They had wanted to give her sothing grand, too... but in the end, they chose sothing within their ans.
And strangely... That made it even more aningful. Aurora loved every single gift.
After cutting the cake and thanking everyone, her phone buzzed.
A ssage from Spencer. "My gift will arrive soon."
Aurora smiled faintly, a small anticipation rising in her chest.
Not long after, a deliveryman arrived, holding a manila envelope.
Aurora raised a brow slightly. ’What did he send this ti...?’
For a mont, she even wondered if it was so property docunt.
But when she opened it... Her fingers trembled. Her breath hitched.
The words on the paper blurred for a second as her mind struggled to process them.
’A... gold mine?’
If her parents gifting her a multi-million-dollar villa was shocking... this was on another level entirely.
Aurora felt as if the ground beneath her had shifted. Taking a deep breath, she imdiately called him.
"This is too much!" she said the mont he picked up.
On the other end, Spencer chuckled.
"It’s nothing," he said casually. "Actually, I will turn 18 soon, too. Why not gift sothing?"
Aurora pressed her temples slightly. ’How can he sound so normal about this...?’
Then she paused. Her expression turned serious.
"Then I’ll give you sothing of equal value."
She thought for a mont. "Maybe... shares of my company..."
Spencer laughed softly. "But I don’t want them."
Aurora hesitated, then muttered, "Then?"
Spencer went silent for a second, then his voice turned softer.
"If I could have you... completely... that would be the most valuable gift I could ever receive."
Aurora’s face flushed instantly.
"You!"
She pouted, though her cheeks were burning. "You really know how to flirt, don’t you?"
Even as she said that...she couldn’t stop the small smile forming on her lips.
While Aurora was imrsed in a soft, almost intoxicating conversation with Spencer, Shay was elsewhere, sitting in silence.
Her fingers tapped restlessly against the table, nails clicking in an uneven rhythm as her thoughts spiraled.
’Everything... everything has fallen apart.’
Every plan she had so carefully constructed had collapsed miserably, crumbling like fragile glass under pressure.
For the first ti in a long while, she began to seriously reconsider her entire strategy.
Her new plan was simple... dangerously simple. The first step... et Aurora.
With that thought, she picked up her phone, her fingers hesitating for a fraction of a second before she typed out a ssage to Lily.
"Introduce to Aurora."
anwhile, Lily stared at her phone.
Ever since she had started going through an accident, sothing inside her had begun to shift.
The hatred she once felt so intensely toward the Brown family had started to feel... unstable, like a mory that no longer belonged to her.
And then there was Shay.
The na itself made her chest tighten.
Before, even under that strange, suffocating influence, there had always been a faint thread of affection... sothing soft and confusing. But now...
’It’s gone... completely gone.’
The realization sent a chill down her spine.
If she had known the truth, that this was all because of Kate... she might have broken down entirely.
Abby had been using subtle psychological thods she had only recently begun to master, carefully dismantling whatever hold had been placed on Lily’s mind.
If soone else had tried sothing like this, they would have been exposed long ago.
After all, Lily was never allowed to interact freely.
No one could approach her for long, and she herself wasn’t even allowed to watch psychological content.
Her phone had been heavily restricted, every app monitored, every possibility of "outside influence" eliminated.
It was all done to ensure she would never seek out or stumble upon any form of hypnotism beyond what had already been imposed on her.
But now... things were changing.
Abby wasn’t just undoing the control; she was making Lily rember.
Every detail. Every manipulation. Every buried emotion.
And through that... she was planting discord.
’If the Brown family fractures... everything will fall apart on its own.’
With that lingering thought, Lily pressed her lips together, her fingers tightening around her phone before she finally typed out a ssage to Aurora.
Aurora had just finished her eighteenth birthday celebration.
She leaned back against the plush cushions, scrolling lazily through her ssages, when Lily’s text appeared.
The mont her eyes landed on it, they narrowed slightly. Then... she smiled.
A slow, knowing smile.
’Interesting... I was just thinking about how to approach Shay.’
And now... Shay had walked right into her hands.
’She invited herself... how convenient.’
Her fingers moved without hesitation. "Sure."
This was too perfect an opportunity to refuse.
Not only would she finally et Shay face-to-face, but she might also uncover more about that incident... the one that had been lingering in her thoughts like an unsolved puzzle.
On the other end, Lily blinked at the screen, her tension easing just a little.
’She... agreed? Just like that?’
She had been fully prepared for rejection, for suspicion, for complications, but none of that ca.
’Was I... overthinking this?’
Letting out a quiet sigh, she quickly sent a ssage to Shay.
"The eting is set."
The next day, inside a private room of a high-end restaurant.
Shay sat across from Aurora, her posture relaxed, but her eyes sharp and observant.
She studied Aurora carefully. "You’re even more beautiful than I expected."
Aurora’s beauty wasn’t just physical; it carried a quiet dominance, sothing that naturally drew attention and commanded presence.
Aurora, in turn, observed Shay.
And for a brief mont, her eyes flickered with surprise.
’So this is Shay ...’
Shay possessed a different kind of beauty, gentle yet undeniably seductive.
The kind that could make people lose themselves without realizing it.
There was sothing about her... sothing that instinctively pulled others closer.
Aurora’s lips curved slightly. "You’re very beautiful too."
Shay’s gaze deepened as she leaned forward slightly. "Tell sothing... have you awakened?"
Aurora tilted her head, her expression shifting into one of mild confusion.
"Awakened? What are you talking about?"
Her tone was casual, almost dismissive, as if the question itself were absurd.
Shay chuckled softly, the sound low and knowing. "You don’t have to pretend."
Her eyes locked onto Aurora’s.
"From what I rember, Aurora was just a normal seventeen-year-old girl... soone who liked to brag and show off."
She paused, letting her words sink in.
"But you..." Her lips curved faintly. "You’re acting like soone entirely different."
Her fingers tapped lightly against the table.
"Soone who owns far more than she lets on. Soone who makes investnts quietly... even hiring hackers to clean things up."
Aurora tried her best to hold on her laughter
’So... she thinks that I hired a hacker to deal with that Jim? But then again... even she knows about plot?’
That ant one thing.
’I’m not the only one who knows the plotline.’
For the briefest mont, she had believed she was alone in this, after Eleanor.
But clearly... she wasn’t. A slow smile spread across her face.
"I was wondering how long you’d keep pretending."
She leaned back slightly, her gaze calm yet sharp. "I thought you’d try harder to hide it."
Her eyes glead faintly. "But here you are... acting so openly."
Shay let out a soft laugh. "I don’t like wasting ti."
Aurora nodded in agreent, her tone equally calm. "Neither do I."
She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping just enough to carry weight.
"So tell ... why did you arrange this eting?"
For a brief second, Shay said nothing. But inside...
’So my guess was right.’
Her suspicion had just been confird. She looked directly at Aurora, her expression steady.
"You need to follow the plotline."
Aurora’s gaze didn’t waver. "And if I don’t?"
Shay’s lips parted slightly as she spoke, her voice quiet... yet heavy.
"Then you will die."
A brief silence fell between them, thick and suffocating.
Aurora chuckled softly, though there was sothing colder beneath it.
"I’m the villain anyway, aren’t I?"
Her fingers traced the edge of the table lazily. "The villain is supposed to die... to give the hero justice."
Shay insisted again. "So shouldn’t a competent villain... follow the script?"
Aurora shook her head slowly.
"If I were the old Aurora... the one who didn’t have money," she let out a faint breath, "maybe I would’ve played along for it."
Her gaze sharpened. "But I’m not her."
She leaned in, her voice firm. "I won’t follow the plot."
A pause. "I’ll create a new one."
Her lips curved into a faint, dangerous smile. "A story where there’s no hero... and no villain."
Her eyes locked onto Shay’s. "You live your life. I’ll live mine."
Shay’s expression hardened slightly as she shook her head.
"If you try to change the plot... there will be consequences."
Her voice dropped, colder now. "Consequences you won’t be able to live with."
Aurora let out a quiet laugh, almost amused.
"Up until now... there hasn’t been anything I couldn’t live without."
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