< Chapter 3
Chapter 3
After swallowing a couple of cold pills, I threw on a mask and headed out.
The air bit with a chilling sharpness.
I hailed a cab to the office building, where my team was waiting.
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“Ms. Lewis, you’re finally here! We haven’t finalized the showstopper designs for the collection, everyone’s waiting for your approval.”
I took the design sketches from my assistant.
I’d majored in art, naturally landing a design job at a clothing company before launching my own brand a few years later.
It wasn’t
it a high–end brand, but was
SO my life’s work,
But several of the submitted designs were subpar recently.
I had high standards.
I frowned.
“Who made it into the company?”
My assistant’s face fell.
“Um… these were drawn by your sister, Quilla Lewis.”
Ah, that explained it.
Three months ago, Quilla Lewis divorced and returned to the country with her daughter. She hadn’t found a job, so my parents pressured me to give her a position at the company.
Quilla Lewis’s skill level wasn’t even suitable for an internship, let alone a director role. Despite my objections, my parents resorted to threats and even caused a scene at the office.
I had no choice but to make her a junior designer.
But she’d completely fooling around with work.
I pulled out Quilla Lewis’s sketches, instructing my assistant.“Just look at her submissions from now on, don’t show them to me.”
They were an eyesore.
I pulled out my revised designs from my bag, the product of hours of work.
“You guys discuss and pick a few to be the showstoppers.”
I added the designs I’d improved on, “Use these, too, and see if they’re good enough for the showstopper.”
My assistant flipped through them, her eyes widening.
“Bella, you’re too humble. These will be huge! Your skill is undeniable.”
I dismissed it as flattery and returned to my office to tackle the remaining work. After I die, the system will find me a new body, and I won’t be able to run this company. But it’s years of my work, SO I decided to
finish
to the upcoming collection and then leave it my best friend.
By 2 PM, my stomach was growling.
I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
Just as I was about to leave for lunch, the door burst open.
It was my dust–covered father.
His eyes were sharp.“You’re here, as expected.”
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He strode towards me, giving a curt order: Come to the hospital.”
I didn’t move.
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This man, my own father, was the one who’d driven me out of the Lewis
Lewis family. Quilla Lewis and I were both Lewis family daughters, but my parents only cared about Quilla Lewis. In their eyes, she was the obedient, sensible daughter, while I was the wicked, scheming one. When Quilla Lewis accused me of theft, my explanations were useless.
Even when she framed me, ruining my reputation and impacting the family, they never doubted her, blaming everything on me.
My father had publicly announced, in front of the media: “The Lewis family only has one daughter, Quilla Lewis. Bella Lewis is disowned.”
Everyone saw me as a pathetic outcast.
And now he dared to appear before me.
“Quilla’s condition has worsened. Go give her a blood transfusion.”
The office was deathly silent.
I wanted to ask how he could stand there, seven years later, and say those words with such audacity.
business.”
“Her life or death is none of my
His face darkened. “She’s your sister!”
I laughed bitterly.
“Dad, have you forgotten? Seven years ago, you kicked me out of the family. I have no family, and therefore no sister.”
His face froze.
His words from years ago had boomeranged.
The proud man lowered his head, pleading.
“The doctor said Quilla’s heart function is weak, she’s anemic. We don’t need a full transfusion yet, but she needs a temporary transfusion to stabilize her condition. We haven’t found a matching blood type; you have to come
with me.”
Seeing him like this, a deeper bitterness filled me.
I’d never seen him so humble, begging.
Quilla Lewis was truly the apple of his eye.
And not just his.
Bastian Hanson and William treated her the same way.
My eyes welled up when I think about this.
“Fine, I agree. But I have a condition. I want to return to the Lewis family, and I want all of Lewis Corporation’s shares from Quilla Lewis.”
His eyes hardened. “Bella Lewis, don’t push it.”
I
stood my ground.“It’s my condition. If you don’t agree, the door’s right there.”
After a long silence, he conceded.
I was roughly shoved into the car, dizzy from hunger and exhaustion, my head hitting the seat hard.
ignored me,
me, speeding to the hospital and dragging me to the blood draw room.
He
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A nurse, seeing my pale face, kindly asked, “Are you hypoglycemic? Should you rest and eat something?” My father impatiently urged, “Hurry up!”
This private hospital was his investment; his word was law in the hospital.
The nurse, terrified, hurriedly prepared the equipment.
As the needle went in, I felt a wave of dizziness.
The cold, combined with low blood sugar, made it difficult to breathe.
My head lolled to the side..
The nurse panicked, crying, “We can’t continue. She’ll be in trouble.”
My father’s face was grim.
He was afraid of the consequences.
Not that I would die, but that Quilla Lewis would be without blood.
“Enough. Use what we have.”
I was helped to a rest room.
I lost consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, a woman rushed in, slapping my face, wailing, “It’s your fault! Stop pretending to be weak! That little bit of blood isn’t enough!”
The pain brought me back.
I saw my mother’s swollen, tear–streaked face.
She clutched my clothes, beating me with her fists.“Why did I have twins? If it was only Quilla…”
“You’re a curs
You stole her nutrients in the womb, making her weak from birth. Now, you need to give a little
putting on a show? Do you want your sister to die?!”
excruciatingly cruel.
blood, and you’re
Her words were excruciatingly cruel.
Tears, cold and bitter, streamed down my face.
I’d heard variations of this countless times.
Because Quilla Lewis and I were twins, because she had a weak heart, because she was frail… it was all my fault.
I’d stolen her resources.
No one loved me; my husband and son hated me.
I was born with original sin.
