Chapter 4 It Is Him

A familiar voice suddenly rang out in the cold night wind.

Elodie's whole body stiffened. Instinctively, she raised her hand and pressed her palm hard against the still-bleeding wound on her forehead.

It was him. Her ex-fiancé, Ryan Brown.

Why had he come back to Astoria?

Elodie didn't want him to see her current miserable state, but she couldn't help herself—she slowly lifted her head.

Under the streetlight, he hadn't changed a bit. Wearing an expensive custom suit and gold-rimmed glasses, he was still that refined and gentle gentleman.

Except those eyes that once looked at her with such tenderness now held a bone-chilling coldness, along with a barely noticeable pain.

Her heart felt like it was being stabbed by countless needles. She and Ryan had grown up together as childhood sweethearts—how had they ended up like this?

"Say something." Ryan's hoarse voice rang out again, carrying suppressed anger. "Back then, you'd rather betray me and do whatever it took to marry Adrian. Now you've got yourself beaten bloody—is this the wealthy lifestyle you wanted?"

Meeting those stubborn eyes, Elodie felt like someone was choking her throat. She couldn't say anything.

Was this what she wanted? Of course not.

Back then, she'd been drugged. Just as she was about to fall into the hands of some thug, she stumbled into Adrian's room by mistake.

When she woke up, the mess throughout the room and her torn clothes had already revealed what happened that crazy night.

One wrong step led to more wrong steps.

Everything that followed felt like some invisible giant hand was pushing her from behind, leaving her no way out.

After the incident was exposed, Ryan, who had loved her so deeply, simply couldn't accept the truth. Elodie still couldn't forget how, at her and Adrian's wedding a few years ago, Ryan had begged her with red eyes to leave with him, only to be beaten by security guards and thrown out of the wedding.

Elodie closed her eyes, pushing down the painful memories in her mind.

When she opened them again, her pale lips curved into a light, casual smile: "It's okay."

"This is okay? You're not happy at all!" Ryan's tone revealed some irritation, his gaze behind the gold-rimmed glasses fixed on her, as if trying to tear through her pretense. "What are you even getting out of this?"

Years of navigating high society had taught Elodie how to put up a good front. Even though her forehead was bleeding and her face was deathly pale, she could still smile properly: "That's just life. You gain some things, you lose others. It just depends on what you want."

Pain flashed in Ryan's eyes. Looking at the blood seeping through her fingers, he softened after all, blurting out anxiously: "Your wound..."

He raised his hand, about to touch her forehead, when a clear female voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Ryan, what are you doing here? The party's about to start."

A young woman in a fancy dress walked over and naturally took hold of Ryan's arm that was suspended in mid-air.

The woman turned her head, as if just noticing Elodie across from them, and gasped with her hand over her mouth: "What a coincidence! I didn't expect to run into you here!"

Looking at this familiar face, Elodie felt mixed emotions: "Yeah, what a coincidence. Nina, how have you been?"

This was her own sister, Nina Turner.

Nina held Ryan's arm tightly, leaning her whole body against him, smiling sweetly: "With Ryan by my side, of course I'm happy. Elodie, our company just started up and we really need connections. I wonder if there's a chance we could have dinner with you and Mr. Stewart to discuss a partnership?"

So they were here to find Adrian for a business deal.

Elodie found it incredibly ironic—she had just thrown the divorce papers in Adrian's face.

Not wanting to cause trouble, she said flatly: "We'll see. You guys go ahead, I need to go."

She didn't want to display her misery for even one more second in front of this man she once loved deeply and her blood-related sister.

She turned to leave, but Nina grabbed her arm, her tone carrying some complaint: "Elodie, you can't just stop acknowledging Mom and Dad because you married a rich man, right? Come back to the Turner family for dinner sometime. They actually... really miss you."

Miss her?

A heavy sadness swept through Elodie's heart. How could they possibly miss her?

She didn't expose this fake courtesy, only leaving behind a sincere blessing: "I'm really happy to see you two so happy. I wish you all the best."

Before she finished speaking, she had already pulled her hand back and disappeared into the night in her high heels without looking back.

Around the corner, Nina huffed with dissatisfaction: "What? Still want to chase after her?"

Ryan withdrew his complicated gaze and affectionately touched Nina's hair: "Of course not. It's all in the past. Let's go in. We still have business tomorrow."

"That's more like it. Remember, I'm your fiancée now..."

Hearing the playful complaint carried by the wind, Elodie, still in the shadows, tilted her head back and forced back the moisture in her eyes.

Good. At least Nina and he were happy.

In the taxi, Elodie swallowed a painkiller and closed her eyes wearily.

From her earliest memories, she and her sister Nina had lived in an orphanage.

Years ago, when her father Jack Turner's business became very successful, he came to the orphanage to claim his daughter. But who could have imagined that Chloe somehow got wind of this and impersonated her with a fake token, getting taken back to the Turner family as Jack's daughter!

Meanwhile, she and Nina continued struggling at the bottom.

It wasn't until five years ago that Jack discovered he'd recognized the wrong daughter and found Elodie. But by then, Nina had already disappeared while living on the streets.

And Chloe had long been loved by the family. Elodie's return wasn't welcomed by the Turner family.

But even so, Chloe deliberately moved out of the Turner Manor, claiming that Elodie's return forced her to change her surname and leave, making it look like Elodie had driven her away from the Turner family.

All these years, Elodie's parents had blamed her for Nina's disappearance and Chloe's distance, believing she was selfish and cold, that she hadn't taken care of her sister.

Those years at the Turner family were like hell for her. Her biological parents looked at her as if she were something evil and dirty.

Two years ago, Nina was finally found. Not only had she returned from studying abroad, but she'd also gotten together with Ryan, who should have been Elodie's fiancé.

Chloe's relationship with the family had also improved thanks to Jack and Olivia Turner's efforts to make amends.

Watching them all happy together as a family, Elodie finally understood completely—in that so-called "home," she would forever be an outsider who didn't fit in.

The phone in her bag suddenly vibrated violently, the screen flashing with "Adrian's" name.

Elodie glanced at it coldly.

She didn't hesitate, didn't answer.

Her finger tapped lightly—reject, block.

The movements were smooth and decisive.

Looking at the now completely quiet phone screen, Elodie let out a long breath.

All of this needed to end.