Chapter 712
There were two special rooms upstairs in the Riveras’ mansion. One was the room where
Emily used to sleep in with Maxwell, and the other was the room where Luna used to sleep in. These two rooms had remained
the same as they were 15 years ago and no one was allowed to step inside the two rooms without Lucas’ permission.
Lucas closed the door, pulled out the chair from under the dressing table, and sat down on it. The little chair was too small for a
man who was over six feet tall. Still, it contained precious childhood memories in it.
There was a ten-year age gap between him and Luna. When he was young, he spent more time with Luna than his parents did
with her. Every night, he would be the one to read stories to lull her to sleep. It was such a peaceful family life back then.
Later, Maxwell was caught having a secret family outside of the marriage, causing Emily to fall into deep anguish. The two of
them fought more and more with each fight getting more and more violent. Every time they fought, Lucas would carry Luna back
to her room and read stories to distract her from the fight so that she would not be frightened by what was happening outside the
rooms.
Things seemed to get worse after that as the rumors of Luna not being Maxwell’s daughter started to spread. One day, while
Lucas was in school, in a bid to dispel the rumors going around outside, his grandparents took Maxwell and Luna to do a
paternity test.
Emily saw that as an insult to her and to Luna too so she refused to let her go. That event was the straw that broke the camel’s
back and the trust between Maxwell and Emily completely crumbled into dust. After that one last violent fight, Emily left the
Riveras with Luna and the two of them were never seen again.
A year later, Maxwell took another wife who had a daughter that was the same age as Luna and that little girl was none other
than Lucas’ beloved stepsister – Anya Rivera. Even though Lucas was still a kid who had no say in the things that went on in the
family, he stubbornly refused to let Phoebe and Anya stay in the room where Emily and Luna used to stay.
Maxwell, to his credit, respected Lucas’ wish and thus, he moved to another room with Phoebe. In the beginning, Lucas did not
accept Anya as his stepsister and even though they lived under the same roof, he would pretend both Phoebe and Emily did not
exist.
After some time, he noticed Anya bore many similarities with Luna. Her movement, expression, words, and even the cherry-red
mole between her brows reminded him of Luna. It did not help that Luna loved to follow him wherever he went and no matter
how coldly he treated her, she would still look at him as if he was the best thing in the world.
Slowly, he came to accept Anya and in the end, he poured all of the affection he reserved for Luna on Anya. He made sure Anya
never had to suffer any sadness or hurt but now he came to realize Cedric was right – Anya had been spoiled rotten by Lucas!
‘Anya seemed to have gone to the point of no return in her quest to make Jeremy hers. She’s no longer the kind-hearted girl I
used to know. In fact, the scheme she pulled had become more and more vicious... I can’t believe she would hurt Joey like that
just so she could frame Corinne. She’s become so evil that I don’t think there’s ever a chance of her redeeming herself anymore,’
thought Lucas.