In my past life, I had cried with excitement when I got picked, only to turn and saw Vanessa's face pale as a corpse. Her gaze was fixed on her adopted younger brother, didn't spared me even a glance.
Now that I had been reborn, I wasn't going to debase myself by ran up to her again.
On stage, for some reason she flared up, grabbed Declan and said loudly, "We're going on a date," before stormed off.
With the main characters gone, the remaining ninety-eight men naturally scattered like birds.
I was about to head back and pack my things, but Jane dragged me into a corner.
Before I could react, a slap landed on my cheek. She yelled, "You little bastard! Didn't I fix it so Vanessa would pick you? Why did she get a blank?"
Another slap followed right after while she mocked me, "You're just like your damned father, don't know what's good for you! I'm also your mother, not some stranger! When I tell you to listen, do you shove it into a dog's mouth?"
My cheeks burned red and swollen, but that pain was nothing compared to what I felt inside. I said coldly, "The day you brought Declan, your love child, into the Shelby Family, you stopped being my mother."
Jane's gaze shifted, then turned vicious while said, "If Declan gets hurt because of your actions, you'll be the first to die."
It wasn't until I was nailed alive inside a coffin in my past life that I realized the blind box result had been fixed from the start.
Of course Jane wanted Declan to marry into wealth. But she also had to keep one huge secret about him hidden.
As for me, I had been the sacrificial pawn to protect that secret.
Now, I just wanted to watch them tear each other apart. Their secrets had nothing to do with me.
I rubbed my face and said flatly, "If I'm going to marry someone else, it'll be Megan Sterling. Think of it as payback for all the money you spent keeping my dad alive these years."
Jane's eyes flickered.
Megan was a well-known figure in Los Angeles's elite. Rumor had it she was infertile, eccentric and bisexual. People said she'd played to death at least eight hundred lovers, if not a thousand.
She just happened to be looking for a husband lately, wanted to return to family life.
If I didn't remarry, Jane would never let me go.
To stop her from pair me with some random women, picked Megan in advance wasn't a bad idea.
Because I already knew, Megan was not a simple woman.
She smiled and said, "Alright, be a good son. Then just wait peacefully for your wedding." Jane swayed her hips as she walked away.
I sighed. My room was at the far west end of the Shelby Mansion and I had to pass the garden on the way. At that moment, the garden was in chaos.
Declan covered his nose and sneezed softly, "Vanessa, who planted all this lavender? Doesn't that person know I'm allergic?"
Vanessa gently pressed her own handkerchief to his nose. Then she turned to the gardener and ordered, "Grind up all the lavender in this patch. Destroy it. Also, remove that swing and all the nests in the way."
That patch of lavender was something my father had picked by the roadside during a rare moment of clarity. He said, even if he's gone, the flowers would stay.
I stared wide-eyed as the gardener raised his shovel. I shouted in panic, "Wait a second!"
Everyone froze, secretly watched Vanessa's reaction.
Her expression was unreadable when she said, "You think this is your home? You plant whatever you want? Or are you just trying to trigger Declan's allergies?"
When I was five and my dad was critically ill, I ran away to the Shelby Mansion, begged Jane to save him. She wanted to kick me out but was stopped by Mr. Bob Shelby.
He said took in a few kids like me was no big deal, just charity. So I lived in the Shelby Mansion for twenty years.
Vanessa once pulled the lonely, withdrawn me to play with the servants and said the Shelby Mansion would always be mine too.
Next to that lavender patch stood a tiny wooden sign, written by Vanessa herself as a child: [A place just for Allen and me, our forever home.
