Chapter 3

As she shoved me, I slapped her back.

“What the hell are you talking about? I am Claire! If you don’t believe me, call Ethan. Stop acting insane!”

The blow turned her head. She froze for a second, then lunged at me even more wildly, grabbing fistfuls of my hair.

“You bitch! You dared to hit me!”

“Let me tell you something. You might fool Ethan for a while, but he’ll never give up the real Claire for you!”

As she spoke, she grabbed the drinking glasses from the table and hurled them at me.

Shattering glass sliced into my calves. Blood immediately streamed from the little cuts.

“What are you all standing around for? Did I bring you here to watch? Hold this bitch down!”

At Lily’s command, two men seized my arms and forced me onto the floor covered in broken glass.

“Ahhh!”

The sight of glass piercing my flesh was so brutal that several of the girls looked away.

I nearly passed out from the pain. Tears poured down my face.

Unable to break free, all I could do was scream.

“Mr.… Mr. Harris! Mr. Harris!”

Where was he?

And the housekeepers, the bodyguards… why had they all disappeared?

Lily roughly seized my chin, forcing me to look up at her.

There was none of her former innocence left. Her eyes were full of jealousy and resentment.

In an instant, I understood.

She was doing this on purpose!

She was pretending not to recognize me!

Lily smiled wickedly. “You’re a sneaky little slut. If I hadn’t made arrangements to get everyone out of the way, you might have fooled us.”

She patted my cheek with open contempt.

“Don’t bother shouting. Everyone here came with me.”

Before straightening, she leaned close and whispered so only I could hear.

“Claire. You have no idea how hard I’ve looked for you.”

“I’m going to torture you to death.”

“And don’t count on Ethan saving you. He’s about to have a little car accident. Then he’ll have surgery, lose his memory, and forget you forever…”

“Ethan belongs to me!”

She practically ground out that last sentence through her teeth.

My eyes widened.

“You—mmph!”

Lily grabbed a tablecloth and stuffed it into my mouth, a calculating gleam flashing through her eyes.

She really was doing this deliberately!

And she had planned it.

She couldn’t have arranged everything alone. She didn’t have that kind of power.

There was only one explanation.

Lily had joined forces with someone else. And lately, one of Ethan’s competitors had been targeting him relentlessly.

Ethan… Ethan was in danger!

But what could I do now?

My situation was already desperate. What Lily said next stripped away what little hope I had left.

She straightened and announced confidently,

“I’m telling you, she’s just a stand-in. Claire video-called me last night and asked me to watch out for any shameless sluts hanging around Ethan.”

“And if I found any, she wanted me to teach them a lesson!”

At that, her friends’ uncertainty vanished, replaced by righteous anger.

“What the fuck is wrong with this woman?”

“Now we get it, Lily. These knockoffs are the worst. Sit back. We’ll take care of this shameless gold digger for you!”

Lily’s smile widened. She settled onto the couch, crossed her legs, and leisurely admired her manicure.

“Thanks, everyone. I’ll tell Claire tonight. She’ll reward anyone who helps me deal with this bitch!”