Chapter 2
"Ethan, please don't push Fiona. She's not to blame. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have been born," Chloe pleaded.
Ethan's expression grew gloomy.
He released Chloe and strode over to me.
"Fiona, say something," he said.
I glanced at Chloe, still playing the victim in bed. "What exactly do you want me to say?" I asked Ethan.
"Tell her you're willing to take her place," Ethan said.
Before I could respond, Chloe cried out, "No! Fiona, you can't! That's a spirit wedding. If you go, your reputation will be destroyed! Ethan, please don't do this to her!"
She didn't even finish her sentence before she started coughing violently, and the machine by her bed issued a rapid alarm.
Doctors and nurses rushed in.
Ethan's expression darkened completely.
He gripped my arm tightly. "Fiona, are you satisfied now?" he said.
Then he dragged me out of the hospital room.
In the hallway, he pinned me against the wall.
"Every time her heart acts up, I blame you for it!" he said.
I stared at his bloodshot eyes and said, "Ethan, haven't you ever thought that her illness is fake?"
He froze for a second, then his face twisted with anger. "I thought you were just throwing a tantrum. How could you be so vicious?"
He shoved my hand away. "Come to the Harrison residence at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Don't cause any more trouble!"
With that, he turned and went back into the ward.
His gentle voice came from inside.
"Chloe, don't be scared. I'm here."
The next day, I didn't show up.
By 9:30, my phone rang. It was Ethan.
I hit decline. But then it rang again.
The third time, Ethan texted me.
Ethan: [Fiona, are you seriously playing games with me?]
Then he sent a photo.
In the photo, Chloe was lying on the hospital bed, an oxygen mask strapped to her face, eyes shut tight.
He said Chloe couldn't hold on much longer.
I turned off my phone and threw it aside.
By afternoon, Keith and Diana came over.
They didn't have a key, so they just kept banging on the door. They shouted, "Fiona, open up! Are you trying to kill us?
"You ungrateful brat! We raised you for twenty years, and this is how you repay us?"
I put on my headphones and cranked the music up to max.
By evening, it was quiet outside the door.
I thought they had left.
When I opened the door, Ethan was standing right outside.
Behind him were two men in black suits.
He looked thinner, with shadows under his eyes. But his gaze was cold as ice.
"Fiona, my patience has run out," Ethan said.
I stood blocking the doorway. "What do you want?" I asked.
"Come with me," he snapped.
"No way," I retorted.
He let out a cold laugh and said, "It's not up to you!"
He stepped aside, and the two men moved in, each grabbing me firmly by the arms.
As I struggled, my forehead hit the cold doorframe. It hurt, but I didn't make a sound.
Because I knew nobody would care about me.
Just like that, they hauled me out as if I were some kind of criminal.
Downstairs, Keith and Diana were sitting in the back of a black Bentley.
When Diana saw me, she turned away and wiped her tears.
Keith shot me a look of pure resentment.
I was shoved into the front seat.
Ethan was driving.
The car sped off and finally stopped at the gate of a grand estate.
It was the Harrison Manor.
And it was also where the spirit wedding was about to take place.
Once the car stopped, Ethan turned to Keith and Diana.
"You two can head home now. Fiona's safe with me," Ethan said.
Keith and Diana got out of the car without saying a single word to me.
It was just Ethan and me in the car.
Ethan unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned toward me.
"Fiona, do you know? Chloe was fighting for her life for three hours yesterday. The doctors said if we'd been any later, she wouldn't have survived," Ethan said.
His voice was very soft, but it carried a huge sense of oppression.
"This is the last time. If you just go through with the spirit wedding smoothly, everything between us will be written off. But why do you always have to force me?" Ethan said.
I stared at the estate in front of us.
"Ethan," I said, "I'm not your damn pet."
He said nothing.
After a long moment, he finally straightened up.
"The wedding's tomorrow. Tonight, you'll be staying here," Ethan said.
He led me into a room and locked the door.
It was Noah's bedroom.
Noah was Ethan's older brother, who died young. And in this spirit wedding, he was supposed to be my husband.
Everything in the room remained as it was.
There was still a book on the table that he had half read.