Chapter 4
Alicia fed the flames, her sobs rising in exaggerated despair.
“I understand, Eliza, that you just came back and want Mom and Dad’s attention. But why would you frame me? What did I do wrong? If Mom and Dad want their real daughter and don’t want me anymore… then at least let me leave with dignity!”
My parents turned to me, caught in visible discomfort. I smiled faintly, a quiet, obedient kind of bitterness in my expression.
“Mom, Dad,” I said, “I know harmony in a family matters most. I never intended to blame her, and honestly… I don’t even
understand how surveillance works. But if Alicia insists on checking the footage, then let’s do it. I wouldn’t want my return to
cause you more stress.”
The surveillance was pulled up.
Alicia and Chester both looked confident, but the moment the footage played, that confidence shattered.
On screen, from the camera’s fixed angle, you could clearly see the moment Alicia lifted her hand, and how I stumbled and fell in
response.
The pendant had dropped precisely at the moment we touched.
“This angle isn’t clear! I saw it with my own eyes!” Chester roared. “It was all an act! Eliza staged the whole thing!”
The more he pressed, the smaller I made myself, retreating in tears into my parents’ embrace.
My father’s hand came down with a sharp crack against Chester’s face.
“Enough!” he barked. “Eliza didn’t even know there were cameras. How could she have planned anything?”
But the truth was, I had noticed the dark lens the moment I stepped inside.
Surveillance wasn’t common in this era, but by the time I died in my last life, cameras watched every corner of the city. Adjusting
one angle was hardly difficult.
Still, now in my early twenties, dressed like a timid village girl, I looked up at the screen with wide eyes-half awe, half
trembling.
“So this is surveillance?” I asked, voice soft and curious. “Is there one by the front gate too? Mom, Dad, can I… can I see it?”
There was something delicate, pitiful in my tone.
“That was the first time I set foot in our home with Chester. I’d love to see it.”
I glanced toward Chester as I said it.
He turned pale instantly, and I allowed myself the smallest smile.
While he had been bracing for me to go after Alicia, he hadn’t realized that he was already within my sights.
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Chapter 4
He, Dominic, Alicia… they were all obstacles in my path.
Who I dealt with first didn’t matter.
The hunt had only just begun.
+25 Bonus
Despite Chester’s desperate protests, my parents-feeling increasingly ashamed of their earlier misjudgment-eventually agreed to pull up the footage at the front gate.
And just as I predicted, the footage revealed his earlier arrogance.
Words soaked with entitlement and an attitude forged by years of self-proclaimed succession.
My father’s face darkened instantly.
“Chester! Who said you’re the heir to the Rodney family?! Who gave you the right to speak to Eliza that way?! Alicia may have been the heiress before, but from now on, Eliza is too! Don’t forget why you were even allowed into this family in the first place!”
In my last life, Chester inherited the Rodney family empire, but only because my parents died in a so-called “accident.”
Now, as I watched him lower his head while clenching his fists, a cold shiver climbed up my spine.
Had it truly been an accident?
Chester bore all the blame this time, allowing Alicia to slip away unharmed. But over the next few days, she too seemed to learn
caution.
She began imitating me-lowering her gaze, softening her voice.
She moved out of the best bedroom in the villa and changed into plain, rough clothes.
“Now that Eliza’s come home,” she said, tearfully, “I don’t dare touch what’s hers anymore. Please, Eliza, don’t drive me out. I don’t care if I stay as a servant, as long as I can stay with Mom and Dad.”
She even staged a performance, dragging out her favorite jewelry and designer dresses in front of our parents and piling them at
my feet.
“Chester only upset you the other day because we’ve grown up together, and he was worried about me. It was all my fault. I know you probably don’t care about these things, but this is everything I have. If you will just forgive me, I’ll do anything… I’ll get on
my knees and beg.”
And she did. She knelt, forehead pressed to the ground until it was red and swollen.
Our parents couldn’t bear to see her like that.
“Eliza,” my mother said, tugging gently at my sleeve, “Alicia has such a pure heart. We can’t hold a grudge over one mistake. You
mustn’t be so petty.”
Even Chester joined in. He helped Alicia up and placed a resignation letter into my father’s hand.
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“You adopted me to protect Alicia. Now that Eliza won’t tolerate her, there’s no reason for me to stay.”
After years of grooming, Chester held much of the company’s power. If he walked away now, the business would suffer greatly.
The two of them worked seamlessly, playing their roles to perfection.
Our ever-soft-hearted parents took my hands and began to “negotiate.”
They showed me photo albums of Alicia from childhood-each image capturing her growth from a young girl to an elegant young woman. The entire time they spoke, their eyes were full of warmth.
“Alicia’s never known hardship,” they said. “She didn’t know the truth. She’s innocent. From now on, you’re both our daughters.
We’ll tell everyone you were the daughter we lost.
“We can afford to raise more than one child. You’ll both be part of the family. Chester will still manage the company, and you and
Alicia will split the shares. We promise-your future will be secure.”
Even though I had seen it coming, even though I’d prepared myself, I still felt a pang of disappointment.
Was I too greedy?
But why should I have to share what was mine to begin with?
“Next week is Alicia’s birthday,” they continued. “We’ll hold your welcome banquet at the same time-double the joy, double the
celebration…”
For the first time, I interrupted.
“Mom, Dad,” I said quietly. “Next week… is my birthday
too.”
