Chapter 4

Under the greenhouse's warm, gentle lights, my face, which was swollen from pesticide poisoning, had turned a grotesque shade of bluish purple. My eyes were shut tight, and my lips were black.

That was how I had looked when I finally gave up struggling and closed my eyes to meet my end.

"What… What is going on here?" Jeremy asked in a shaky voice.

"How vile… Ugh… She placed a corpse here to trick us." Andrew's stomach churned violently.

Marcus' expression grew frighteningly dark.

Forcing down his shock and nausea, he barked coldly at the cleaning crew, "Drag it out and dispose of it immediately! Don't dirty my place!"

Not one of them thought the corpse was me. They all assumed that I was throwing a tantrum and had run away from home. To them, this random corpse was just another nuisance I had planted to annoy them.

I was absolutely disappointed in them. It seemed that I was even less than a corpse in their eyes. They didn't even care to look more closely and identify if it was me.

My body was stuffed into a black bag and carried away. As I was taken out, Marcus ordered the cleaning staff to spray disinfectant throughout the greenhouse, inside and out, several times with a look of pure disgust.

After all this was done, they finally remembered me, the sinner who had run away from them and caused them all this trouble.

Jeremy sat on the couch, so mad that veins popped at his temples. "Bianca is getting more and more outrageous!"

Hearing this, Andrew chimed in, "Marcus, we should freeze all her cards. Let's see how she manages herself out there without money."

The scowl on Marcus' face deepened as he nodded.

He pulled out his phone and called his assistant. "Freeze all the cards under Bianca's name immediately. Also, check her recent spending records and contacts. Find out where she is!"

I floated above them, watching their reactions and listening to their vicious words. They thought that by cutting off my finances, I would be left with nowhere to go and would have no choice but to return and beg for forgiveness.

I looked at them and laughed silently. They didn't know that I had never activated a single card they gave me.

Not long after, the abrupt ring of a phone cut through the silent air.

Marcus' assistant called back, and he sounded confused over the phone. "I checked everything as you instructed, Mr. Graham. Ms. Graham doesn't have any bank accounts at all. Those cards you gave her were never activated."

Upon hearing those words, Marcus was stunned for a moment. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, Mr. Graham. There aren't any assets under Ms. Graham's name," his assistant replied.

I floated lightly in front of Marcus and watched his frown deepen. When I used to frown, he would always tell me that young ladies should smile more and that frowning wasn't pretty. It was such a distant memory that I had nearly forgotten it.

"Where could she possibly go without a cent to her name?" Marcus muttered to himself.

He then called my academic advisor, only to learn that I had requested an indefinite leave starting yesterday. When he heard that, he chucked his phone onto the floor in a fit of rage.

He shouted, "Bianca has gone overboard this time! Go and investigate! Even if we turn the whole city upside down, we must find her!"

Andrew got up silently and headed toward my room. He wanted to search for any clues I might have left behind to find out where I had gone.

I followed him into my room. This place was the only refuge I had in the house. It was pathetically small, and it contained nothing but a few pieces of old clothing and shelves packed with medical books.

Andrew sifted through what he considered junk, trying to uncover any trace of my whereabouts after running away from home. He soon reached my bed. Upon turning over my pillow, he found a folded piece of paper underneath.

Puzzled, he opened it.

Written in bold, the title read, "Invitation from the Bamir Cardiovascular Research Center of Seinland for Bianca Graham to take up the role of Chief Researcher."

The date was half a month ago.

I floated right in front of him and watched as his pupils contracted sharply. Even his fingers started trembling.

"Marcus, Jeremy, come and look at this," he called, his own voice shaking without him even realizing it.