After hearing the verdict, Cheyenne and Charlotte accepted it calmly.
It was indeed a fair verdict. Given what Karen had done, she was just receiving her just retribution.
Lucas, Cheyenne, and Charlotte took care of Karen’s funeral, arranging a simple one for her.
Although she had committed plenty of evil deeds and ruined her relationship with her family members, Cheyenne and Charlotte nevertheless tried their best to give her the utmost respect and allow her to rest in peace.
During this period of time, William’s injuries had mostly healed. Although the two fractures he suffered had yet to heal completely, he was discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home to recuperate.
During this period of time, Lucas had ordered his subordinates to do their best to find out the identity of the white-bearded old man. But due to the lack of information and time, they couldn’t find any useful clues.
From time to time, Lucas would recall Jace’s last words and often become slightly distracted.
“What secrets does my mother have? What exactly does Jace know?”
This was Lucas’s main concern and the matter he eagerly wanted to know.
Cheyenne saw the way that Lucas was behaving. Before going to bed at night, she laid in his arms and suddenly asked, “Hubby, is there something you’re fretting over lately? I’ve seen you frowning and getting lost in thought now and then…”
Her eyes were full of worry. Although she might not be able to help him, she still hoped that she could help him in some way, even if it was just lending him a listening ear.
Lucas was touched by Cheyenne’s sensitivity and affection. He kissed her on her forehead before saying slowly, “I just… suddenly miss my mother.”
Cheyenne was stunned for a moment. This was the first time Lucas had taken the initiative to talk to her about his mother.
“Hubby, what… kind of person was your mother? Can you tell me more?” Cheyenne asked gently with her arms wrapped around Lucas’s waist.
In fact, she was very curious about her mother-in-law, whom she had never met.
In fact, Lucas’s mother had been terminally ill at the time she and Lucas had decided to get married. Since she was hospitalized, she couldn’t attend their wedding.
Moreover, Cheyenne didn’t love Lucas at the time, so she hadn’t paid much attention to his family. By the time she learned about his mother’s existence, the latter had already passed away.
This was a regret Cheyenne had always had. At the same time, she was also extremely curious about Lucas’s mother.
She knew that he was the illegitimate son of Michael, the helmsman of the Huttons, one of the eight most powerful families in DC. But she only knew that his mother was the former lover of the Huttons’ helmsman.
Lucas stayed silent for a while before saying, “My mother was a very kind, smart, and talented woman.
“Her name was Emma Gray. Nearly thirty years ago, she was known for her talent, intelligence, and beauty. But no one knew anything about her family background or where she came from.
“After Michael Hutton saw my mother, he was stunned by her beauty and fell for her immediately. Then he began pursuing her.
“Because of his perseverance and the various incidents that happened in between, my mother was finally touched by him and agreed to his courtship.
“Unfortunately, my mother didn’t know that man’s true identity at all, and it was only after she accidentally got pregnant and wanted to get married to him that he came clean about his identity and the fact that he was already married.
“My mother naturally refused to agree to be his mistress, and she immediately severed all ties with him and wanted to raise me on her own. But the Huttons suddenly took action and snatched away the Stardust Corporation that my mother founded!
“At the time, my mother’s career was destroyed, and she was pregnant with nothing to her name and nowhere to go. So she had no choice but to compromise and move into the Hutton residence without a proper status. She even suffered a lot of mistreatment.
“If it wasn’t for me, she would have left the Huttons’ long ago and avoided suffering for so long!
“Later on, that man’s wife was afraid that I might win his favor and steal her son’s position as the family successor, so she desperately wanted to kick us out of the Hutton family.
“In the end, under her schemes, my mother and I were driven out of the Hutton family. We were penniless and arrived in Orange County with difficulty…”
When he mentioned the suffering he and his mother had gone through back then, as well as how she had to shoulder the responsibility of raising him to adulthood on her own, which caused her to develop a terminal illness from overwork, Lucas began choking up slightly.
Cheyenne, listening at the side, had long burst into tears and sainted her pillow.
“Hubby, you suffered so much in the past… And your mother was such a good person, but fate was too cruel to her…”
Cheyenne sniffled her reddened nose and hugged Lucas.
Hearing Lucas talk about his past, she finally realized that he had had an arduous childhood. Despite being a vulnerable woman who had experienced so much hardship, his mother had still managed to raise him to adulthood and nurtured him into such an outstanding person.
However…
“Hubby, didn’t anyone from your mother’s family come help her when the Huttons bullied you two?” Cheyenne suddenly thought of this.
Throughout his recount, Lucas had never mentioned a word about Emma’s family, be it when he talked about Michael keeping his identity a secret or when the Huttons took away the Stardust Corporation that Emma founded and drove Lucas and her out of the family.
If her family was still around, they couldn’t have possibly stood by and watched her suffer.
Lucas sighed slightly. “I don’t know. As far as I can remember, I’ve never seen any of my mother’s relatives, and I’ve never heard her mention her family.”
“How is that possible…” Cheyenne said with a trace of surprise before asking, “Hubby, now that you still have so much power, have you tried to look for your mother’s relatives?”
