Chasing The Vengeful Villainous Heiress-Chapter 57: His happy family ... crashed?

’What?’

Was Tiana Maximus’ mother? No way.

Valerie was confused and thought maybe Max had mistaken Tiana for his mother. But then she heard Tiana call out,

"Maxie?"

Her eyes widened. This... This was... What was going on?

As if struck by a sudden realization, Tiana suddenly turned around and started running away.

"Mom, wait." Max called but she had no plans of stopping. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Max wanted to go after her but he looked down at Valerie and gritted his teeth. He couldn’t leave her there.

"Valerie, do you know who that is?" He asked and Valerie answered,

"Her name’s Tiana." She said, "You said she was your mom? How’s that possible?"

Max could not respond at the moment but he knew, from one look at her that she was his mother. The woman who gave birth to him but... What was she doing in an Asylum?

"If you believe she’s your mother then go after her." Valerie suddenly said and he looked down at her, shocked. "If you’re worried about me then I’ll go with you. I have legs and they’re still functional." She raised her gaze to stare at the dark hallway Tiana had run through. "If she is indeed your mother, it’s all the more reason to get her out of here."

"We might get caught. It took me a while to infiltrate this place and without approval from the court, a person can’t easily be discharged." He explained.

"You... You mean, you’ve been trying to get me out?"

Max suddenly flicked her forehead.

"What’s going on in your head? Did you think I left you here because I wanted to? This rotten place." Max said and clicked his tongue. "If not that I didn’t want to expose myself as your partner, I would’ve gotten the approval from the court and taken you out sooner. Any moment later and I would’ve definitely regretted not doing that." He said and Valerie’s heart accelerated.

Wow, talk about being a charmer. Even in the dark, he looked like the brightest star.

"Max, I don’t know if Tiana is your mother but she’s been here for quite a while so let’s just ask her." Valerie said. "She might not answer though but given how she called your name, it’s possible she’s..."

"I get it." Max said. "I too want to know how my dead mother ended up here."

"What?" Valerie was dumbstruck. Dead? She had been dead? Then, was that why his father remarried?

His happy family... Crashed?

"I... I’ll lead the way." She said a bit absentminded.

Max nodded and she led the way, using the memory of Tiana’s room number to her advantage.

They were both wearing the hospital’s uniform so they wouldn’t spark suspicion even if they walked past the nurses, as long as they didn’t cross paths with Regina, it was fine.

While they walked towards the room, Valerie recalled a lot of things she said that made Max angry. She asked why his father remarried when his mother was fine. That triggered him.

Ah, she was a bit insensitive there. But how did she end up dead? And if she didn’t die and was really Tiana, how did she end up in an Asylum?

Then, she paused and turned to Max.

"Max, were you poisoned once?" She asked and Max paused.

"Yes." He said, "I went for an examination once and discovered my body had a lot of poison. It was a miracle that I didn’t die from it but such a thing was abnormal. Someone had been poisoning me for years and I didn’t even know it."

’Oh God, this isn’t true.’ she thought and they finally got to the door.

She tried opening it but it was locked. Of course, that’s to be expected.

Valerie looked at both ends of the hallway and then turned to the door,

"Tiana," she called. "You know, when you talked about your son and said what you did, I thought you were crazy." She began. "And though I don’t understand why you would do such a thing, you didn’t even remember either but don’t you think if you talked to him you would remember?"

"Darling, what good would that do?" Tiana asked, sitting on her bed with her back slouched. "I already committed the act, I put him in danger. No matter the reason, I’m still guilty. And you said it yourself, I’m crazy so I think I’ll stick around here for a while longer."

Max was speechless. Even if he had mistaken someone for his mother because of their looks, there was no way he could mistake her voice. After seven long years, she still sounded the same.

"Please, open the door." Max said, "Let me just look at you. Please."

Valerie looked at him. He sounded eager and... desperate.

She just hoped they weren’t making a mistake and he wouldn’t come to hate her as she was the culprit who poisoned him.

It took a while but they did not move from that spot and Tiana got down from her bed.

’If he’s going to hate me for life, I think now should be the right time.’ she thought to herself and finally opened the door.

As soon she she did, Max rushed in and grabbed her hand, aiming to find her birthmark on her wrist, and paused as he gazed at it. There was a little mark on her wrist that was next to impossible to catch unless one was certain that something was there.

As soon as he saw it, his face contorted in agony and he hugged her.

"What happened?" He asked. "How did you end up here? Mom, how?"

Tiana stood still, as she could not bring herself to embrace her son the same way he was embracing her. She glanced at Valerie who quietly closed the door after her, so as not to alert anyone of what was going on.

She too wanted to know how this whole scenario came to be.

"Argh." She exclaimed, clutching her hand. That guy... Did he have razors for teeth?

Tiana gently pushed Max aside and walked towards Valerie.

"I see you got a visit from the doctor." She said, "Did anything else happen?"

"No." Valerie answered. "Max saved me before that."