Three Years Later, He Came Back Begging novel Chapter 292

"I kept thinking, why did you have to turn my Lawrence into someone so subservient, someone so painfully desperate? Why did he love you that much? Why did you get to have him so easily, without even trying, when I couldn't?"

Hannah broke down sobbing. "When I couldn't get what I spent over a decade agonizingly trying to maintain!"

"I loved Lawrence for so long! So damn long!"

Hannah raised her manacled hands to cover her face, her raw, guttural sobs echoing in the room. Bonnie snapped out of her daze. She had never realized that in all those hidden corners, Hannah had been lurking in the shadows, ruthlessly spying on their happiness.

Like a ravenous thief, unsatisfied with just watching, she had meticulously plotted to steal the three beautiful years that belonged to Bonnie and Lawrence.

The realization hit Bonnie late, sending a sharp, painful ache through her chest.

Hannah wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, a desolate smile on her lips. "I was waiting for Lawrence to grow up. I thought the impatient teenage boy who used to wait for me after school would eventually become the man I could rely on for the rest of my life. But then, you showed up."

"Lawrence announced he had a girlfriend. Odette said he brought home a perfect girl. Carl told him he'd better not let you down. But no one ever stopped to ask how I felt."

In their minds, she and Lawrence were just siblings. But Hannah had never seen him as a brother.

They didn't share a drop of blood. She wasn't even legally adopted on their family registry. She was just a permanent houseguest.

All she wanted was to stay in the same house, forever, with the man she loved.

Hannah's bottomless dark eyes were filled with absolute deadness. "So I figured... if you were gone, everything would go back to normal. Lawrence wouldn't have any other women around him. Given enough time, he would naturally fall in love with me."

Hannah was clearly reminiscing about the exact same thing. "I got Lawrence out of the way and had Nana and the others feed you those ambiguous little hints. You're a smart girl. I knew you'd instantly catch onto what I was implying. Did you regret giving me that gift?"

Bonnie had already learned from Lawrence—and from Nana's police confession that Patton had shown her—that all of those manipulative, gaslighting conversations were directed entirely by Hannah.

And she and Lawrence, completely defenseless, had walked right into the trap, sparking their endless cycle of arguments.

Before that day, they had rarely ever fought.

"Sometimes, when you tell a lie enough times, you start to lose track of what's real and what's fabricated," Hannah murmured, her expression going blank for a second. "Eventually, all those lies and fragmented memories merged in my brain. I couldn't shake them. They fused together and burned themselves into my mind."

"So when I finally cracked, those fabricated memories were what patched up my shattered mind. I know you probably don't believe me, Bonnie, but I really did suffer a psychotic break for those few months. Everyone thought I was just a lunatic, but only I knew the truth. Those few months were the happiest days of my life... because in my twisted reality, Lawrence truly loved me."