders here would probably know what I’m about to say. I didn’t steal or fight for any shares—my father had sold a majority of his shares before he passed away.
Later on, it was my grandfather who repurchased the shares and gifted them to me. Since the shares had already belonged to two other individuals before it came back to me, would you guys still say that these shares belong to the Reeds?” Sonia asked once more.
“Of course not,” one of the reporters replied loudly. “Since the previous president sold it off, the Reed Family no longer owns Paradigm Co.’s shares. The shares that you have now were purchased at a later time, so they are no longer related to the Reeds. Since it’s not related, this shouldn’t be seen as your inheritance. The shares simply belong to you, Miss Reed.”
“That’s right.” Many of the reporters nodded in agreement. Just then, Sonia took a look at Jessica’s pale face. “Now, everyone knows that I didn’t steal the shares. Aren’t you guys curious then about the reason Jessica went through all that trouble to cause such a huge commotion online? Why would she say that I snatched the shares from my father?”
“That’s true.” The crowd froze for a moment before they all turned to look at Jessica, and the interrogation started once again.
