Chapter 4

Nelson stayed silent for a long time before finally looking up at Beatrice.

"After you went missing, your parents did everything they could to get you rescued. They trusted the wrong people and ended up losing all their savings to scammers. No matter how much I tried to stop them, they just wouldn't listen. The day it happened, the hospital sent me on a work trip to Mountainview City. I visited them before I left... But that night, I got the call that there was a fire at your parents' house. They were gone."

Nelson didn't have to explain it clearly, and Beatrice already understood.

Her parents, desperate to save her, had been scammed out of everything. In their despair, they had taken their own lives.

Her vision went black. When a wave of grief crashed down, all that was left was an eerie calm in one's heart.

"Beatrice!"

With a crash, she hit the floor and slowly lost consciousness.

"Beatrice, come home soon! Daddy's making stew tonight."

"Beatrice, help me talk to your mom. She's being stubborn again. She still insists on sleeping in a separate room when we're already so old."

"Beatrice, my sweet girl, live well…"

-

No one knew how long it was before Beatrice suddenly woke up, her breath coming in gasps as she looked around. This place that once felt so familiar now seemed impossibly foreign.

Nelson must have been worried, so instead of sending her to a hotel, he had let her stay in the guest room.

It was already midnight, and Nelson and Raine were still arguing.

"Why did you let her stay here?! Do you still have feelings for her? Nelson, I'm the one who's been with you all these years! Just admit it! You still love her, don't you? You won't even change the code to the apartment!

"Fine! If you love her so much, I'll leave! I'll take Fia and go back to my parents. She doesn't need to divorce you, I'll do it! Now that she's back, our marriage doesn't count for anything anyway!"

Raine's voice was loud, and Beatrice knew it was intentional.

Five years ago, she had thought that coming back to Blueport City would mean the end of all her nightmares.

That she would have loving parents and a husband who cherished her.

But everything had changed.

Beatrice got up, overwhelmed by the unfamiliarity of it all. She never imagined she and Nelson would become such complete strangers.

As she walked out the door, she nearly collided with Raine, who was carrying Fia in her arms.

Raine glared at her, eyes full of rage, as if saying, "Why didn't you just die out there?"

Raine finally lost control and screamed at Beatrice, "Why did you have to come back? Our family was just fine before you! Why did you come back? Why didn't you die out there?!"

"Raine!" Nelson shouted, and for a moment, he snapped.

He actually slapped Raine right in front of their daughter. Maybe even he thought she had gone too far.

Raine stared at Nelson in disbelief, then turned and stormed out the door. "You hit me… You actually hit me because of her!"

Fia began to cry uncontrollably.

Nelson's face was a mixture of pain, regret, and anxiety.

Neighbors, hearing the commotion, came out to watch. Some even pulled out their phones to record.

"Raine, what are you and Nelson fighting about?"

Back when Beatrice and Nelson bought this place, it was still under construction. They had picked up the keys together, poured their love into every part of the renovation to the last screw.

At the time, not many people had moved in, so Beatrice had never met these neighbors.

For the past five years, Raine was the real lady of the house in their eyes.

That feeling of having your whole life, all your memories, taken over by someone else… It was suffocating.

"Who's that woman? Is she a homewrecker?" one neighbor whispered.

"You're a bad woman! Why are you at my house? Why are you trying to steal my daddy from my mommy? You're a bad person! You're ruining our family!" Fia cried, her words echoing what she had clearly been taught by adults.

When even a little girl was saying these things, the neighbors naturally assumed Beatrice was the mistress.

"Look how thin she is! She's nothing compared to Raine. Nelson, don't be stupid and throw away a good life."

"That's right. How shameless can you be for ruining a family like that? Shame on you!"

Beatrice stood frozen in place, numb and panicked. He immediately glanced at Nelson for help.

She destroyed someone's family?

This was her home! Who was the one really destroying it?

Raine and her daughter were only saying this because Beatrice couldn't speak.

She desperately hoped Nelson would say something in her defense.