Chapter 26 Family, Loss

Elena seemed to understand something and asked in a hurry, "What about the card?"
Annie paused for a moment and said with a righteous tone, "I gave it to brother Timothy!"
A sudden flash of memory crossed Elena's mind.
That time on Treasure Island, she seemed to vaguely hear Nabil say that people from the Robinson family had arrived.
The formidable power of the Robinson family in Britain was more than a simple legend. They monopolized most of the country's industries and economic veins, and recently, it seemed that they were expanding towards the mainland.
It wasn't strange for the Robinson family to have business dealings with Hassan.
But what was strange was why the Robinson family's people would be interested in those photos?
Elena sensed the seriousness of the situation.
Both the Robinson family and the AF Group were forces that she, an ordinary person, couldn't afford to offend.
"Annie, listen, give the car back to Timothy. And get the memory card from the camera, or else there will be big trouble," Elena said.
Annie looked at Elena with a strange gaze and said, "Elena, are you feverish? Or are you just jealous of me? Let me tell you, I won't give back the car, and I absolutely don't want the memory card back."
Elena was very angry, and her voice raised a few decibels.
"Annie, stop being childish, okay? Did you forget that we almost died because of that photo? Why didn't you learn your lesson and carelessly gave the photo to someone else?!" Elena scolded angrily.
Facing Elena's furious reprimanding, Annie's face turned slightly red, and she retorted excitedly.
"Elena, how dare you speak like that? Brother Timothy is not just someone else, he's my real brother. Don't pretend to be a know-it-all!" You and me, we are not from the same father. To put it nicely, if it weren't for our mother's sake, I would have never called you sister. Do you think I would willingly be related to someone like you, a poor beggar?"
Facing Annie's disdainful gaze, Elena could no longer bear it and slapped her across the face.
Smack! A crisp sound shocked both sisters at the same time.
Annie held her face and cried out, "Elena... you actually hit me! I'm telling you, Elena, I won't forgive you. From childhood till now, I always thought of myself as part of the Robinson family, but as soon as I saw you, I instantly realized that I wasn't. Elena, I hate you, I hate you! If it weren't for your sick, poor father, I wouldn't have been forced to go to England to embarrass myself by borrowing money, and I wouldn't have been treated like a dog and kicked out. If it weren't for you, how could we be looked down upon by others, how could we be ridiculed by the Robinson family's people?"
Annie was very emotional. She obtained this sports car and even persistently begged Timothy for 50,000 dollars, all to buy her sister a new motorcycle.
Her sister was extremely thrifty, always saving money and reluctant to spend it.
She came here today for two reasons. One, to save face for her sister and let others know that Elena wasn't a pauper, but a wealthy person. Two, to buy her a new car and make her happy.
Unexpectedly, she ended up slapping her over that worthless card.
From childhood till now, Elena had always pampered her, but now she actually hit her.
Resentment and sadness surged in her heart at the same time.
Annie turned and ran towards the Ferrari sports car. Soon she was in the car, starting it up and disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
Elena stared blankly at Annie's departing figure, her words still ringing in her ears.
'Elena, I hate you, I hate your poor father. If it weren't for you, how could we be looked down upon by others, how could we be ridiculed by the Robinson family's people?!'
During those years, in order to treat her father's illness, they sold everything they could in the house.
But still, they had no money.
Her father fell into a coma, and all she could do was beg her mother, beg her sister.
Money continuously flowed out from her mother's hands, turning into life-saving hope.
Of course, she didn't know how much coldness her mother and Annie had endured from the Robinson family in order to get that money.
At that moment after hearing Annie's outburst, she was deeply shocked.
It turned out that she had burdened them like this.
In an instant, all the slight dissatisfaction she had towards her mother vanished.
The sourness in her heart surged up like ocean waves.
"Brother William, thank you for escorting me."
In the distance, an elegant Lamborghini parked by the roadside, and William, with his slender figure, stepped out of the car. He opened the door like a gentleman and Chloe, wearing a red dress, bent down to get out of the car.
Somehow, Chloe's dress got caught in the car door.
With a sound of ripping, her dress was torn, exposing her bare shoulders to the air.
She shyly lowered her head, hastily pulling the dress upward her body.
William gallantly took off his suit jacket and draped it over her.
"I'm really sorry, Brother William. Now that my dress is damaged like this, I can't attend the school dance. How about taking half an hour of your time to accompany me to buy a new dress? Just half an hour, or you could drive me back home?" Chloe's peripheral vision caught sight of Elena crouched behind a tree, and she felt a soothing sense of relief.
She purposefully pressed her body against William.
"Alright, just half an hour. I'll drive you back home!"
William got into the car and started the engine.
Elena stood far away and couldn't hear what they were saying.
From a distance, she only saw the two of them leaning against each other with bright smiles of happiness on their faces.
Elena suddenly felt how well-suited they were for each other.
What was she, Elena, in comparison? Just a poor and insignificant Cinderella, a Cinderella who didn't even have her purity. Did she even deserve William's love?
Watching William considerately help Chloe and getting back into the car, two glistening tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.
All her fantasies shattered in an instant!
She had nothing.
No money, no status, no education, no job, no father... and now, not even her chastity.
What could she compare herself to Chloe with?
"What are you looking at that's so interesting?"
A low, hoarse voice suddenly sounded behind her.
Startled, Elena turned around.
A pitch-black, tall figure was looking down at her. His untamed eyes flickered with a cold light.
Elena instinctively wanted to escape, but before she could even run, his strong arms grabbed her tightly.
In the next moment, she fell into a solid embrace.