Chapter 9

Olivia was both delighted and very surprised, not understanding why Ethan had suddenly changed his mind. But the urgent matter was to keep Ethan. He couldn't leave her again.

Ethan went to Emily's former room, tears streaming uncontrollably. He quickly packed up all her things, moving like a walking corpse towards the villa's main door.

Emily's innocent smiling face still lingered in his mind. Now he could only look at these cold photos to remember her.

"Ethan, what do you mean by this!"

"I'm telling you, if you leave, I'll never forgive you in this life!"

In Olivia's view, what Ethan feared most was being abandoned by her, being disliked by her.

As long as she used these threats, he would surely turn back and stay.

Ethan didn't hear Olivia's words at all. His eyes and heart were filled only with his sister's belongings.

His footsteps didn't pause for a moment as he was about to leave without looking back.

Watching his retreating figure, Olivia panicked.

At this moment, she finally realized that all the things she had done - the threats, the coaxing - were just to keep Ethan by her side.

Perhaps unknowingly, Ethan had already become the most important person in her life, the person she couldn't do without on her life's journey.

She had fallen in love with Ethan long ago, but just never wanted to admit it.

The high and mighty heiress of River City falling for a poor boy - she was afraid of being laughed at, so she kept hurting him again and again. But she never thought Ethan would leave her. She was afraid, and she absolutely wouldn't allow it.

"Quick, stop him! I don't care what methods you use, you must bring him back!"

Having received the order, several servants and bodyguards immediately chased after Ethan to block his path.

Olivia followed closely behind, coming to Ethan's side and hugging him tightly.

"Ethan, don't you want to stay here with me? Don't you love me anymore? Why do you have to leave?"

"Are these things very important to you? They're just a few old photos. If you like, we can go take new ones together."

Olivia glanced at those photos from the corner of her eye. They were already covered in dust, and she couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted. She forced herself to touch them with her delicate hands.

But Ethan held onto the photos tightly, afraid Olivia would snatch them away.

In the chaos of the struggle, the photo was torn from the middle, separating him and his sister, dividing the living and the dead.

He looked at the torn photo paper, crying like a child, but his cries were so mournful.

He couldn't protect his sister, and now he couldn't even protect her photo. He was truly a useless brother.

Olivia was also stunned, not expecting it to turn out like this. She stiffly pulled at her lips.

"What are you crying about! What do you want me to do for you to come back? I'll have someone bring glue to stick it back together, okay? Stop making a fuss! My patience has limits too!"

No matter what Olivia said, Ethan ignored her. He took the torn photo and dragged his heavy body towards the exit.

Ethan's repeated refusals finally angered Olivia completely. She, the noble young miss, everyone's darling, didn't lack just one person, did she?

She wanted to see how long Ethan could remain so proud!

Three days.

Five days.

A week.

Half a month passed...

Ethan truly vanished like smoke, never appearing in any place Olivia could see again.

She felt empty inside, never having felt so powerless before.

She knew Ethan was like this because they had toyed with his sister. Since that was the case, she would make everyone apologize. In any case, Ethan must return to her side.

Olivia disregarded everyone's objections and forced Nathan and the others to go apologize to Ethan.

In front of Ethan's door, Olivia took a deep breath and knocked.

They knocked for a long time but received no response, just like how Ethan could never knock open her door before.

Olivia suddenly had a bad feeling. She pushed Nathan.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and kick the door open!"

As soon as the door opened, the house was empty. Everything was gone.

"Olivia, the place is deserted. Why did you drag us here? Are we supposed to apologize to thin air?"

"Yeah, it's not like we forced her to take it. Why should we apologize?"

"Olivia, are you high? He's just a chauffeur's son. Didn't you hate him the most? Why are you suddenly so concerned about him?"

"Shut up, all of you!"

Olivia's gaze was terrifyingly cold, as if she would kill someone the next second. Everyone was scared into silence.

Olivia stumbled out of Ethan's house looking like she had gone mad. Her eyes were blank as she kept mumbling, "It's not possible, it can't be, it won't be..."

The rain poured down on her, extinguishing the last bit of hope in her heart. She leaned against the car door, at a loss, her face full of panic.

Mr. Chen's words kept echoing in her ears. Emily... was dead.

A few minutes ago, Olivia had called the butler.

"Mr. Chen! Where's Emily? Bring her to me."

Olivia knew Ethan cared most about Emily and wanted to use this to threaten him.

To her surprise, the butler was silent for a long time, stammering and unable to speak.

Olivia grew increasingly irritated, stamping her foot angrily: "What are you mumbling about? I told you to bring Emily here!"

On the other end, the butler let out a heavy sigh and finally made up his mind to speak.

"Miss, Emily is no longer with us."