Sylvia Lancaster had been very comfortable at Clara Hayes’s place these past few days. The Hayes family’s housekeeper took excellent care of her, preparing a wide variety of als for her every day.
The guest room was spacious and bright. The handmade curtains and carpet, air-freighted from Indoria, complented each other perfectly. A ticulously designed lighting system filled the room with bright yet gentle light, and a faint, sweet scent of fruit hung in the air.
Sylvia Lancaster stretched contentedly on the large, soft bed. She had been thinking these past few days, ’If only I could stay here forever...’
Right now, returning to the Sutton Family was out of the question. As for the Lancaster Family...
Simon Lancaster had called her several tis over the past few days. He kept asking who the father of Sylvia’s child was, and Sylvia was getting incredibly annoyed.
She could only tell Simon that she was a ss right now, both ntally and physically, and that she needed ti to recover.
Once she had recovered and cald down, she promised she would explain everything clearly to him.
Fortunately, Simon Lancaster didn’t press the issue.
Simon also offered to bring Sylvia back to the Lancaster family ho. He said he would explain to their parents that nothing inappropriate had happened between them.
After all, Simon was the one supporting the Lancaster family now. The one who controls the money has the say. As long as Simon insisted on bringing Sylvia ho, Robert Lancaster and Elaine Hughes wouldn’t be able to stop him.
But Sylvia refused. She told Simon that she was at Clara Hayes’s place and that Clara was taking very good care of her.
Sylvia added that she couldn’t bear to see Simon in a difficult position and told him to focus on work. They could revisit the issue after their parents had cooled down.
Seeing Sylvia being so considerate of him, Simon was genuinely moved.
But in reality, Sylvia had no desire to return to the Lancaster family.
’Even if she could convince Robert Lancaster and Elaine Hughes to take her back, given the Lancaster family’s current situation, she would just be going back to be a maid. Her fate would be to serve the entire family. How could that possibly compare to staying here with Clara Hayes, where others were serving her?’
She had told Clara that she would find a job and move out once she recovered. ’But in this day and age, where could she find a job? Where could she possibly move?’
This was the second year of the Cataclysm, and unemploynt had reached an unprecedented, staggering high. Sylvia had no confidence she could compete with anyone else.
At this thought, Sylvia sighed softly. Although Clara hadn’t asked her to leave, living at soone else’s rcy wasn’t a long-term solution. ’I have to co up with a plan...’
Just then, the door to the guest room opened, and the housekeeper walked in with breakfast.
On the tray were milk, rice porridge, two fresh vegetable dishes, eggs, and lean at—all warm, nourishing foods suitable for a woman recovering from a miscarriage.
The housekeeper attentively helped Sylvia to the round table to eat. She felt as if she had returned to her days as the young lady of the Lancaster family.
Just as she finished her breakfast and the housekeeper cleared the tray, Clara Hayes walked in.
Seeing the healthy, rosy color in Sylvia’s cheeks, Clara said happily, "Sylvia, you look like you’ve recovered a lot. Are you feeling okay today?"
Sylvia’s body tensed slightly at her words. She nodded, a little uneasily, and replied, "I feel much better. Thank you, Claire. It’s all thanks to you for taking in."
Sylvia was afraid that once she fully recovered, Clara would ask her to move out.
With this in mind, Sylvia asked tentatively, "Claire, have I been a bother to you these past few days? You know , I always hate to trouble others..."
Clara quickly waved her hands and replied, "Not at all, not at all! It’s no trouble in the slightest. My older brother almost never cos back here, so it’s usually just and my dad at ho. My dad is also out from morning till night and is often away. I’m all alone every day, bored to death."
"Sylvia, now that I have you here for company, I think it’s just perfect. Please, stay as long as you like!"
Before, she had Hugh Hayes to keep her company at ho, but now that he was also missing, Clara was terribly bored all by herself.
In truth, Clara had always wished for a sister to keep her company growing up. Now that Sylvia was here, Clara felt she finally had soone, so she genuinely didn’t mind Sylvia staying long-term.
Thinking of Hugh, Clara was reminded of her encounter with lody Sumrs at the Oceanus Hotel a while back. The incident had been weighing on her mind for days, and she had no one to confide in.
Since Sylvia was here now, Clara told her everything.
Then, Clara asked in a panic, "Sylvia, how on earth did lody Sumrs find out? My dad and the others checked the nearby surveillance footage over and over, but lody is nowhere to be seen. Since she didn’t go to the eting, who could have possibly told her?"
Sylvia frowned in thought for a mont before saying, "Only the four of us knew about this. You and I didn’t say anything, and Wendy Sheffield is a sensible person, so that only leaves Nina Walsh. Since Nina is lody Sumrs’s cousin, it was most likely her."
Clara nodded. She had been thinking it over and over these past few days and had also concluded that Nina Walsh must have been the snitch.
Nina must have told lody about her plan to teach her a lesson. Later, with Hector Hayes causing such a huge commotion looking for his son, lody found out Hugh was missing. Putting that together with Nina’s tip-off, lody must have connected the dots.
Thinking of this, Clara said anxiously, "What should I do, Sylvia? What do you think I should do? Do you think lody Sumrs will tell anyone? What if my dad finds out?"
Clara recalled how her father had been nearly driven mad when Hugh first disappeared. He had publicly declared multiple tis that if anything happened to his youngest son, he would have everyone involved hacked to pieces!
If soone were to tell Hector Hayes now that Hugh had gone to that unmonitored alleyway to teach a woman a lesson on her behalf, thus giving soone an opportunity to strike, Hector would probably beat her to death!
Hector Hayes had always favored sons over daughters. Clara had always felt invisible in the Hayes Family; Hector usually couldn’t even be bothered to speak to her.
It was only after Hugh’s disappearance that Hector started being a little nicer to Clara, occasionally asking about her well-being. Clara didn’t want to lose this paternal affection. To her, lody Sumrs was now a ticking ti bomb!
At this thought, Clara grabbed Sylvia’s hand and asked desperately, "Sylvia, lody Sumrs still has that text ssage from Nina Walsh on her phone. The location in it is the exact place where my brother disappeared. If she tells anyone, if my father finds out..."
Clara had considered just killing both lody Sumrs and Nina Walsh. That would solve the problem once and for all.
But she had no idea how to do it.
She didn’t dare order around the thugs who worked for her father and older brother, otherwise it would definitely alert Hector and Raymond Hayes.
Under questioning, the truth about Hugh’s disappearance would most likely co out. It was a risk she didn’t dare take.
But Clara didn’t know any other thugs. She was just a sheltered young heiress, completely disconnected from the world of gangsters and hooligans. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked Hugh to teach lody Sumrs a lesson for her in the first place.
The more Clara thought about it, the more flustered and anxious she beca.
The weather outside was turning cooler, and because Sylvia was weak, the heat was turned on in her guest room. The temperature was a bit high, and a thin layer of sweat broke out on Clara’s forehead from her anxiety.
Sylvia frowned slightly. ’If lody Sumrs really wanted to expose this,’ she thought, ’she would have done it already. She wouldn’t have waited until now.’
’The Hayes Family is powerful and influential, not to ntion involved in organized cri. lody’s adoptive family are just ordinary country folk with no power or influence. With a son from the Hayes family now missing, lody would probably be trying to hide. Why would she willingly get involved in this ss?’
Looking at Clara’s panicked state, Sylvia felt a flicker of contempt. ’Clara only looks tough,’ she thought. ’She acts like an arrogant and domineering heiress, but the mont sothing goes wrong, she panics. She always needs to co up with a plan for her.’
Sylvia was about to share her analysis with Clara and reassure her not to worry, that an ordinary person like lody Sumrs had no reason to blow things up.
But before the comforting words could leave her mouth, Sylvia suddenly rembered what Robert Lancaster had said to her in the hospital room.
Robert had said that because Sylvia wasn’t of the Lancaster bloodline, her genes were inherently bad.
Robert had also said that if he had known this would be the outco, he should have kicked Sylvia out the mont lody returned.
Sylvia’s heart filled with resentnt.
’On what grounds?’
’On what grounds did lody Sumrs win so easily without doing anything?’
’On what grounds, after all the years she had spent with Robert Lancaster and Elaine Hughes, did they still abandon her for lody Sumrs?’
Sylvia sneered inwardly. ’Since my life is miserable, on what grounds should lody Sumrs get to live a good life?’
’Since Robert Lancaster and Elaine Hughes chose lody Sumrs as their daughter, then I’ll make them taste the bitterness of losing their biological daughter!’
At this thought, Sylvia grabbed Clara’s hand, comforting her while saying in a low, conspiratorial tone, "Claire, don’t forget, you have a fiancé."
As Clara looked at her in confusion, Sylvia whispered, "If you want to get rid of lody Sumrs and eliminate this problem for good, you can’t rely on your older brother’s or your father’s people. You have to go to your fiancé."
"Flynn Adler has connections. More importantly, as your fiancé, he has no reason to betray you."
"With Hugh gone, he has a chance as the son-in-law. If your position in the Hayes Family is secure, he stands to gain more."
"Claire, your interests are aligned now. He will definitely help you!"
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