2
Nina snapped back to reality and spoke softly, “I’ve been feeling
lightheaded lately. I was afraid I might drop the bowl.”
Liam stared at her for a moment.
Nina swallowed hard. I saw the flash of panic in her eyes.
How ironic.
♡ A
The night she stabbed me in the heart, she twisted the knife, just to make
sure I didn’t survive.
Now, she was pretending to be weak.
Nina quickly changed her mind, “I’ll get it for you.”
Liam looked away and walked into the dining room. “No need. If you’re unwell, you should rest.”
I froze for a moment. In two years of marriage, he’d never told me to rest. Now, after I’m dead, I hear it for the first time.
It’s odd, though. Despite my frail health when I first arrived at the Hawthorne mansion, I didn’t get sick much in the last year.
Two years of sharing a bed, and I finally mustered the courage to whisper
his name in his ear.
I wanted him to go to the Dawson mansion and get me out of there.
20:31 Thu, Oct 31
♡ A
Grandma Dawson had passed away, leaving me with no one to care for.
Though I was furious about how I died, living had also felt exhausting.
The freezer was cold–too cold for me. I’d always had poor circulation, and I just wanted a warm, sunny place to rest.
And when I overheard them talking about dismembering my body, I was
terrified.
If I died in pieces, I’d rather have been drowned as a baby, at least then I
would’ve been whole.
I’d rather be burned to ash and have my body intact in death.
Unfortunately, Liam didn’t react. He just picked up the bowl and started eating. “I heard you’ve been going out a lot recently?”
Hearing him ask that, I brightened a little.
I knew no one in Harbor City aside from the Dawsons.
On my wedding day, my parents had told me that if I didn’t want Grandma
Dawson to lose her medicine, I should do everything I could to please Liam
Hawthorne. As long as the Dawson family remained stable, the medication
wouldn’t stop.
Once married off, I was told not to return.
So after moving into the Hawthorne mansion, aside from an occasional
trip to the grocery store, I hardly ever left the house.
♡ A
No wonder Liam thought it strange.
Nina replied sweetly, “The weather’s been unpredictable lately. My parents
got sick, so I went to visit them.”
Her mention of our parents reminded me of the night she tried to kill me.
I fought back with all I had.
But my mother, worried I’d hurt Nina, joined my father in holding me down.
In that moment, all the strength left my body, and I let the knife sink into my heart.
Liam didn’t say much. “Better to go out than sit at home bored,” he commented indifferently.
I felt defeated.
Liam, so cautious and suspicious by nature, hadn’t noticed anything
strange.
And now he was saying things to Nina he’d never said to me.
On our wedding day, my parents had smiled apologetically at Liam, telling him that I was to repay the Dawson family’s debts.
He could do whatever he wanted with me–I was at his mercy. The Dawsons wouldn’t complain.
Liam hadn’t treated me as an outlet for his frustrations, but he was distant and cold.
20:32 Thu, Oct 31
| 2% 50%
Q A
After the soup, the two of them headed to the bedroom.
Nina sat expectantly on the bed, watching Liam as he finished getting
ready.
Just as he leaned down toward her, his phone rang.
He answered the call, quickly dressed, and left.
I wasn’t surprised–he was probably going to deal with some urgent business at the company.
Nina looked disappointed but smiled when he turned back.
“You’re wearing too much perfume. I liked it better before,” he commented before walking out the door.
Nina froze, then quickly lifted her arm to sniff herself, confused when she didn’t smell anything.
20:32 Thu, Oct 31
的
Q A
Nina hurriedly called Mrs. Jenkins into the bedroom.
“Can you smell perfume on me?”
Mrs. Jenkins leaned close, sniffing Nina’s arms and neck. “No, I only smell
your shampoo.”
Nina frowned, pacing back and forth. “When you worked for Sarah, what
did she smell like?”
Mrs. Jenkins thought for a moment. “She didn’t wear perfume. She never used any of the bottles in her cabinet. Honestly, she smelled of nothing–like
she didn’t care to enjoy life.”
Mrs. Jenkins had been hired by my mother six months ago, supposedly to help me with herbal broths since I hadn’t conceived.
I was thrilled by my parents‘ sudden care for me.
Even though Mrs. Jenkins never cooked for me, it filled me with hope that maybe, just maybe, my parents had started to care.
But I later learned that from the moment Mrs. Jenkins stepped into the
house, she was part of the plan.
Her real job was to observe my habits and secretly film me, so Nina could perfect her impersonation.
Nina smirked at Mrs. Jenkins‘ remarks. “Not just unlucky–she was
doomed from the start.”
20:32 Thu, Oct 31,
♡ A
Mrs. Jenkins seemed puzzled. “Doomed?”
Nina’s smirk faltered for a moment before she recovered and delivered her
rehearsed line.
“She was always sick. The old widow who raised her was constantly begging my parents for more money to take her to the doctor.”
“All that woman ever did was ask us for money. A beggar raising another beggar! Sarah was so pathetic, trying to do everything herself. No wonder she couldn’t even manage the house staff.”
I lunged at Nina, throwing punches and kicks, but my fists went right through her.
The Dawsons had only sent money for the first few years, and after that, Grandma Dawson paid for everything herself, collecting scraps to raise me.
They only remembered me when they needed someone to take the fall.
Mrs. Jenkins suggested, “Why don’t you wash your hair again? Maybe it’s leftover shampoo from your place that hasn’t worn off yet.”
“Sarah wasn’t picky about these things. She just used whatever Hawthorne Holdings provided. She wasn’t nearly as particular as you are.”
Nina pursed her lips, irritated. “I wash my hair every day–why isn’t it gone
yet? I’ll wash it again later.”
Nina sent Mrs. Jenkins out of the room and then dialed a number.
“Master Evans have you trapped Sarah’s ghost like you promised?”
20:32 Thu, Oct 31
<
1
“Master Evans, have you trapped Sarah’s ghost like you promised?”
I hovered near the phone, listening to the reply on the other end.
“Don’t worry, I’ve bound her soul to the amulet. She won’t even have a chance to reincarnate!”
I rolled my eyes as I floated around the room.
Master or not, the man had no spine. He sounded more like a salesman desperate to keep his business.
נד
A
Liam didn’t return for several days.
Nina waited anxiously until 8 p.m., her favorite dishes laid out on the table.
I licked my lips at the sight.
It’s not that Liam and I had no common ground–when it came to food, we
had identical tastes.
Nina picked at some vegetables and a piece of meat before setting down
her fork.
She was always strict about maintaining her figure. Her daily intake
wouldn’t even match one of my meals.
Not only did she care about how food was prepared, she never ate after 6
p.m.
Grandma Dawson used to say, “If you can eat, it’s a blessing.” I never held.
back at mealtime.
Mrs. Collins made the best honey garlic chicken. I was practically drooling, and it hurt to think that Nina had no idea what she was missing.
Liam paused, glancing at Nina. “You don’t like the food?”
Nina smiled sweetly. “I haven’t had much of an appetite lately.”
Liam watched her for a long moment before replying, “The housekeeper
said your appetite has been much better while I was away. Funny how it
<
0%真
said your appetite nas peen much better while I was away. Funny now it disappeared once I got home.”
Q A
Nina quickly shook her head. “I’ve been feeling a bit off–probably from the
heat.”
Liam looked down for a second before replying, “Lightheadedness, lack of appetite… we’ll have you checked out tomorrow.”
Nina instinctively wanted to refuse, but in the end, she smiled and agreed.
She probably figured that as long as it wasn’t a plastic surgeon, she had nothing to worry about.
After all, only three people knew what really happened to me.
