Chapter 157
Clara’s POV
My real name is Ana Franklin. Yeah, that Ana–Ross‘ biological sister, the one everyone thought was dead. But no, I’m not dead, I’m as alive as a healthy baby.
Let me start from the day my mom caught me and Ross naked in bed.
Yeah, I was sleeping with my brother. Not stepbrother like Lucy did–my real, biological brother.
I know. It’s wrong. Filthy. Disgusting. My mom said the same thing.
Well, actually, she yelled it.
She made me get dressed and dragged me straight to the car.
“Mother, where are we going?” I finally broke the silence once we hit the highway.
“To the mental asylum,” she replied coldly, her hands gripping the steering wheel. “You’re sick. Disgustingly sick, I’m going to dump you there and pretend you’re dead,” she said through clenched teeth, her voice filled with hate and disgust.
“Mother, please don’t do this to me,” I begged. “I’m your daughter. Please don’t hate me.”
“You’re not my daughter. You’re a fucking whore who sleeps with her own brother. You’re a disgrace
to
this family.”
That boiled my blood.
“Take that back, Mother,” I said, my breath hot with rage. “And take me back, too. You don’t love me. Dad doesn’t either. Ross is the only one who does. I want to be with him for the rest of my life, not locked up with a bunch of mental patients.”
“Over my dead body,” she snapped.
“Fine,” I said. “As you wish.”
I grabbed the steering wheel and twisted it, hoping the crash would end it all. But she managed to regain control.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” she screamed, yanking my hand off the wheel. “You could have killed us both!”
“If I can’t be with Ross, I’d rather be dead.”
Hunged again–and this time, the car crashed.
I was in a coma for over–two years. And when I woke up, everything had changed–especially my face.
Turns out a psycho plastic surgeon saved me… and used me as his personal experiment.
I eventually ran away to find my brother. But when I got home, I saw something that shattered my soul.
My dad was mourning. For Ross. My brother. He was dead. Ross was dead,
I dug deeper and learned about Lucy.
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Chapter 157
The girl who took him from me.
First, she dared to seduce him–pretending to be some kind of substitute for me. And then, after getting Kalden, she killed Ross,
That day, I made a vow. I’d ruin her life and take my revenge. She took my love, so… I will take hers. I will kill Kaiden,
But the more I leamed about Lucy and Kaiden, the more I envied her.
The way Kaiden loved her? Ross never treated me that way.
And that’s when the plan shifted. I didn’t want to kill Kalden anymore.
I wanted to steal him.
I wanted her life.
I became friends with Lucy just to get close to Kaiden. But it wasn’t easy. The guy didn’t even glance at me. Forget seduction–he barely knew
I existed.
Then, at that beach, I saw something–hate and doubt in Lucy’s eyes… directed at Rubina. Meanwhile, Kaiden practically worshipped Rubina.
That’s when I got an idea. I will use Rubina to create distance between Lucy and Kaiden. Once he will get over Lucy, he will definitely look at
- me.
I was the one who clicked their pictures. Ian and Jackson were snoring in the room when I sneaked out, waited for Kaiden to step out, and snapped those shots.
Yeah, I was the one who took Rubina’s phone and posted the article.
The scheduled post feature was a blessing. While the post went online automatically, I was sitting right beside Lucy, making me out from her
suspect list.
But my plan got trashed when she caught me with Marco. That fucking cook.
I needed an insider–someone who knew all the Sterwalt family dirt. That’s when I met Marco. He was wasted in some bar, ranting about the
Sterwalts.
We struck a deal. He was useful… for a while.
Until he became a liability.
God, I still regret wasting such an expensive bullet on a dumbass like him.
But it’s okay. Thanks to him, a new idea popped into my mind.
Lucy’s POV
When I heard Clara’s backstory, my respect for Barbara rose to sky level. I thought Barbara was the psycho, but Clara? She was the goo psychos.
What the fuck is wrong with this girl?
She stepped closer, the air between us suddenly feeling tighter and more suffocating than the restraints on my wrists and ankles. Her fingers reached out and gently stroked my hair. “You know, Lucy,” she said, her voice soft and venomous, “once your mom used our similar faces to
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Chapter 157
force her way into my family. Now it’s my turn. I’ll use the same face to crawl into yours?
A chill slithered down my spine.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my throat tightening, heart racing like a warning siren.
She tilted her head, smiling wide enough to make my stomach twist. “I mean,” she purred, “I’m going to become you. Take your life, stear your place. And fuck your brother–just like you fucked mine.”
My breath caught in my chest. “I never had a relationship with Ross!” I snapped. “I hated him. He… he was the one who looked at me like that. He forced himself on me. He was a monster.”
Clara’s eyes glistened, but not with tears. With delusion. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “My Ross would never”
“Yes, he did. He was worse than evil,” I said through clenched teeth. “And you’re just like him. Twisted. Rotten.”
Her lips suddenly curled into a strange, almost serene smile. “It’s okay,” she said sweetly. “Say whatever you want. Yall, scream, curse me. Because soon, it won’t matter. No one’s going to hear you anyway.”
She folded her arms across her chest with eerie calm, like she’d rehearsed this moment a thousand times in her mind. “You remember that plastic surgeon I mentioned?” she continued, voice almost sing–song now. “The one who fixed my face after that accident? I called him and asked if he was interested in another plastic surgery.”
I felt the ground shift beneath me. My lungs refused to take in air.
“He said yes,” she added with sick glee. “Said he’d gladly turn me into you. Bone structure, eye shape, freckles, even your voice. Everything.”
Her words took my breath away.
“Yes, Lucy,” she said coldly, her eyes gleaming with triumph. “I’m going to sell you to that psycho plastic surgeon as the fee of my surgery…. then undergo plastic surgery to become you.”
My heart slammed against my chest. But before panic could fully take over, my gaze instinctively flicked toward the stacks of ragged–looking sacks behind her. And that’s when something even more shocking unraveled before my eyes.
As if the plot twist of her taking my place wasn’t enough, another knocked at my heart. Rubina and Sheela. They were hiding behind those
sacks.
What the–How did they?
Their eyes met mine, wide with urgency. They gave tiny waves, then pressed their fingers to their lips, motioning for silence before gesturing that everything would be okay
Relief and fear twisted together in my chest. I was worried for them, terrified that Clara might discover them–but somewhere in the chaos, I felt a flicker of hope. A sliver of safety.
Meanwhile, Clara kept talking, unaware of the silent approach behind her.
“Since we have the same eye color,” she went on, “same hair, same height… the transformation’s going to be seamless.”
She began to turn, and to keep her attention locked on me, I let out a dry, mocking scoff. “What drugs are you even on?”
“What?” she snapped, startled–her confidence faltering for the first time.”
I tilted my head, keeping my tone steady. “Plastic surgery? You make it sound like an overnight process. Healing from that kind of
transformation takes months. Maybe even years.” As I spoke, my eyes flicked briefly toward Rubina and Sheela. They were tiptoeing forward,
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“But I guess you skipped over that little detail,” I added, voice thick
with sarcasm.
“Oh, I’ve planned it all,” Clara insisted, her tone manic and breathless. “I’ll tell everyone that tuh, you were kidnapped. That Clara kept you locked away. That she tortured you. But then you ran away. I’ll pretend to be you, living your life while you rot at that psycho plastic
her lips into vicious smile. “As his live experiment doll.” surgeon’s lab…” She twiste
“Nice plan, bitch,” a sharp voice of Rubina rang out.
Clara froze. Her body stiffened as Sheela stepped into view, eyes blazing. “But it’s not going to work.”
“Because we won’t let it,” Rubina added, her tone deadly calm.
Clara spun around to face Rubina but too late. With a swift, precise motion, Rubina hit the rusty candlestick down hard across Clara’s head. The sound was sickening–a dull, hollow thud–and Clara’s eyes went wide with shock before she crumpled to the floor like I did before.
To be continued…
