After Losing My Legs I Learned My Fiancé Had a Fake Heart Chapter 09

After Losing My Legs I Learned My Fiancé Had a Fake Heart Chapter 09

Derek came back to an empty house. Ms. Lee, the housekeeper, brought him a bowl of soup. “Here,

Mr. Channing. This’ll help sober you up.”

Derek sank onto the sofa and yanked his tie loose. “From now on, get some rest early. Don’t wait up

for me.”

Ms. Lee smiled. “Miss Channing gave me strict instructions. I’m to watch you drink every last drop of broth before I go to bed. She pays me an extra money a month for it.”

Derek went rigid. “Chloe?”

“No, sir. Miss Vera.’

Of course. It could never be Chloe. Only Vera was obsessive enough to look after his every need. She’d been doing it since she was small, even after he’d grown strong enough to shelter her. She

still shielded him out of pure habit.

And what had he done? Banished her to the basement. Let Simon amputate her legs. Forced her to step aside for a sister with half her talent.

“Sir, forgive me for overstepping. Miss Vera might not be your blood, but she grew up right beside you. The bond she has with you-that’s something no DNA test could ever erase.”

Derek sat in silence for a long moment. “That day… who picked her up? Did she… did she say where she was going?”

Ms. Lee shook her head. “I only saw a well-dressed woman. She held Miss Vera and cried. Miss Vera… she didn’t leave any message.”

“You can go.”

He groped his way down to the basement alone. When he flipped the switch, nothing happened. The light had been dead for a while. So Vera had spent night after night in this kind of darkness? But Vera was terrified of the dark.

By moonlight, he stumbled forward and tripped over something. He picked it up. A little plush bear. The one he’d given her for her sixth birthday.

His thumb accidentally pressed a switch. Vera’s muffled sobs crackled from the worn speaker-the audio glitchy, full of static, but her crying was so sharp, so raw, it made him want to flee the room.

He sat in the dark for a long time after the recording stopped. Then he hauled himself to his feet and

stumbled toward the master bedroom.

In that moment, he knew with absolute certainty: he’d lost Vera forever.

Life in Lucerne was simple. Rehab. Massage therapy. A cat.

“Sweetheart, someone’s poking around your location again.” My mom paced the room, irritation

radiating off her.

“When you were with him, he didn’t appreciate you. Now you’re gone, and he can’t stop haunting

us.”

I almost laughed. The moment Chloe came back, Derek had launched a search for my birth mother. According to their investigation, she was some fishmonger. That’s why Simon and Derek always thought I was clinging to the Channing name for the money.

They didn’t understand. My birth mother controls the largest fresh-produce supply chain in Asia, and her family’s conglomerate spans the globe. I didn’t stay because of wealth. I stayed because I

loved him. And now? Forget it.

I shook my head. “Don’t waste your energy on people who don’t matter.”

“Oh no, sweetheart. Your mother knows how to hold a grudge-you know that.

“Let’s see… where to start. Simon. He’s the one I despise the most.

“David, what’s Simon Rhodes been up to lately?”

“Ma’am, it appears he’s… disappeared.”

“What!” I wheeled myself closer.

The country’s biggest media outlet had just broken the story, “Rhodes Family Heir Replaced. Simon

Rhodes and Chole Rhodes Missing.”

I froze. “What about Derek?”

“He’s untouched. Business as usual.”

My mother let out a sharp breath. “Fine. Then we start with the Channing empire.”

At eleven that night, Derek returned to The Ridges Estate. He went straight to the basement.

He pulled open the door. Sprawled on the ground, eyes hollow, was Chloe. Derek bandaged her up with practiced efficiency, then shoved the drunk, disheveled Simon awake.