Chapter 12 I Was Lying

But I was lying.

Throughout those years abroad, Lucas haunted my thoughts.

Especially during that winter when he was nineteen and about to return to Xavier Luxury Group. It was the peak of our passionate affair.

The winters in Northern City were brutally dry.

Even a kiss sparked with static, the tiny electric jolts a tingling sensation against our lips.

I had often considered revealing my true identity to him, especially in the heat of our most intimate moments.

He would whisper hoarsely near my ear, "Nicole, don’t leave me."

Those words were like a cold douse of reality, making me realize why I had come into his life in the first place—to take another's place for an unspeakable purpose.

Lucas had once shared a harrowing tale from his childhood: "I was tricked by my cousin into a closet, locked in, almost died in there. The one thing I can't stand in this life," he confessed, "is being deceived."

Would he hate me to the bone if he knew the truth?

On the eve of Lucas' twentieth birthday, a sickness struck his father, unveiling long-buried truths.

Lucas had been the target of a scheme from the very beginning—even the car accident was no accident.

His people reached out to Nicole and demanded that she bring Lucas home.

And then Nicole, the newly famed movie starlet, came to me.

She stood there, chin high, arrogance etched in her stance, "Now that Xavier Luxury Group is ready to reclaim him, you're not still dreaming of grandeur, right?"

"Get real, whether it's the Xavier Luxury Group or Lucas himself, I'm the one they acknowledge—Nicole."

"You've been a fake from the very start."

She flung a check at me from her purse, adding, "Here's another half a million. Stop chasing fantasies."

"Otherwise, I'll spill everything about the past."

I looked up sharply, staring her down. "Nicole, my mom is your mom, too!"

"My mom's the heiress to the Vanderbilt Group. And what about yours?" She laughed scornfully, "Just a whore, that's all."

The sun was setting, dyeing the sky a fiery red.

I lost all sense of reason, grabbing Nicole by the collar, and with a fury, I punched her twice.

Amidst her screams, someone rushed in from the door, twisted my arm, and pinned me to the ground.

The glamorous movie starlet stood over me, looking down with disdain:

"Was I wrong?" she sneered.

"Take the money and scamper off abroad. Keep out of sight, or I'll have her sordid past etched on her gravestone."

She left.

My eyes fixated on the check that had fluttered to the floor.

Memories flooded back from two years ago.

Debts had piled up as we struggled to pay for mom's medical expenses.

After she passed away, I couldn't even afford a decent burial plot for her.

It was then that Nicole reached out to me.

"Need money?"

She didn't let me finish, laughing mockingly, "She only looked after me for a few days. She's gone, why should I pay?"

I thought she was holding a grudge and tried to explain: "She wanted to fight for custody, you chose to leave with dad—"

"Of course, I went with dad to the Vanderbilt Group, did you think I was as foolish as you?" she said, her face turning cold, cutting me off.

"Do you also want to keep me around, to live a miserly life like yours, too poor to afford a proper burial when I’m dead?”I looked at Nicole standing before me.

Words choked at the edge of my throat, unable to escape.

Her face, with delicate makeup and bearing a resemblance to mine, was full of impatience and disgust.

The silk dress on her, the diamond necklace around her neck, the Hermes crocodile leather bag on her arm; each alone was worth more than I could fathom.

She leisurely picked up the coffee from the table and sipped it.

Finally, she stated her proposition: "But, considering we're sisters."

"I'm not saying I won't give you money."

"Half a million, to play my part and take care of someone for me."