Chapter 2

Arthur's face darkened, so angry you could wring water from it.

He reached down and pinched my cheek. "Dad believes you."

With that, he spun around and rushed upstairs. He looked less like a man catching his wife cheating and more like one ready to fight to the death.

Eleanor's face went deathly pale. Unable to stop him, she stomped her foot and wailed, "Arthur! The most important thing now is to get Leo to the hospital!"

But Arthur was a man who could tolerate anything except being cuckolded.

His son's legs were nothing compared to his pride.

He went upstairs without looking back.

Of course, he found nothing. The man had already slipped away. But the unfamiliar men's cologne upstairs, so strong it was choking, wouldn't dissipate.

Eleanor, true to form, burst into tears on cue. She pulled a beautifully packaged men's cologne from her bag, crying like a tragic heroine. "Arthur, this was a special gift I bought for you, I wanted to surprise you..."

Nobody would believe that excuse.

But Arthur had no proof.

The ambulance wailed as it took Leo away. Before getting in, Arthur glared at Eleanor, spitting out each word through clenched teeth: "If I find out it was because of that lover of yours that my son's legs were broken, I'll make sure his entire family suffers a miserable end!"

I was desperate but helpless. I knew Eleanor's methods were cunning, and she'd clearly prepared well. I couldn't defeat her just yet; I needed to find another opportunity.

At the hospital, Leo cried in pain.

I immediately rushed to his bedside, holding his small hand, and choked out, "Don't cry, Leo. Lily's here."

Leo was probably dazed from the fall, or maybe my usual fake affection for him was working its magic. He instinctively snuggled into my arms. "Lily saved me."

Arthur, standing nearby, praised me for being "sensible."

But when he saw Leo's leg in a cast, he couldn't help but sigh, muttering, "Thankfully, nothing vital was injured."

Without proof, Arthur could only eye Eleanor with suspicion regarding who opened the yard gate. She, in turn, played the role of the docile and obedient wife to perfection, adamantly claiming the yard gate was old and had simply come loose on its own.

The matter was quietly pushed aside, unresolved.

Back home, Eleanor became impossibly good to me. She cooked me BBQ ribs, bought me pretty new dresses, and even tucked me into bed at night.

Her gentle demeanor made it seem as if I were her own child.

Arthur noticed, and his suspicions gradually faded. He probably thought that even if she had done something, for the sake of the children and the family, she would have settled down by now.

But I knew the more she acted like this, the more it proved she had a guilty conscience, desperate to wash the dirt off herself and then dump it all back on me.

I was waiting too, waiting for her to show her true colors.

Despite all my precautions and calculations, I still underestimated her ruthlessness.

That weekend, Eleanor sent me back to my second-floor bedroom to do homework early that morning, while she pushed a sleeping Leo out onto the second-floor balcony to enjoy the sun.

I looked up from my homework, the sense of unease in my heart growing stronger.

And sure enough.

The moment Arthur pushed open the front door, a loud crash, followed by Eleanor's shrill scream, echoed from the staircase.

"Lily! How could you push Leo!"

Arthur's steps, just inside the door, abruptly halted. He looked up to see me standing in the second-floor hallway, while Leo, wheelchair and all, lay overturned at the bottom of the stairs.