Chapter 4

Watching his retreating back, I suddenly felt Liam was a stranger.

Perhaps feeling guilty towards Mia, Liam poured all that compensatory guilt onto me.

He arranged for my adoption, and took me to amusement parks on weekends.

Any doll I casually mentioned would appear by my bedside the next day.

But the longer we spent together, the more complex his gaze became.

My habit of chewing on pen caps, or licking the milk mustache before drinking, would make him stare blankly for ages.

He would also murmur:

"So similar."

Stella watched this scene, her nails digging deeply into her palms.

The next morning at breakfast, she suddenly clutched her throat, recoiled, and slapped me hard across the face:

"Why did you put peanut butter in my toast? Don't you know I'm allergic to peanuts?"

Stella's body rapidly broke out in a dense rash, visible to the naked eye.

Liam rushed over at the commotion. The maid chimed in:

"Sir, we've followed your instructions. No peanut products are allowed in the house. This child must have snuck them in."

"Yesterday, she even specifically asked me about Ms. Stella's likes and dislikes, saying she wanted to get revenge for her mother."

Liam supported Stella, his eyes full of disappointment as he looked at me:

"How could you become like this, as vicious as your mother?"

Before he could finish, I scratched my arm.

A patch of rash also appeared on my arm.

Stella and I were both sent to the hospital. The diagnosis was that I was also allergic to peanuts, and it was hereditary.

Liam seized on the word 'hereditary' and stormed into Stella's hospital room.

Grabbing her hand, he sharply questioned:

"Eleven years ago, you almost went into anaphylactic shock because of a peanut allergy, and you claimed Mia loved peanut butter so she forced you to eat it."

"But the doctor just said this is a hereditary allergy. Mia couldn't eat peanuts either."

His grip was so strong it almost crushed Stella's arm.

Stella, her face pale, tried to argue:

"It happened so many years ago, how could I remember clearly?"

Liam let go of her, the disappointment in his eyes intensifying. He turned and left.

Stella frantically chased after him, tugging at his clothes, tears streaming down her face:

"Liam, please listen to me. I must have said the wrong thing back then because I was so scared."

"But my allergy is real, and Mia forcing me to eat it is also real. Let's go back to the room and talk properly, okay?"

Liam looked at her tear-reddened eyes and finally gave in, letting her pull him into the hospital room.

The door clicked shut, and ambiguous gasps came from inside.

I stood at the stairwell, my heart sinking bit by bit.

So the grown-up Liam was so easily swayed. His kindness to me before didn't seem so steadfast anymore.

With Liam backing her, Stella became emboldened, and her tactics grew even more malicious.

She would deliberately paint me as vulgar and uncouth in front of him, saying I chewed with my mouth open, and always spoke ill of her behind my back.

She would even suddenly scream while showering, then rush into Liam's arms wrapped in a towel, claiming I was secretly filming her.

After a while, Liam grew annoyed.

When Stella again suggested sending me to an orphanage, a clear flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.

At dinner, Liam sat across from me, hesitating before speaking:

"I've asked Mike to find your biological father. In the future, I'll pay you five hundred thousand dollars in child support annually, as compensation from me to Mia."

I nodded numbly:

"Okay."

Liam's phone suddenly vibrated. He answered the call.

Mike's voice came from the receiver:

"Mr. Stone, the child with you isn't Ms. Mia's at all."

"And Ms. Mia's death isn't as simple as it seems!"