My Cousin Faked Illness to Steal My Boyfriend, He Turned the Tables Chapter 06

My Cousin Faked Illness to Steal My Boyfriend, He Turned the Tables Chapter 06

Iris’s hand froze mid-air.

On the screen, her recorded voice kept playing.

“Hadley has a rigid personality and doesn’t know how to take care of anyone. If you stay with her, you’ll just end up miserable.”

“I’m different. I’ve known how to treat people well my entire life.”

“I just have poor health, but I won’t be a burden to you.’

The moment those three sentences filled the room, Aunt Nova’s expression warped.

The relatives exchanged glances, and the people who had just been blasting me seconds ago suddenly lost

their voices.

Greyson turned off the video.

He didn’t use the opportunity to insult Iris. He simply looked at Grandma and asked, “Does that count as caring, or as poaching?”

Grandma’s lips twitched a few times before she finally mumbled, “Iris is young. She doesn’t know any

better.”

I let out a cold laugh.

Iris was twenty-three, only a year younger than me.

When she stole Savannah’s boyfriend, she was eighteen.

Whenever she did something terrible, she was always “young and clueless.”

I walked over to the TV and cast a text message Savannah had left behind years ago.

I had found it on an old phone last night.

Savannah had written it to me.

[Hadley, don’t give your things away. The first time, they call you considerate. The second time, they say

you owe it. By the end, you don’t even have the right to complain.]

Mom’s face went completely grey when she saw the text.

“Why did Savannah send that to you?” she asked.

“Because when Savannah left, I was the only one who saw her off at the station,” I said.

The living room grew even quieter.

Greyson gripped my hand tightly.

For the first time in my life, I refused to bow my head in front of the family.

Iris didn’t admit her mistake.

Instead, she began to sob so hard she gasped for air. Aunt Nova held her tightly, screaming that we were

trying to kill her daughter.

Grandma still demanded that I take a step back.

“Back to where?” I asked. “Back until Greyson belongs to her too?”

Grandma snapped, “What are you even saying?”

“The truth,” I said.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Standing at the front door was Savannah, whom I hadn’t seen in three years.

She wore a black dress and carried a manila folder. She looked thinner than before, but her gaze was

steadier.

Mom’s voice trembled. “Savannah?”

Savannah didn’t acknowledge her.

She walked straight into the living room and tossed the folder onto the coffee table. “I’m here to take back

what belongs to me.”

The moment Iris saw her, the remaining color drained from her face.

Aunt Nova shielded Iris. “What are you back for? You’re the one who chose to leave back then. Don’t blame

r anyone else.”

“Of course I had to come back,” Savannah said. “If I didn’t, how would I know that my fashion design portfolio ended up as Iris’s competition entry?”

The sentence hit the living room like a bucket of boiling water.

Dad stood up. “What portfolio?”

Savannah opened the folder.

Inside were several original sketches for dress designs.

I recognized them instantly.

Savannah had drawn them before leaving hotne, hiding them in the lining of my desk drawer.

Just a few days ago, Iris had taken one of those exact designs to a local fashion exhibition, earning praise from our relatives for her supposed talent.

Iris shook her head, crying. “I didn’t steal it! Hadley gave it to me!”

Every eye shifted to me once again.

I was so angry I almost laughed.

Greyson pulled me behind his back.

Savannah looked directly at Iris. “Don’t rush. If I came back, I came prepared for more than just paper.”

The second thing Savannah pulled out was an audio recording.

On the tape, Iris’s voice sounded noticeably younger.

“Savannah, you don’t mind that your boyfriend took me to the hospital, do you? He said you were too busy,

and that I needed looking after more.”

Savannah’s recorded voice asked, “What exactly do you want?”

Iris giggled. “Everything you have, I want to try it out. Besides, Grandma and Aunt Charlotte will always back me up anyway.”

Someone in the living room gasped.

Mom covered her mouth, failing to speak up for Iris for the first time in her life.

Aunt Nova lunged forward to snatch the phone.

Savannah smoothly handed it off to Greyson.

Greyson stepped back with ease, his voice perfectly level. “Still can’t keep your hands to yourself, I see.”