basement door and went upstairs.
Perhaps the wait was too long and torturous,
she turned on the TV.
Because of my “sudden death,” Patricia’s
mind wasn’t on the TV at all.
She kept glancing at the door, her mind completely adrift. But I watched with relish. An hour later, the doorbell rang.
Patricia rushed to the door at an
unprecedented speed; before she even
opened the door, tears began to fall.
“Mom, my sister is dead-”
The word “dead” was cut short.
I curiously peered out to see who was at the door.
At the door stood Ethan Lucas.
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Chapter 2
6
My eyes practically glowed with excitement.
“What are you doing here?” Patricia Shen’s frightened tears subsided.
“The hotel asked when we’re checking out. I was in the neighborhood, so I came to see you. What did you say about your sister?” Ethan Lucas entered the suite and stopped in front of Patricia Shen. Patricia Shen trembled
slightly, instinctively glancing toward the
basement.
“What’s out there?”
Ethan Lucas strode towards the basement.
“I was talking about the TV, yes, the sister on TV!”
Patricia Shen, like a startled rabbit, grabbed
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<
Ethan Lucas’s arm, her voice trembling with
nervousness.
“You cried just watching TV? You’ve gotten
so much more timid?”
Ethan Lucas glanced at the TV, which was
playing a one–woman show, and stopped.
I was almost exasperated. A few more steps
and there would be a surprise, but this was so
boring.
If I wasn’t a ghost, I would have pushed him
into the basement myself…
“I just got too into the show. Seeing the
female lead’s sister die… it was just sad…”
Patricia Shen sobbed, “Oh my god, I’m going
to cry myself to death…”
“We have a much bigger TV at home. Why
didn’t you watch it there?”
<
Ethan Lucas, exasperated yet amused,
pinched her nose.
“I lost one of my earrings. I came to the hotel
to see if I could find it and check out.”
Patricia Shen’s eyes flickered, avoiding Ethan
Lucas’s gaze.
“Oh, I see,” Ethan Lucas looked around, “Did
you find it?”
“No…” Patricia Shen said woodenly.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll buy you a new pair
later.” Ethan Lucas looked at his watch. “I-”
Just then, the doorbell rang again.
“Patricia, open the door, it’s Mom.” Her
mother’s voice came from outside.
Patricia Shen froze, motionless.
Ethan Lucas opened the door.
“Who are you?” he looked at her mother with
く
a puzzled expression.
Her mother froze, subconsciously looking at
Patricia Shen.
“This is my distant aunt, Aunt, this is my
husband, Ethan Lucas.”
Patricia Shen, regaining her composure, took
the initiative.
Her mother immediately understood Patricia
Shen’s current role.
“Hello, I’m Patricia’s aunt,” she greeted
proactively.
Ethan Lucas was very polite, “Hello, Aunt.”
I watched with amusement.
The one who had been dating Ethan Lucas all
along was the orphan, “Patricia Shen.”
Her mother wasn’t at the wedding, so she
didn’t know Ethan Lucas. First, Patricia Shen
<
opened the door and called out “Mom“, and
then someone knocked on the door and
called herself “Mom“. Where did this orphan,
Patricia Shen, suddenly get a mother?
There were so many holes in her story, it’s no wonder Ethan Lucas was suspicious.
My gaze fell on her mother. In this play to steal my marriage, what role did she play… “Honey, weren’t you saying you had
something to do? I’ll take you there.” Patricia Shen linked her arm with Ethan Lucas’s.
Ethan Lucas glanced at his watch again and didn’t object.
He must have been really busy.
“Aunt, please wait for me here for a while, I’ll
be right back.” Patricia Shen turned back to
tell her mother as she walked away.
Har mathar amilad and hid them formwall
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Her mother smiled and bid them farewell.
Reluctantly, I was dragged out of the room by
Patricia Shen to see them off.
7
As soon as Patricia Shen and I returned, her
mother quickly locked the door.
Then she grabbed Patricia Shen’s arm and
strode towards the basement.
“Mom, you… you know?”
Seeing the half–open basement door, Patricia
Shen’s face turned pale.
“A thing this big, do you think you could hide it from me?”
Her mother’s face was livid. “Patricia Shen,
do you know what you’ve done?”
“All these years, you’ve liked playing around, I let you; you wanted to live a glamorous life, I
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helped you.”
“You found studying hard, so you let Natalie
take your classes and exams for you, and I turned a blind eye.”
“Even when your father left the company to you, and you were incompetent, and you
continued to exploit her endlessly, I didn’t say anything.”
“But you should never, ever have killed her for a man!”
Her words were deafening, even I was
stunned. She favored her sister all these
years, but I never thought she still had me in
her heart. It was shocking.
“Mom, I didn’t kill her, I only knocked her unconscious…‘
“I didn’t expect an accident to happen. I just
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wanted Ethan Lucas, I didn’t want her to
die…”
“Besides, I still needed her for so many
things, how could I kill her…”
Patricia Shen collapsed to the floor, looking
terrified.
Her explanation was ironic. For years, she and
her mother had illegally confined my
grandmother under the guise of caring for
her, severely restricting my visiting time.
She feasted on me, yet she didn’t forget to
mentally abuse me. I was like a rat living in
the gutter, lowly and hopeless.
When she misunderstood me again and again,
I tried to explain. But all I got was more cruel
and merciless punishment.
I never thought she would ever beg for
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forgiveness…
“I didn’t mean to… I didn’t want to kill her…”
Patricia Shen sobbed, covering her face.
“Stop crying!”
Her mother shouted, “The most urgent thing
is to call the police, to clear things up-”
“We can’t call the police!” At these words,
Patricia Shen’s expression hardened, abruptly
interrupting her mother.
“Shut up!” Her mother rubbed her temples,
“Do you want to attract everyone nearby?”
Patricia Shen shuddered and lowered her
head.
“Why not? Explain!” Her mother’s face was
grim.
Patricia Shen lowered her head even more,
“Although my sister and I both have the name
r
Patricia Shen, our life experiences are vastly
different…”
“Ethan Lucas knew the Patricia Shen who had
no parents, not me.”
“Calling the police will certainly alarm Ethan
Lucas, and if he finds out the truth, I won’t be able to stay by his side…”
Her mother slapped her, “Patricia Shen, are you so desperate for a man!”
“I’m not, but Ethan Lucas is different!”
Patricia Shen ignored the pain on her face
and stepped forward, grabbing her mother’s hand.
“Mom, do you know Ethan Lucas’s identity?” “He’s the heir to Lucas Group, the one always in the news.”
“That dead girl, Natalie, we trusted her so
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much, but she fooled us.”
“Mom, do you know how much Lucas Group
is worth?”
Before her mother could answer, Patricia
Shen answered anxiously.
“At least $80 billion, enough to buy thousands
of Dad’s companies…”
“Really?”
Her mother was shocked, “His family is so
rich, why would he like Natalie?”
8
“Who knows, maybe he has bad eyesight,”
Patricia Shen mumbled.
She wasn’t talking about me, but I was distracted.
To me, Ethan Lucas was like snow on a
mountaintop, a flower on a branch, something
unattainabla in my humbla lifa
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unattainable in my humble life.
Being with him was the most magnificent
dream I had ever had.
Not even my mother, or even I until my death, understood why he would marry me…
“It’s not the reason that matters, it’s the