Chapter 6

Morning sunlight streamed through the curtains.

When I stepped out of my room, Celeste and Liam were sitting at the dining table.

She considerately handed Liam a napkin, her face adorned with a doting, unblemished smile.

Those gentle, water-like eyes seemed to forever hold boundless affection.

“Thanks,” Liam’s face flushed, his eyes cast down like dewy grapes.

“It’s nothing,” Celeste looked up, her gaze bypassing him and settling on me, a smile playing on her lips. “It’s what I should do as your girlfriend.”

Her gaze felt like feathers, yet also like barbed whips, slowly tracing my exposed neck and arms.

I shivered, then hurried into the bathroom, head down.

When I came out after washing up, Celeste was in the kitchen washing dishes.

The sunlight outlined her slender back, that picture of domestic tranquility, enough to deceive anyone.

Who could imagine the obsessive, rotten core beneath that facade of false warmth?

“Julian,” Liam’s voice chimed in my ear. He sat down beside me, grinning, but his hand unceremoniously pinched my arm. “You deliberately wore so little. Don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to seduce Celeste.”

A sharp pain shot through me. I yanked my arm back, then grabbed his wrist.

I stared at him coldly. “Liam, get this straight. You’re the one who stole my identity and took my girlfriend.”

“If you want my trash, and you treat it like treasure, then keep it safe.”

“But as your brother, I have to warn you,” I watched his face instantly drain of color, speaking each word slowly. “How could a car accident only result in superficial injuries? She’s been amnesiac for so long, not bothering to look for her family or regain her memory. Instead, she’s happily living in a stranger’s house. You know exactly what you’re thinking.”

Our family was just a regular, ordinary working-class family. Between us and the Blackwoods, a prestigious old-money family, there was a whole galaxy.

Liam was just taking advantage of her amnesia, trying to stage a cheap drama of “Billionaire Heiress Falls for Me.”

Seeing his guilty face, I released his hand and turned to the kitchen.

I took a plate of sliced watermelon from the fridge, and when I turned around, I bumped right into Celeste’s smiling eyes.

She was standing right behind me, silent as a shadow.

I tried to walk around her, but she reached out, placing a light but firm hand on my shoulder.

“Can I have a slice of watermelon?” Her voice was soft, but her eyes were fixed on me, as if trying to see through my soul.

I slapped her hand away fiercely, my heart skipping a beat.

Every cell in my body screamed: kill this woman, kill her.

I forced down the fear and the surging killing intent, managing to squeeze out a smile.

“Go ahead.”

Celeste naturally picked up the largest slice of watermelon, chewing it slowly. The bright red juice trickled down the corner of her lips, a sight that made it seem as if she were chewing my very flesh.

I pressed my lips together, carrying the remaining watermelon, and fled back to my bedroom.

*Click.* I locked the door.

For the next month, I had to keep my distance from her.

Just under a month. If I could just hold on for one more month, I’d be free.

Not long after, the lock on my door clicked.

Liam swayed the spare key in his hand and swaggered in.

“Julian, you’re not going to stay in your room all day, are you?”