Chapter 7
“Shawn…” Ariana’s soft voice came from the door.
She stood there nervously, holding up her dress a little. “Did I bother you…?”
As soon as she stepped into the room, she suddenly cried out, “Ouch!” Her foot slipped, and she accidentally knocked over a candleholder.
The fire quickly spread across the floor, catching on the scattered photographs. One by one, the pictures of James and Brielle burned away into nothing but blackened ash.
Shawn’s eyes widened in shock, but then he froze, caught off guard by the sight of tears welling in Ariana’s eyes.
Her frightened expression looked just like Brielle’s had back in the day.
“Shawn, I didn’t do it on purpose…” she whispered, biting her lower lip as tears welled up. “Please don’t be mad…”
For a second, Shawn looked lost. Then, he gently reached out and wiped her tears. “It’s okay. I’m not upset.”
Watching this, Hannah felt like her heart had been ripped open.
She suddenly yanked herself away from the bodyguard, stormed up, and slapped Shawn across the face. “Shawn, wake up!”
Her voice shook as she shouted, “She’s just a cheap stand-in, not my sister!”
Shawn’s face darkened instantly. He seized her wrist, and a cracking sound echoed from her bones. His voice was low and rough. “I know she isn’t.
“Then can you bring Brielle back to me?!”
Hannah tried to speak, but no words came out.
Her eyes filled with tears, and as she stared at Shawn’s face just inches away, she could barely stop herself from cry-
ing.
“Tie her up.” Shawn said coldly as he let go of her. “Make her kneel and pay for what she’s done.”
The bodyguard tied Hannah’s hands with a thick rope and forced her to kneel in the center of the chapel room.
As Shawn walked away with Ariana, he didn’t glance back even once.
The doors slammed shut behind them, leaving the room in complete silence and darkness.
Hannah was bound tightly and collapsed to the floor. Her tears finally fell without control.
Staring at Brielle’s burned photo, she let out a soft laugh. “Brielle… Look, he can’t even tell the difference between
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real and fake.
“I’ll see you soon…
“When I do, can you tell him yourself how pathetic that stand-in is?”
Outside the chapel room, Shawn leaned against the wall, silently lighting one cigarette after another.
Ariana walked over and tried to act cute, but he brushed her off with annoyance. “You go back first.”
“But Shawn…”
“I told you to leave.”
Though she didn’t want to, Ariana turned and walked away.
Shawn crushed his cigarette beneath his shoe, then glanced at the tightly shut chapel doors, A strange pressure filled
his chest.
“I should’ve felt satisfied. So why did I feel so hollow?”
Hannah had been kept in the chapel room, tied up for a full day, and wasn’t let out until the evening of the following day.
Her limbs were sore all over, and her knees were scraped from kneeling so long. Standing up was hard.
When a servant tried to guide her back to her room, she gently refused. “No. I want to go out for a bit.”
She knew her time was running out and wanted to visit her parents one final time.
In front of Yanetta’s residence.
Hannah stood on the other side of the road, staring at the house she used to know so well.
She hadn’t returned in five years, ever since marrying Shawn.
She’d only planned to take a quiet look at the house from afar, but an old servant spotted her.
“Ms. Yanetta?!” the old servant cried out. “What are you doing back here?”
Before she could answer, her parents had already rushed out at the sound.
Her father went pale. “Who told you to come back? Taking Brielle from us wasn’t enough? Now you still have the nerve to show your face here?”
Her mother grabbed a stick nearby and swung it at her. “Leave! Our family has no daughter like you!”
The stick hit her over and over. Hannah didn’t try to move away. She simply took the blows without saying a word.
Her voice trembled, “Dad, Mom… I only wanted to see you both…”
“What’s there to see?!” her father shouted, kicking her leg hard. “Go back to the Adelson’s residence!”
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She collapsed onto the wet ground as rain and dirt soaked into her clothing.
Slowly, she forced herself up, bowed her head toward her parents, then turned to leave.
The rain kept falling harder. Hannah wandered along the sidewalk, drenched from head to toe.
Suddenly, a black car pulled up beside her. The window slid down, revealing Shawn’s cold face.
“Get in,” he said firmly.
But Hannah didn’t look at him. She kept walking forward, letting the rain pour over her.
Shawn smirked. “If you won’t get in, I’ll drag you in myself. Pick one.”
The car door opened suddenly, leaving Hannah no choice but to get in.
Water dripped from her clothes onto the leather seat as she curled up in the corner, soaked and shivering like a lost kitten.
Shawn said with a cold glance, “You’re pathetic. Even your own parents don’t want you. People like you don’t deserve forgiveness.”
Hannah didn’t respond. Her eyes stayed on the window, watching the rain slide down in thin streams like tiny rivers.
Instead of going home, the car pulled up in front of a high-end club.
“Why did you bring me here?” she asked, confused.
