He Gave My Dream to Another Woman? I Took It Back with Interest! Chapter 06

He Gave My Dream to Another Woman? I Took It Back with Interest! Chapter 06

Ethan must have warned her, because for the next few days, Natalie stayed holed up in the guest room with Lily except when they came out to eat.

A few peaceful days passed like that. I stayed busy preparing my design draft for the competition that weekend, hoping one more strong result would strengthen my study-abroad application.

Just when I thought there would not be any more trouble, I came home from work and found that every design draft I had hidden on the top shelf of the cabinet had been pulled down.

Quite a few had already been torn to shreds and thrown all over the floor.

Lily was sitting on the couch, still happily ripping at the papers in her hands.

My head buzzed.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I lunged forward and snatched the draft from her hands. Startled by the sudden movement, she froze for a second, then scrunched up her face and burst into tears.

“Bad Aunt Claire hit me!”

The crying brought Natalie running out of the guest room. She hurried into the living room and scooped Lily into her arms.

“Claire, Lily’s just a child. Whatever you wanted to say, couldn’t you say it properly? Did you really have to put your hands on her?”

I flung the heap of ruined papers down in front of her.

“Why don’t you say what she did first? Do you have any idea my competition design was in there for this weekend?”

“This is my home. You went through my things in my home, and now you’re turning around and accusing me of hitting her?”

Patting Lily on the back, Natalie looked at me with undisguised mockery.

“Lily is only four. Do you really think she knows how to lie?”

“And even if she did, if I say you hit her, then you hit her. Ethan will believe me, not you.”

“So what if this is your home? Didn’t I still move in anyway? Sooner or later, this place will be mine.”

With that, she turned as if to walk away, while Lily clung to her shoulder and made faces at me.

I was shaking with rage. I reached out and grabbed Natalie’s arm, trying to force her to face me, but she jerked her hand free and shoved me hard.

I stumbled backward.

The living room sofa was made of rough unfinished wood. The back of my head slammed against it, and after a burst of blinding pain, all I felt was something thick and warm sliding down the side of my face.

Natalie seemed to panic too. She stood there frozen, too stunned even to react to Lily’s screaming.

Pressing a hand to my forehead, I struggled to my feet. By then, people had already gathered in the doorway.

The moment Mrs. Walker from next door saw the blood all over my face, she rushed straight in.

“What on earth is wrong with you, girl? Claire was kind enough to take you in, and this is how you repay her?”

Natalie waved both hands in a fluster.

“It wasn’t me… she started it.”

I let out a cold laugh.

“Then take a good look. Does she have a single mark on her? And as for Lily, how exactly did a child not even three feet tall manage to get the box off the very top of the bookshelf?”

Natalie’s breathing caught. Her eyes darted around wildly, and though she clearly wanted to argue, she could not seem to come up with a single excuse.

Ethan and I had both been at work. The only people home were her and Lily.

If it was not her, then who else could it have been?

No one paid any attention to her guilty expression. Several people rushed forward at once, helping me out the door and hurrying me toward the neighborhood clinic.

Mrs. Walker kept cursing the whole way there, her voice so loud it could probably be heard from the next street over.