Chapter 3

Diana, perhaps out of shame, didn't follow him in after all. Instead, she walked over to my and Zachary Brown's wedding photo.

Back then, I believed Zachary Brown and I were truly in love. Holding his hand, I smiled so happily, my eyes full of hope for the future.

Diana's fingertips traced across my face, creating a grating sound as they rubbed against the glass protective cover.

"Lily, you thought marrying him meant you won? Turns out I've been playing you like a dog."

From her resentful words, I learned everything.

The "sister" was just Zachary Brown's excuse. Diana was his first love.

Unfortunately, after the SAT exams, the Brown family faced bankruptcy, so the two broke up and Diana went abroad.

That's when Zachary Brown and I met and got to know each other, going from rags to riches together.

"You're just a girl from the slums. What right did you have to marry him and bear Ethan Brown? But now that you're dead, everything will return to its proper course."

Hearing this, I felt thunderstruck.

So I'd been naive all along. Everything today was actually a carefully orchestrated murder plot by Diana!

Everything today was never an accident---it was a kill scheme Diana had carefully set up!

I knew Diana didn't like me. From the moment she returned to the country six months ago, she'd been making things difficult for me at every turn.

Because of my background, I was already unpopular in their circle. Her targeting made things even worse.

Now everything was clear. She didn't want Zachary Brown, but she couldn't stand someone inferior to her taking him away.

So she used the birthday party to set up the bungee jump, deliberately provoking me and driving me to my death.

She had indeed succeeded. I was dead.

"You thought Zachary Brown truly loved you?"

Diana's lips curled into mockery: "Back then, you were already his best option."

Learning that Zachary Brown had told Diana these things in bed as pillow talk, sadness swept over me like a violent wind.

Over the years, countless people had told me he chose me because of my ordinary background---that I was obedient and easy to control.

But I firmly believed Zachary Brown and I had love.

Now with the fig leaf torn away, I thought of how Zachary Brown's parents had shown disdain from the very beginning. They'd never accepted me.

I couldn't help but think of my son Ethan Brown. Did he also despise having my blood running through his veins?

The bathroom door opened. Zachary Brown came out in a bathrobe. Seeing her staring at the wedding photo, he frowned.

"Why are you staring at that photo?"

Diana's expression changed in a flash. She immediately hid the hatred on her face, took his hand, and said with a coquettish laugh that she wanted to take matching wedding photos.

"If my parents hadn't forced me onto that plane abroad, we'd be the ones in that photo."

At her words, Zachary Brown's eyes flickered. He turned his head to avoid her gaze, his tone dismissive: "Don't be ridiculous. I have a wife."

Then he pulled away from Diana's hand and sat on the sofa to scroll through his phone.

But he deliberately avoided looking at the wedding photo, making him appear both guilty and hypocritical.

Watching this scene, I found it utterly ironic.

I was already dead, and I now knew the vows before marriage and those five years of affection were all fake.

Zachary Brown wanting to play the devoted, loyal husband now---this hypocrisy disgusted me even more than Diana's malice.