Chapter 3

I suppressed my annoyance: "Mr. Shaw, have you forgotten that you banned me from entering your study a year ago?"

"Instead of going through the trouble of asking me, why don't you ask your secretary?"

Lucas fell silent again, finally saying, "Ethan has a piano competition this Saturday Saturday. You can come watch him if you'd like."

"No need."

I hung up and blocked this number too.

That weekend, I saw a familiar figure on the evening news.

Ethan had won first place in a youth piano competition.

The host asked the top three winners to call their parents. The other two children were excitedly jumping around.

Only Ethan stood there, phone in hand, looking embarrassed.

It seemed Lucas had missed another important moment in his son's life due to work.

Two minutes later, my phone rang.

Ethan stammered, "Mom, I got first place in the piano competition."

I replied calmly, without emotion: "I told you I'm not your mother anymore. You should share your joys and sorrows with your real family."

On the TV screen, Ethan's eyes turned red, but he remained silent.

The host, seemingly at a loss for this situation, quickly called for a change of scene.

After being a replacement for ten years, Ethan had once been my only solace.

Though he wasn't my biological child, we had spent every day together, and I couldn't help but see him as my own.

But when he started rejecting my affection and looking at me with disgust, I finally gave up completely.

Late that night, Lucas called again, barely containing his anger.

"I know you're upset, but you can't take it out on our son. How can you be so inconsiderate as a mother?"

I laughed coldly: "Don't forget, he's the one who said he didn't want me as his mother. I just happened to agree."

As I was about to hang up, Lucas asked, "I suddenly remembered you have a deep scar on your left shoulder. How did you get it?"

I found it almost amusing.

In ten years of marriage, he had never asked about my shoulder scar.

He even wanted to remove it when he took me for plastic surgery.

I don't know where I found the courage then, but I firmly refused.

Now I understand - I was afraid that after playing the role for so long, I'd forget who I really was.

Only this scar would remind me that I am Aria Song.

At that moment, a malicious thought crossed my mind.

How would Lucas react if he knew I was the one who saved him back then?

"Fifteen years ago, I saved someone. He did it."

There was sudden, rapid breathing on the other end, followed by the sound of a glass shattering.

With a secret sense of satisfaction, I hung up and tossed my SIM card into the trash.

The next morning, someone rang my doorbell.

Lucas stood outside, looking haggard, his eyes bloodshot.

"The person who saved me back then... was it you?"