Chapter 607

*What did he want to ask?*
Benson’s gaze settled on her face, a storm of emotion swirling in his eyes. “I want to ask you, if you never wanted to acknowledge me as your cousin, why did you save me five years ago?”
Ever since he’d learned she was his true savior, he hadn’t known what to feel. He hadn’t slept a wink the entire night.
Anastasia hadn’t expected this question. Thinking back, she felt a pang of guilt. “I was foolish back then, deceived by Nora Sinclair and her daughter. I misunderstood all of you and didn’t want to be close… but I never intended to disown you. No matter what, you were still my cousin. When I heard you were in danger, how could I not help?”
She didn’t mention how frantic she had been, how she had suffered to find the right herbs, or how she had nearly gotten lost on the mountain. Chapters fırst released on.net
“You never intended to disown me? Then what about the gifts I sent to the Sterling estate? The ones you threw in the trash?”
Anastasia froze. “What gifts? Thrown in the trash? When?” She searched her memory. Had that ever happened?
“Your birthday gift,” Benson said, his eyes fixed on her.
It was the first year after Cecilia Brennan’s death. He had worried endlessly about her, a young girl who had lost her mother only to have her father quickly remarry. He was terrified she was being mistreated at the Sterling home.
He had rushed back from school, only to learn that his grandparents and parents had brought her to the Brennan estate for her birthday, but she had run back to the Sterlings, refusing to ever return.
He couldn’t believe it. His Anastasia, the sweet, obedient girl he knew, would never choose her stepmother Nora over the Brennans who loved her.
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Remembering a long-discontinued ceramic doll she had always wanted, he sought out the master artisan who had created it. He spent two week learning from the man, personally crafting a new one. He chose the most beautiful gift box he could find and delivered to the Sterling estate himself, hoping to convince her to come home.
But he never got to see her. The gift was passed on through a servant.
He returned that evening, still unable to see her, only to find the shattered remains of the doll in a trash can outside the Sterling’s home. A timid Penelope Sterling had told him Anastasia had smashed it and ordered it thrown away, saying she couldn’t bear to even look at it.
He still remembered the crushing feeling from that day.
As Anastasia listened, she was utterly stunned.
“I never received a ceramic doll!” she said with certainty.
In fact, she remembered that first birthday after her mother’s death with painful clarity. She had been miserable because her cousin had promised her a surprise, a promise he never kept. She had waited all day, hoping against hope that he would come. Even though Nora had poisoned her mind against the Brennan’s, her bond with her cousin was still strong, and she had wanted to believe in him.
Instead, Nora and Penelope had gleefully informed her that the Brennans were throwing a lavish birthday party for their newly adopted daughter, Lauren, who shared the same birthday. They had completely forgotten about her.
That was the moment her faith in Benson had shattered, and the rift between her and the Brennans had grown into an unbridgeable chasm.
But now, she realized with a sickening lurch, that might not have been the truth at
all.