And I never even got to see my own biological parents. Am I just not good enough? She then thought about what Joshua had said—that she was only adopted, and no matter how close of a bond she and her grandparents might share, they were ultimately separated by the lack of blood relation. If it all came down to choosing between her and Joshua, there was no telling whether Robin and Laura would or wouldn’t pick Joshua. Elise would always be the one left behind; abandonment was a fate she had been born into. “Everyone is different,” Alexander prompted meaningfully, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Maybe,” she murmured as she spun and headed for the door. At the sight of this, he rose from the couch and asked, “Where are you going?” “To save Jeremy.” She had changed her mind; regardless of whether Amelia would survive the ordeal, she would still spare the woman’s son. It didn’t take long for Alexander and Elise to arrive at the hospital. Under Elise’s expert skills in acupuncture, Jeremy regained consciousness from his coma, though his last memory was the one from the other day when he had badgered Elise. Now that he was looking at her the moment he opened his eyes, his hand flew to his neck as he demanded warily, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Your mother’s been hospitalized,” Elise explained icily. “What? What the hell did you do to my mom?!” he roared as he bolted upright in bed. “You little b*tch! I swear I’ll make you pay if anything happens to my mom!” She narrowed her eyes and shot him a dangerous look. “Keep saying that if you want to be a comatose forever.” Jeremy knew better than to challenge her, so he shut up like she told him to. When Elise left, he hurried to look into Amelia’s whereabouts. By the time he found her room, Amelia was already awake. “Mom! Are you alright? Why would you do such a thing?
Tell me who it was that pushed you into doing something like this. I’ll make them pay!” he cried, throwing himself down in the seat next to her bed as he sobbed pathetically. He might be an incorrigible troublemaker, but he still loved his mother dearly. “There, now; you’re awake and that’s all that matters. I’ll be fine as long as you are, my child,” a weak Amelia commented. “How are you ‘fine’ right now? Look at the state of you! I won’t just sit here and take this without a fight. I’ll find that person who did this to you and make them pay. Was it Elise?
That scheming little witch has gone too far this time! I’ll find her and if I can’t kill her myself, I’ll hire someone to do it!” “Stop!” Panic settled over Amelia as she reached up and clutched Jeremy’s shirt, drawing him closer with a frantic gleam in her eyes. “That’s enough. Don’t go around saying stuff like that anymore. That woman is someone we can’t afford to trifle with!” With slow hesitation, she added, “In the few days that you’ve been unconscious, the Olson Family has gone bankrupt.” A loud ringing filled Jeremy’s ears like his mind had just imploded. “That’s impossible! I don’t believe you. You’re lying!
The Olson Family is a titan in the industry and we have William and Nathan on our side. How could we have lost everything?” “You fool! Don’t you understand? Nathan has been on Elise’s side from the very beginning! He only got close to us for us to lower our guard!” “What?” He crashed to the floor in a miserable heap. Bewildered, he started to recall everything that had culminated into this. Now that he thought about it, it was no wonder that Alexander and Elise could access Nathan’s suite whenever they liked, but the Olson Family could not.
As it turned out, the wheels of Elise’s plans had been set in motion without Amelia and anyone else in the Olson Family realizing it. Everything had been a ploy to begin with. How terrifying can one woman be? Jeremy thought with a shiver. Presently, Amelia let out a sigh. She stared at the ceiling with a faraway gaze as she added, “It was our fault for pushing Elise’s limits. We need to know our place now and we have to realize that our glory days have come to an end.” “No! I won’t do it! I won’t go down like this!” Jeremy couldn’t accept the fact that he had gone from riches to rags as soon as he had woken up from his coma.
As though having gone insane, he roared and howled, then rushed out of the hospital the same way Amelia had earlier at the clubhouse. A few days later, news of him getting beaten into a pulp headlined the entertainment gossip column. He suffered such severe brain damage from the assault that rumor had it he wouldn’t be the same person even after treatment. Unable to cope with this cruel twist of fate, she lost her mind. Meanwhile, Elise had gone through the paperwork for Laura’s discharge from the hospital and brought Laura home.
Following several rounds of acupuncture, Laura had already regained her mobility and Elise decided to bring her grandparents to seek medical help abroad after a month or two of recuperation. In order to celebrate Laura’s discharge from the hospital, Joshua had been released from custody as well. After having not seen or heard from Joshua for the past few days, Maureen was ecstatic to see her husband return and the couple staked out a corner to talk about something in secret. Elise was helping Laura into a seat when she saw Jeanie sighing. Upon sensing that Jeanie might be in low spirits, Elise followed her into the kitchen and asked, “You look a little down, Mrs. Anderson.
Is something the matter?” Jeanie turned away as soon as she heard Elise’s voice and quickly dabbed her tears. “I-It’s nothing. I’m fine.” While Jeanie thought she was being subtle, Elise actually saw through her gestures and grew even more worried. As she approached the older woman, Elise said gently, “Mrs. Anderson, you know about my being adopted by the Sinclairs, and that I’m not biologically related to my grandparents, but that doesn’t change the fact that our bond is real. If you see me as family, Mrs. Anderson, you don’t have to hide anything from me or be so courteous toward me.”
Jeanie sighed. Since Elise had persuaded her, she reached out to take the girl’s hand as she said wistfully, “I was feeling dejected about how a girl as wonderful as you didn’t turn out to be my daughter.” She paused, then mused thoughtfully, “And I’m upset because I went to get a DNA test done after I found out you were adopted. In the end… You have no idea how much I wish you were my daughter!” Elise felt her heart leap to her throat, but she maintained composure as she asked, “You went to get a DNA test done?” “Huh?” Jeanie froze for a moment before she quickly apologized, “Yes, I went out to deliver the DNA sample to the facility that ran the test for me.
I’m sorry for not staying home like you told me to, Elise.” “No, I’m worried about something else,” Elise explained gravely. “Something else?” A baffled Jeanie couldn’t quite understand what else could worry Elise other than the trip she had made to the DNA test facility. With a sigh, Elise decided to be frank with the woman. “Faye has hired someone to keep an eye on you and the spy has been watching you from outside the house all this time.” “What?”
Jeanie placed a hand over her heart and as the belated realization sank in, she muttered, “Does that mean Faye knows about the test?” “I wouldn’t be too concerned about that.” Elise briefly pondered on this, then met Jeanie’s gaze as she asked somberly, “Mrs. Anderson, could you give me a copy of the DNA test results?” “It’s all just a bunch of technical data. Would you be able to understand the data at all?” Jeanie asked. “No,” Elise replied bluntly.
“Maybe I could trace the data source, though.” Jeanie couldn’t quite comprehend this, but she did as she was told and returned with the test results. Elise took the results and went back to her room, then somehow hacked into the facility’s database by using the facility’s name and the serial number printed on the test results. When she saw the real report leap out at her from the screen, she stared at the computer for long enough that one might think she had turned to stone.
