CHAPTER 404

"That's because he's a much better man than you are!" Caitlin choked out through her tears. "It was my father who suggested that they go on a hike. He felt responsible for your father's death because he thought that if he hadn't suggested the hike, then your father wouldn't have died. He was too good of a man, and you're the exact opposite. That's why you misunderstood him!"

All the blood had drained from Lucian's face, but he continued to shake his head in denial. "No… No. How could that be…"

"Do you know how much of a fool you are, Lucian?" Leigh commented with a mocking smirk. "You trust Josiah Langley so much that I thought you didn't know he married your mother. I never would've expected that you knew all about it! I don't get it. Since you know he married your mother, why do you still trust what he says? What kind of a man goes after his friend's wife? If he were really your father's best friend, why would he marry your father's widow?"

"He did that to take care of my mother…" Lucian instinctively tried to defend Josiah.

"Why didn't he take care of you as well then?" Leigh threw back. "His best friend died, so he married his best friend's wife and tossed aside his best friend's son. Why do you even trust a man who does such a thing?"

Lucian was shell-shocked

He never even considered this.

His mother had found him several years ago.

At the time, she secretly reached out to him and cried her eyes out as she held him.

His mother said she felt sorry for what she did to him. She said that she loved his father so much that each time she looked at him, all she could think about was his father. She said it felt as if her heart was being stabbed each time, and life was a living hell for her.

Also, when Melvin died, the majority of the family fortune went to his paternal grandparents and uncles, and she didn't get much.

A woman without a husband and a source of income would have too hard of a time raising a child.

She didn't want Lucian to live in poverty with her, so she had to harden herself and get his grandparents to take care of him.

Later on, she snuck back to visit him and wanted to take him with her, but she hesitated when she found out that he had a good life after the Owens adopted him.

She said she couldn't provide him with a comfortable life the way the Owens could, so it was better if he stayed with them. She had no choice but to give up the idea of taking him with her, even though it pained her to do so.

She even said that she was afraid that the Owens might be uncomfortable if she showed up and stopped being good to him, so she only ever observed him in secret. She was afraid that she would affect his life. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Perhaps blood was indeed thicker than water, or maybe it was because Lucian yearned so much for his

mother's love and acceptance that he easily believed everything she said.

He had been secretly in contact with her ever since then.

After a while, his mother told him an earth-shattering secret—his father's death had been caused by Raphael Owen!

His father's company had a deal with Raphael's company, but because Raphael betrayed his father and allowed a competitor to steal technology from his father's company, his father's company was on the brink of bankruptcy.

When his father found out, he had a fight with Raphael.

She told him that his father considered Raphael his best friend, and although they fought, he didn't hold it against Raphael. All he wanted was for Raphael to return the technology to him, and all would be forgiven.

Raphael had agreed on the surface, but during the mountain hike, he caught Melvin off-guard and pushed him off the mountain…

Rosetta was drowning in tears as she relayed all of this. Josiah had been sitting beside Rosetta and kept comforting her. He even addressed Lucian in an apologetic tone and said that he had witnessed Raphael pushing Melvin off the path, but Raphael was the heir of the Owens' family business and was a powerful man, while the company that he managed with Melvin was about to go bankrupt and were heavily in debt due to their technology being stolen. Thus, he was afraid of Raphael's power and feared that things might get even worse for him, so he said nothing and could only take care of Rosetta and Lucian in secret.

Lucian loved his mother too much.

The two of them fed the entirety of their sob story to Lucian, and he recalled the call he overheard a few days prior where Raphael admitted that he had caused Melvin's death and was feeling remorseful.

Thus, he believed what Rosetta and Josiah said.

It was easy to be fooled when an issue involved oneself.

Lucian was thoroughly fooled. He had complete trust in his mother and stepfather's words.

Yet now, Leigh's words lit anew the reason in him. It was as if he had just woken up from a drunken stupor, and everything was clear now.

He had been tricked.

The one who caused his father's death wasn't Raphael, but Josiah!

He couldn't bring himself to accept this reality…

If this were the truth, then what had he done?

Lucian had no idea how he left Oasis Law Firm and found Josiah.

Rosetta's shrill exclaims were what snapped him back to reality.

He had his hands around Josiah's neck and was pushing him up against a wall, while Rosetta was screaming beside him and trying to pry his hands off Josiah.

As he slowly regained his senses, he glared at Josiah with bloodshot eyes. "It's you… You're the one who killed my father, right?"

Rosetta, who had been smacking Lucian to make him let go, came to a sudden halt. Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, "What kind of nonsense is that, Luke?"

However, Lucian didn't pay any attention to her. He continued to fix his bloodshot eyes on Josiah as he asked again, "You killed my father, didn't you? You like my mother and wanted to have her to yourself, so you killed my father and swooped in while my mother was lonely and grieving over his death, and then you married her, right?"

Josiah had a look of complete innocence as he answered cluelessly, "What are you saying, Luke? Have you gone mad? Your father's my best friend. Why would I hurt him? Raphael Owen was the one who killed your father! He admitted it himself and said he felt remorseful. You said so yourself! You heard him!"

"His remorse was because he regretted coming up with the idea of going hiking with my father," Lucian snarled as he glared menacingly at Josiah. "But you… you pushed my father off the mountain!"

Josiah frowned. "Have you truly gone mad, Luke? How can you say something so ridiculous? Your father and I are best friends. I was the one who grieved the most over your father's death. Why would I kill him?"

"Why would you kill him? Isn't the reason so unbelievably obvious? You like my mother, but she married my father, so you had to kill him to take her for yourself!" Lucian's grip tightened around Josiah's neck. "What a fool I've been. I was blind. I couldn't see the truth because I was so emotionally invested in this. It's such simple, obvious logic, but I couldn't even see it!"

His past self had been fooled by a mirage.

It was likely due to his longing for his mother's affection. Rosetta had come looking for him all of a sudden and showered him with motherly love. Instantly, he was blinded by the bond he had with his mother.

He trusted everything she said and never questioned her.

Raphael had said that he felt remorseful toward Lucian's father, so Lucian believed it.

He believed that his adopted father was the one who killed his birth father.

Katy's friends were right. I'm such a fool.

An unforgivable fool.