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❅ Chapter Sixteen ❅

Persia pursed her lips, knowing how silly he was thinking. "Willard, never underestimate Medusa. She's powerful. She has many connections and her rumors are what ended our rule. I don't want to lose to anybody else. It would be hurtful to go through it all again. Stella knows how much we were hurt when none of our closest friends could find her. It was like a piece of my heart was broken. Gone forever way too soon." She placed her hands over her heart.

Nathan frowned, bowing his head and trying not to cry. "This whole process has been very hard for all of us. I worry with every girl that passes by we will forget what she used to look like. A parent can only guess how they would look after all these years, and seeing the faces just brings up no memories. You would think if we did lay eyes on her we would immediately know." He spoke, picking up his teacup and sipping it.

Willard could understand where Nathan was coming from. "That seems all too cliche. Even if she was right before us, it would be hard to recognize her. I suppose the only thing that we could go on is our memories, but if she doesn't remember then we have a problem." It was frustrating that no matter what they did they couldn't win.

Persia couldn't have felt more discouraged by his words. She had been avoiding thinking about that for quite some time. Why did this have to happen to them? She couldn't understand. "I don't know what to think anymore. It's just too upsetting to keep dwelling on it." She sighed gently.

Stella pushed her curly brown hair to her back as her eyes focused on making sure the water for her tea got poured into the teacup. "Indeed, it was very upsetting. " She said in her thick French accent as she walked into the room interrupting their conversation. "I have dozens of girls still to interview. I'll come up with hard and more personal questions if that helps in finding my niece." She was dedicated to finding her niece. 

Persia looked over at her sister with a soft smile. "Perhaps showing them some of her personal items I still have and see if they could remember anything about them?" She questioned, spinning her wedding ring around her finger. That was something she did when she was stressed, it was oddly calming.

Stella took note of that. That did seem like a good idea. After all, memories could be brought back by trinkets of her past. "Please, get them to me as fast as you could. Let us hope that it works! I have the previous mademoiselles a few things I used to have and family members but none of them could tell me anything about them or if they did they lied about it." She sighed heavily.

Beretta fixed her tight low bun that had been falling out as her peridot green eyes looked to her son and daughter-in-law. "Nathan, Persia, it's up to you if you don't want to see any more girls. It's very understandable. I wouldn't want to go one like this for days, weeks, months, or even years to hopefully find my daughter." She pointed out.

Stella agreed. She knew it hurt her heart with every hope she had gotten up that had come crashing down. "It is heart-wrenching to hash up the pain just to find her again. I don't understand why this had to happen? To Clarissa of all people. She was mature for her age and she was so independent, even if she occasionally made a mess of things." She laughed at the memory.

Persia knew her sister had a point. It did hurt to bring up old memories of the past. "I know. I don't think I want to do this anymore. It's heart-wrenching when you get your hopes up then it all comes crashing down." She shook her head at the very thought and picked up her teacup, taking a sip from it.

Cyrene had grown into a beautiful young lady. She turned towards her parents from looking out the window. "I miss Clarissa. I looked up to her, she was a role model for me. Maybe not the hair-pulling and playful punches, just having her around -" She suddenly stopped talking for a second before looking at her mother. "Mother?"