Chapter 136 Lost Her Mind
Josephine closed the notebook before taking out another one.
That particular notebook was quite old, its pages already yellowed. The handwriting on the notebook was crooked and messy, and most of the words were starting to become blurry.
She flipped open that notebook and started reading through the pages.
She had jotted down those wishes when she was still a little girl. They only took up a few
pages, but all of them were already fulfilled.
For example, in the past, little Josephine wanted to go to the playground.
She wanted a cake and a big lollipop as her snacks. Of course, she wanted to watch cartoons while wearing a beautiful white dress and have butterfly hair clips adorn her hair.
Most importantly, she wanted to get married to Lewis.
That was the final wish written in the old notebook. After that, there weren’t any more wishes. Only blank, yellowed pages were left.
After getting married to Lewis, Josephine had no more wishes.
It was as if her story had come to a happy ending.
However, the story of her life had yet to end. Avery had once conveyed to Josephine that a life of tranquility awaited the main character in every movie or story after their grand finale. It was a life devoid of excitement, causing people to lose interest and disregard those characters.
That was why once Josephine’s wishes were fulfilled, Lewis never returned to her side.
Every day, she stayed in the empty mansion all by herself. She couldn’t look forward to embracing any interesting event in life, seeing as nothing of that sort would happen to her. Her life resembled a stagnant pool of water.
Josephine flipped to the last page of wishes.
She picked up her pen and started writing new wishes below her last childhood wish.
Time seemed to dissolve around Josephine as she realized it was already 3 am upon completion. Despite the growing exhaustion, she gazed at the list of wishes she had just penned. At that moment, she discovered an awakening within herself-she still harbored a multitude of desires and aspirations, experiences yet to be embraced in her lifetime.
After exhaling deeply, Josephine closed the old notebook. She took both notebooks to the storeroom and hid them there.
Lewis would never enter that room in his entire life, after all.
The aforementioned man returned to Styx Mansion the following night. When Josephine noticed him, she stood up immediately.
However, Lewis didn’t even bother to glance at her. Instead, he walked up the stairs briskly and came bounding down the stairs a short while later.
When he walked past her, he paused in his tracks just to talk to her. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Leaving his brief command hanging in the air, Lewis departed from the mansion once again. Josephine stared in the direction he had just left, her lips tightly pressed together.
Meanwhile, Lewis arrived at Alvarez Manor. Many people were already present in the living
room.
Daphne curled on the couch, her complexion as pale as a ghost. Nancy sat next to her while patting her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
Derek and the Moss family were present, along with Layla, Lily’s birth mother, who also attended the gathering. In total, members from both families were in attendance.
Three men could be seen squatting in the middle of the living room.
Derek was the first one to speak up. “Shouldn’t you provide us with an explanation, Daphne?”
The aforementioned woman kept shaking her head wildly. “I-I don’t know anything! I don’t even know them!”
Derek sighed heavily before pulling a phone from his pocket and swiping to the audio recorder app. Then, he started playing a recording.
“Where are you guys right now? Have you left Elysium?”
The moment the familiar voice drifted out of the phone, Daphne’s complexion became ashen. She could only stare at the phone blankly while listening to the recorded conversation. The woman could barely say anything to defend herself.
Derek continued, “They surrendered the recording to us voluntarily. They recorded the entire phone conversation just to prevent you from going back on your word. Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
“I-I…N-No, that wasn’t me! T-This is definitely forged!” Daphne had completely lost her cool as she could only shake her head while stammering incomprehensive words. At the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder how on earth did things get to this point. How did Derek and his family manage to track down the kidnappers in the first place?
It was safe to say that Daphne’s mind wasn’t working at all. Suddenly, she had a feeling that a pair of phantom hands were manipulating her every move the whole time. The mastermind was slowly pushing her toward the bottomless abyss that would definitely shatter her from the inside out.
When Lewis entered Alvarez Manor, Daphne raised her head slowly to look at him.
She seemed to regard him as her savior because she immediately stood up from the couch and stumbled toward him. “Lewis! Lewis, save me!”
A flicker of emotion streaked past Derek’s eyes. He must have thought of something, seeing as he quickly approached Lewis as well. “Lewis, do you know about Daphne’s involvement in this incident?”
He was very straightforward with his question since he didn’t have the mood to play mind games with Lewis.
Those with more than two brain cells would know that Daphine didn’t have a solid reason for carrying out the whole plan, not to mention she didn’t have the
guts.
Someone must have given her the orders from behind the scenes.
Lewis shot Derek a sideway glance, laughter already bubbling from his lips. “Are you asking me this question just so I can sue you for defamation?”
The latter did a double-take because of what Lewis said.
At that moment, Layla rushed over and clutched fistfuls of Daphne’s hair before tugging on them harshly. She then started beating the latter up.
“You fucking bitch! Give my daughter back!”
“Ah!” Daphne shrieked in pain as waves of sharp pain flared from her scalp. She reached out to grab Layla’s wrists as well.
“You fucking bitch! Both you and your mother are filthy sluts! What the hell did Lily do to you, huh? How could you be so cruel to her? I’ll fucking kill you, you evil bitch!”
When Nancy realized that she got slandered by Layla, she stood up immediately, clearly enraged. “Layla Saunders, mind your words! You don’t have the right to do whatever you want here! All of you, drag her out of here!”
Soon, a few housekeepers stepped forward to separate Daphne and Layla from each other.
Layla’s eyes were filled with brutal rage. She wanted more than nothing to skin Daphne alive. at that moment. “You bitch! You all are fucking bitches! How dare you do this to Lily! I don’t mind sacrificing myself just to drag all of you to hell with me! I will avenge my poor daughter! I won’t let every one of you off the hook!”
Nancy was so furious that her chest kept heaving up and down as she panted heavily. At the same time, she was frightened after hearing Layla’s threats. Hence, she screamed, “She’s gone crazy! Throw her out of the mansion right now!”
Layla was soon dragged out of the living room. Everyone could still hear her hurling curses and threats at the Alvarez family from afar, which sent chills down their spines.
Poor Nancy’s face had gone completely white. She could only turn to look at Lewis pleadingly.
Meanwhile, Seth took a seat in the living room. He might not be smiling, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes that indicated his enjoyment of the drama that had unfolded in
front of him.
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