The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella) novel Chapter 735

"It’s just that so much time had passed, and given his nature of being tight-lipped, trying to pry anything out of him was futile. So, I decided to confront Summer about it."

Zach's lips twitched into a half-smile, "Even though she claimed ignorance, the panic in her denial was a dead giveaway. That's when I began to suspect the kidnapping might actually have something to do with her…"

Later, he called Chester to dig into the past events, and that's when the truth came to light. The villains had initially targeted Summer.

Nick had just happened to stumble upon the scene and attempted to rescue her. But when she managed to escape, she never mentioned to anyone that Nick had been abducted in her stead.

Because of her silence, the golden hour for his rescue was missed. Although they eventually saved Nick, he was barely hanging on, his body riddled with injuries.

Waking up with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, Nick retreated into silence, a condition that kept everyone from knowing that Summer was the original target of those nefarious thugs.

It wasn't until two years later, when Nick had begun to recover, that he decided to confront her about it.

Zach could still vividly remember the bitterness in Nick's plea for him not to disclose the truth to the family. Perhaps out of familial loyalty, he chose to shoulder everything. If Summer had really cared, she would have come clean from the start.

But she didn't, and that led Nick to eventually choose to go abroad, disillusioned.

After giving it some thought, Zach felt he couldn't keep this to himself any longer. So, he tentatively brought it up with Emmitt, forgetting that Emmitt had always doted on Summer.

When Zach revealed that Summer had intentionally fled and kept Nick's abduction a secret, Emmitt's initial reaction was disbelief, even accusing Zach of harboring ill thoughts. He insisted that Mirabella was too innocent and sweet to do such a thing.