CHAPTER 353

"Why do you want to make such easily debunked lies?" Sebastian smiled faintly. "Walter's still alive, so a paternity test is all it takes to prove if Ava Penham is indeed his daughter. Wouldn't this make your lies pointless?"

"Walter's still alive?" The news stumped Penny. "That's absurd! Walter's long dead! You're bullsh*tting…"

After she married, Walter became depressed as his health deteriorated. By the time she visited him, he already had one foot in the grave, and she watched him breathe his last breath…

Meanwhile, Sebastian turned to Quinton, who tacitly tapped a few times on his phone to project a picture of a man Penny's age on the snow-white projector.

Penny's eyes widened with incredulity, for the man shown on the projector looked identical to the face seared in her memory, albeit that he had turned much older.

"No…" She shook her head rapidly. "Impossible… How?"

I watched Walter breathe his last breath. How can he still be alive?!

"Shocking, isn't it?" Sebastian chuckled under his breath. "He's not only just breathing, but alive and kicking. He's now living a happily married life with his second wife, who has given him two sons." Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

"Impossible. You're bullsh*tting!" Penny thundered with bloodshot eyes, beyond furious.

Bryson could no longer keep his composure at this point, turning to Sebastian with anxiety. "Sebastian,

just what the hell is the truth?!"

To that, Sebastian looked at him and explained, "Simply put, your wife got tricked by her childhood sweetheart boyfriend, Walter Hudson… Walter had a daughter with his first wife, which is the Ava Penham we now know to be. He lied about being devastated because he couldn't be with Penny. With thereof, he suffered from depression and became terminally ill, nearing the end of his life. Thus, he begged your wife to take care of his daughter. Not only that, he even bribed Walter's doctor to brainwash her, persuading her that your biological daughter would be the cause of your family's death… Penny suffered a hemorrhage when she was giving birth to the girl and nearly died. Postpartum, she was in poor health for a long time as well, wasn't she? Because of that, she believed the doctor's words to be true. Thus, under Walter's so-called guidance, she came up with a brilliant plan—which was to replace your daughter with Hudson's…"

"That's bullsh*t! I didn't!" Penny shook her head violently, reiterating, "I didn't! I didn't!"

Eddie, on the other hand, hurled the only teacup left in front of him, beyond grim with fury. "B*stard! You swine!"

He didn't have a sliver of doubt in Sebastian's words; given Sebastian's influence and capacity, he certainly had solid proof if he could come and tell them all about this now.

Oh, ancestors of the Penham Family, just what sins have we all committed that led us to allow a wicked idiot to marry into our family?! To think she would dare to give a progeny of our family away and bring her lover's daughter home for us to raise! This is absolute and utter blasphemy!

With a shaky voice, he ordered Brandon to call Louis Walker. "Tell the couple to come here at this

instant. I want to know just how they have raised their daughter, and if they are aware of their daughter's wicked crime?!"

"No! Don't!" Penny beseeched in fear. "Dad, please don't call my parents; I beg of you! They know none of this!"

"They know nothing? That means you know everything, don't you?!" Eddie trembled furiously. "How dare you?! How dare you abandon the Penham Family's progeny and ask us to raise someone else's child?! Who gave you the courage to do so?!"

"I didn't want to either, Dad…" Penny shook her head non-stop as she cried. "But that child's the jinx, and she'll be the bane of us all. I did it for the sake of our family, or we would've all died because of her!"

"How can you still believe in such bullsh*t when we're living far from the middle ages?!" Eddie condemned with utter exasperation. "Did you not hear what Sebastian just said?! The doctor that told you all this bullsh*t took your lover's bribe! He had tricked you!"

"No, impossible!" Penny cried and refuted, "Walter wouldn't do such a thing. That doctor is really skilled. He's really something, and he guessed a lot of things accurately! Also, I nearly died when I gave birth to that child. Is this not enough proof that she'll be the death of us all?!"

"He took Walter's bribe to trick you; do you not think it'd be easy to learn everything about you?" Sebastian shook his head as he chuckled, then looked toward Bryson with pity. "Mr. Bryson, your wife doesn't seem too bright…"

Sebastian's piteous gaze was like a solid slap to Bryson's face, feeling like he was the joke of the town

under the lights.

He looked at Penny and asked, his voice as soft as a wisp of soul, "Penny, is what Sebastian said true? Is Ava really Walter's daughter?"

However, Penny cried instead of saying anything.

Her mind was in utter chaos at this point.

She had always believed Walter to be dead, but now, she was learning that he was actually alive. The revelation put her mind in utter chaos.

How is it that Walter's still alive?! Isn't he long dead?!

Are things really like what Sebastian said? That the doctor took Walter's bribe? The reason the doctor could tell everything about me accurately, making me believe he was a God-like being, was because Walter told him everything about me?

No, that can't be it! Walter has always been loyal to me, both as my bodyguard and as my boyfriend. There's no way he would have colluded with others to harm me! No, that's impossible!

"Say something!" Bryson hit the roof and charged toward Penny, grabbing her neck and shaking her violently. "Answer me, Penny Walker! Is Ava really Walter Hudson's daughter?! Answer me!"

Though his ability was mediocre, he was a good-natured man, honest and kind, always smiling and ever gentle to others.

This was the first time Penny saw him blow a fuse in all her years married to him.

His face was flushed, and his facial features were bent out of shape. Even his eyes were bulging, looking all ferocious.

Penny had never seen this side of Bryson ever. Fearful, she shook her head with dear life. "Bryson, listen to me. Ava might be Walter's daughter, but I'm not her mother! Nothing happened between Walter and me. I gave my first to you, and you know this well!"

"Why would you even lie about this, Mrs. Penham?" Madeline, who hadn't spoken the entire time, interjected, "When our information team was digging into Ava, we discovered by accident that you did a hymen reconstruction surgery before you got married. Have you really given your first to your husband?"

Something like this was a little inappropriate for Sebastian to bring up, so it was her turn to step in.

After all, they had come over on this night to stick up for her and their babies. Sebastian couldn't be the only one doing all the talking; she had to put in some effort too.

Penny turned toward Madeline, looking at her fearfully like she was the Grim Reaper.

How did they even find out about something like this?! This is something secretive, and that surgery was done over twenty years ago; how did they manage to find out?! Are they even human?!