The Mocked Miss’s Hidden Crowns novel Chapter 688

Anthony didn’t say anything. He just lifted his hand and started gently running his fingers through her hair, slow and soft, again and again.

They sat in silence for a while, until Charlotte finally spoke, her voice muffled against his chest. “My mom used to be part of the A1 Research Institute.”

Anthony froze for a second. She’d never talked about her mom before, not like this.

He answered quietly, “Your mom was incredible.”

“She went abroad with her team when she was about seventeen or eighteen. Then she just vanished. No one heard anything from her. It wasn’t until she turned twenty that she wrote my grandpa a letter, saying she’d had a baby…”

“Maybe she was sick. Her organs were failing, and she didn’t want my grandpa to worry, so she never went back. She didn’t tell anyone where she was, either.” Charlotte pressed her cheek closer to his chest, eyes still shut, her voice carrying a sadness that was hard to catch unless you were really listening. “After she had me, she couldn’t stand the pain anymore. She ended her life in the sea.”

Twenty years ago…

To get into A1 Research Institute, you needed at least five years of evaluation. That meant her mom had probably been noticed when she was just thirteen, singled out and trained.

Thirteen years old…

Anthony’s eyes lingered on Charlotte. Something flashed in his gaze, a knowing kind of worry. Lottie’s powers had started changing when she was thirteen, too.

Mother and daughter. There had to be a connection.

He paused, thinking back to that medical report he’d seen. There’d been something strange about her genes.

“So you want to know what really happened back then?”

He held her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Charlotte gave a small nod and opened her eyes. “That’s why I have to go to Solenia at the end of the month.”

Charlotte nodded. With just a week left until the end of the month, she needed to put in her request for leave anyway.

She dropped her bag and headed straight to the office. Glenn was there in his white lab coat, holding a little white mouse and staring at it like it was the source of all his problems.

He was muttering under his breath. “Why is it that Charlotte’s mice survive and mine never do?”

Charlotte hid a smile and knocked on the door. “Glenn?”

He turned around, startled, and quickly tucked the mouse under a piece of cloth. He gave her a sheepish grin. “Come in, come in.”

She walked in, pretending not to notice the fate of the mouse. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yeah.” Glenn pulled off his gloves and reached into his drawer, taking out a piece of paper. It was an invitation for the International Medical Alliance Selection Competition.