Chapter 447 Secretly Probing

Since it was my first time eating onion rings around Atlas, I wondered how he knew I liked my onion rings like that.

He raised a brow and lowered his gaze, saying, “It was just a guess. I had a playmate who liked eating onion rings the same way when I was a kid. She used to stay at my house for meals.”

I looked at him and thought about the photo of the real Stella. I asked, “Are you referring to Stella?”

This time, he looked surprised instead of me. He looked at me and asked, “How do you know it’s Stella? Did you remember something?”

I noticed him scrutinizing me, which made me somewhat doubtful, especially with his follow-up question. I asked, “ What do you mean by ‘did I remember something?”

He smiled when I asked that. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious how you know Stella. Not the Stella you met, though.”

‘Yes, I found out about her,” I confessed, “I told Grayson to look into it, and he found a photo.”

Atlas frowned at me. “What photo?”

I regretted saying that, unsure if it was okay to be so open. I had pried into Atlas’s privacy, especially the Pierces’ privacy, which was highly offensive. I grew nervous, explaining incoherently, “I-I didn’t mean to offend you by prying. It’s just that... I discovered it by accident.”

“It's okay, I don’t blame you. I want you to understand me more so you can trust me.” Atlas picked up another onion ring with his fork and passed it to me. “Eat. We'll talk slowly.”

I felt relieved when he said that. I took my phone, found the photo, and passed it to him. “This is the photo. Grayson told me she’s the real Stella.”

He froze when he saw the photo. A moment later, he said, “ You found this?”

“Yes, look at the next one. It’s the writing behind the photo.” I observed his expression and felt the photo must be significant to him.

He looked at it and said, “This is Aunt Lucille’s writing.”

“Aunt Lucille?” I asked curiously.

"Yeah, Lucille Avila is Rory’s wife and the real Stella’s mom.” Atlas's eyes dimmed as he continued to stare at those few words.

"Is Annalise the real Stella?" I asked.

Atlas’s eyes flicked when he looked up at me. However, he quickly regained his composure and asked, “How’d you consider looking into this?”

I confessed, “It started with the current Stella. She hinted things about the Pierce family when I first got to know her. She even mentioned her parents. When you told me about your parents’ plane crash having more to it, I paid closer attention to her comments about it.”

He ruffled my hair smilingly, “Still as clever as ever.”

I paused, feeling like I had heard that phrase before, but didn't dwell on it.

“Later, she tricked me into surprising you on your birthday. She mentioned Rory at that time. I don’t know why, but I always feel strange whenever I hear that name,” I explained, focusing on Atlas’s expressionless face.

I was puzzled, wondering if I had guessed wrongly. I continued, “Stella talked about Rory in great detail, saying he died with your parents. She also mentioned Lucille and said her mother passed away two months later from heartbreak.”

Atlas didn’t stop looking at me as I continued, “I always thought Stella seemed indifferent whenever she discussed these things. It was like she was talking about someone else's experiences.

“She also looked cold and indifferent when she mentioned your parents’ death anniversaries. Stella didn’t even look sad, which raised doubts for me. I kept thinking she was either cold-blooded or wasn't their biological daughter.

“That's why I told Grason to investigate the current Stella thoroughly. Sure enough, I found conflicting results. I only became confident the current Stella was an imposter when Grayson found this photo.”

I intentionally emphasized “imposter” and observed how Atlas would react.