Chapter 271
Chapter 271
It was Susan and Jasmine!
The expression on Yulia’s face changed. She ran quickly towards the front door.
When she arrived at the entrance, she spotted the hulking figures of Jasmine and Susan, just as she had expected.
Susan was pushing Jasmine around in a wheelchair. Both of them had murderous expressions on their faces, as though they were here to commit a massacre. Evidently, they were here to start a fight.
Yulia walked over to her daughter and looked warily at Susan and Jasmine. “Nat, what’s going on?”
Natalie pursed her lips and replied, “These two are accusing me of causing Shane to call off his engagement. They want me to pay the price for my actions!”
“What?” Yulia looked as though she had heard the funniest joke on earth. She pointed at mother and daughter and said furiously, “The both of you must be insane! You were the ones who dug yourselves into this mess, and now you want to blame my daughter for it?”
Susan gazed angrily at Natalie. “We’re speaking the truth! If Natalie hadn’t returned to J City and tried getting close to Shane again, Jasmine wouldn’t have exploded in rage and done all those things! If you want to know who’s to blame for all this, just look at your own daughter!”
Natalie laughed but didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, she looked down at Jasmine in her wheelchair. Jasmine looked every bit as furious as her mother. “Do you feel the same way?” Natalie asked.
Jasmine clenched her fists and didn’t reply. She probably did.
Natalie rubbed her forehead tiredly and laughed. “Of course you do. If you didn’t feel this way, you wouldn’t have come to my house and made such a ruckus here.”
“This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Yulia said, shaking with rage. “Instead of reflecting on yourselves when Shane called off the engagement, the both of you chose to pin the blame on Natalie’s return! I’ve never seen anyone as shameless as you.”
“Mom, calm down.” Natalie patted her on the back, hoping that Yulia wouldn’t get too excited.
Susan laughed coldly. “Your daughter is the shameless one here! She was the one who went and seduced Shane. Otherwise, how could this have happened? Jas was still his fiancée then!”
Natalie raised an eyebrow and looked at Jasmine with an unreadable expression on her face. “So that’s what you think, huh?”
Jasmine’s heart sank as she felt a sudden wave of unease. “What do you mean by that?”
Susan and Yulia turned to look at Natalie.
“Baby Girl, do you happen to know something we don’t?” Yulia asked.
Natalie ran a finger through her hair and smiled sweetly at them. “Well, it’s not that big of a secret, I suppose. Even without me around, Mr. Shane would’ve called off the engagement sooner or later, because Jasmine is just a stand-in for someone else!”
“A stand-in?” Jasmine asked, her eyes narrowing.
Yulia and Susan gasped at this information, too.
Natalie nodded and continued, “Yes. To Mr. Shane, you’re nothing more than a stand-in for Ms. Jacqueline Graham. She’s the person he truly loves in his heart. Ten years ago, Jacqueline fell into a vegetative state after a particularly horrific car accident. She just woke up recently.”
Yulia clapped her hands together in shock. “That reminds me! Wasn’t she the heiress of the Graham Group ten years ago?”
Natalie nodded. “Yes, she was.”
“Well, that won’t be strange, then. Back then, the Graham and Thompson families were on excellent terms. Jacqueline and Shane had been friends since they were kids—in fact, there were people who betted that they were going to get married someday! However, after the Graham Group became bankrupt ten years ago, Jacqueline disappeared. I never even knew she was involved in a car accident!” Yulia exclaimed, rubbing her chin.
Susan and Jasmine had only entered the Smith family and their circle of socialite friends seven years ago, so they didn’t know about the events that had happened a decade prior. Hearing this from Yulia, they finally realized that Shane had long harbored a secret love for his childhood friend.
“Come to think of it,” Natalie said, turning to smile at Jasmine, “Ms. Graham is staying at the same hospital as you are.”
Jasmine’s face was white as a sheet. She shook her head frantically, trying to convince herself that Natalie was lying. “No, that’s impossible! How could Shane be in love with whatshername…Jacqueline… the person he loves is me…”
Here, she suddenly remembered something. Her eyes widened dramatically, and she clutched at Susan’s hand. “Mom, didn’t you tell me yesterday that Shane has been visiting the hospital a lot recently?”
“Well…yes.” Susan nodded in confirmation.
Natalie laughed mockingly. “Did you two really think that he was there to visit the both of you?”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.