Chapter 4

The next morning at breakfast, I told Lucas I wanted to change my name.

"I don't want to be called Lily anymore. Anything else is fine."

Lucas's face was like still water, showing no reaction.

I turned to Mia for help, "Sister-in-law, please help me. I've asked my brother so many times but he won't agree. I hate this name!"

Maybe calling her "sister-in-law" made Mia feel a bit better. She also started pleading with Lucas.

Lucas gave me a cold look, "I'm busy lately. We'll discuss it another time."

I breathed a sigh of relief and gave Mia a sweet smile.

But our fake sisterly affection only lasted three seconds.

After Lucas left for work, Mia came to find me again.

She wanted me to go shopping with her for baby items.

She also said we could stop by some children's clothing stores to buy me a few outfits.

She was clearly trying to mock me!

I held back my anger and glanced at her flat belly, "Are you even two months along? Isn't it too early for baby shopping? Besides, I don't know anything about that stuff. I'm not going."

Mia suddenly lashed out, "You don't like the baby your brother and I are having, do you?"

"I really don't. So what? Is that not allowed?"

Mia snatched the paintbrush from my hand and threw it on the floor. She grabbed my collar and easily dragged me to the stairs.

"So, Lily, you don't want me to have this baby, is that it?"

She smiled sinisterly and let go of me, falling backwards down the stairs.

Wails of pain echoed through the living room. Blood gushed from between Mia's legs as she lay unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.

This spot had no surveillance cameras.

If Lucas checked the security footage, he would only see me standing at the top of the stairs while Mia fell down below.

I was stunned.

I never imagined this woman would kill her own child just to frame me!

Mrs. Wilson came running over in alarm, telling me to quickly call Lucas.

When the call connected, I stammered, "Bro, Mia had a miscarriage..."

"What?! What happened?!"

I could hear the fury in Lucas's voice.

Frightened, I hung up the phone and tried to think of how to explain things to him.

...

Mia lost the baby and was hospitalized.

Lucas came home with a dark expression and asked me what happened.

This time I didn't cry, "Bro, if I said she framed me, would you believe me?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow, "She killed her own child just to frame you?"

"I know you won't believe me, but she really is that vicious. To get rid of me, she'd even kill your own flesh and blood. Bro, you can't keep such an evil woman!"

Lucas looked at me, this beacon of righteousness, and his mouth twitched, "Alright Lily, stop acting. I said she was pregnant, but I never said the child was mine."

I was speechless.

!!

"Bro, then why were you going to marry her?"

Lucas stared at me for a while, then pulled me up, "I'll take you somewhere."

He took me to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

In one corner was a new gravestone with his friend's name on it.

"Mia was Sam's girlfriend. The baby was his too. Sam died in a car accident and asked me to take care of Mia and help her deliver the baby safely."

"But bro, she said she was pregnant with your child and was going to marry you!" I clenched my little fists indignantly.

So she had been lying to me.

Of course, my brother, this perfect catch, was indeed worth her playing the role of a liar.

"You believed her?" Lucas patted my head.

I pouted, "You never explained things clearly, so of course I believed what she said. But now that I know the truth, it's fine... Bro, since we're at the cemetery, can we go see my mom?"

Lucas held my hand, just like a brother holding his sister's hand, and led me to my mother's grave.

The woman in the photo was very beautiful, but I felt no emotion towards her.

Because she had died when I was still a baby.

But seeing that face that looked 90% like mine, I still felt a bit moved.

My fingers traced over the gravestone, following the strokes of the characters as I read out my mother's name.

Lily...