Chapter 15
In that moment, Charis finally unraveled. She understood now–living was far more agonizing than dying.
She’d thought about ending her life more than once, but Calvin and Hurst’s people kept her under constant surveillance, stripping the room of anything she might use to harm herself. Her world had become an empty, sterile box. Even the smallest objects were gone. They even had doctors inject her with something that left her limp and powerless. She existed in name only–a living corpse.
And then, the truth came crashing down. News of Calvin and Hurst’s exposure, the world finally seeing through Charis’s facade, swept across the internet like wildfire.
No one pitied them. All they received was scorn and ridicule.
It was far too late for remorse–Nettie was already gone, and nothing they did now could bring her back.8
Overight, the stocks of both the Beaumont Group and the W Watson Group plummeted. Investors and business partners scrambled to withdraw eager to cut ties.
After all, men who would betray an adopted daughter, their own sister, or their fiancée–who would go so far as to commit unforgivable acts against them–what would stop them from turning on their shareholders and partners someday?
But Calvin and Hurst no longer cared about any of that.8
Crushed by guilt over what they’d done to their sister and fiancée, they became obsessed with finding someone–anyone–to fill the void, desperate for something to dull the pain.
For nearly six months, the families‘ assistants scoured the world until they found a woman in England who was the spitting image of Nettie 3
When the assistants first laid eyes on her, they were so stunned they almost believed Nettie had come back from the dead. She didn’t just look like her–the woman’s mannerisms, her hobbies, even her name matched Nettie’s. If they hadn’t found her in England, they would have sworn she was Nettie herself.
The assistants weren’t the
e only
y ones shaken.
The moment Calvin and Hurst saw her, they lost all composure, rushing forward to embrace her.
“Nettier”
You’re finally back!
But the woman before them showed no emotion–no excitement, no fear. She simply gazed at them, puzzled and distant, as if silently asking: Do I really resemble your sister and fiancée that much?
Her detachment forced Calvin and Hurst to rein themselves in 8
Calvin cleared his throat and said, “The assistants explained everything you need to know before you came, right?”
She nodded obediently.j
Hurst added, “From now on, you are Nettie. You are my fiancée, and his sister”
She agreed softly, her voice almost indistinguishable from Nettie’s. The sound of it made Calvin and Hurst’s eyes well with tears.
If they hadn’t witnessed Nettie’s death with their own eyes–hadn’t seen her perish in that explosion, hadn’t scoured the sea for three days and nights without finding her body, hadn’t recovered the necklace she never took off–they might have truly believed this woman was their lost sister and fiancée.
to Nettle’s old room.
A maid soon arrived to show the woman to
As they walked, the maid couldn’t help but murmur, “You look so much like our Miss Nettie. If we didn’t all know the lady only had one daughter, we’d think you two were twins ”
The woman just smiled, lips curving in exactly the same way Nettie’s once had. The sight brought tears to the maid’s eyes.
She brushed them away and opened the door to Nettie’s room. Before leaving, the soft hearted maid offered a gentle word of advice.
“You don’t have to do anything,” she whispered. “Just keep showing your face to the two gentlemen, and they’ll shower you with affection.“2
The woman paused, then thanked her quietly !!
Once the maid was gone, she stood in the center of the room, silently taking everything in. She was back in the home she’d left nearly half a year ago–something she’d never dreamed possible.
Only, this time she hadn’t come back to reunite with Calvin and Hurst
She’d come back to drag them both into hell
