“Isn’t it Danielle?”
“How can she look exactly the same? Even with plastic surgery, it’s impossible to have such a high similarity!”
Wait, something seems off.
It took Chris a while to understand that it was her temperament!
Danielle was spoiled and pampered, and with Teagan’s love, she had developed a stubborn personality from an early age. People like her probably wouldn’t change their nature even if they were in jail. How could she turn from a fierce girl into a gentle one in just six months? It seemed like someone else entirely.
There are only two possibilities: either she was intentionally acting or she was changed.
The former cannot escape their sharp eyes, while the latter is unbelievable. Danielle was in prison; how could someone replace her without any trace?
Just as Chris was about to catch up with Kelvin’s footsteps, his phone rang – Reece called him earlier because Mr. Foley asked him to investigate Miss Parry. He thought Reece would know something since he knew Danielle for years.
Sure enough, Reece brought good news!
In the hospital room, a young girl lay quietly on the bed curled up like an innocent kitten. Her hands tightly gripped onto the blanket on top of her body as tiny beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. She softly muttered “sister” through pale lips without any color.
Although the voice was small, Kelvin heard every word clearly.
He turned around and stared at her with his sharp hawk-like eyes for two seconds before coldly saying, “How long do you plan on pretending to sleep?”
As soon as he spoke those words, the girl’s closed eyelids trembled uncontrollably along with fluttering lashes.
Slowly opening them revealed clear deer-like eyes filled with fear staring back at this man.
“Who…who are you?”
She sat upright hugging herself tightly against him, shaking violently, cowering behind and trying hide herself from the view.
Underneath his mask, his voice sounded terrifyingly cold, “You don’t need to know who I am. Tell me where Danielle really is.” As soon as he finished speaking, the girl’s face flashed briefly showing guilt, she avoided meeting his gaze, “I am Danielle. What are you talking about? I really don’t understand.”
If it weren’t for the pre-investigation, Kelvin would have been fooled by her innocent and naive appearance.
“Don’t understand? If you don’t understand, maybe I should call your mother to explain it to you personally?”
“Mm.”
She remained silent, but her quiet resistance did not deter Kelvin.
He took a step forward and grabbed the girl’s hair, pulling her roughly towards him.
His actions were rough and merciless. There was no doubt that if she didn’t cooperate, Kelvin would kill her without hesitation.
The girl winced in pain as he tugged at her scalp. Her once delicate features twisted into a grotesque expression as tears streamed down from her beautiful eyes. She looked like she was in agony.
If it were any other man who saw this pitiful sight, they would have softened their heart long ago. However, Kelvin’s heart was hard.
He let go of his grip on the girl’s hair and saw a handful of strands lying quietly in his palm. Looking at the empty space on the side of the girl’s head where there used to be hair made him frown with disgust before tossing them into a nearby trash can.
Kelvin then pulled out a plain cotton handkerchief from his suit pocket and meticulously wiped his bony fingers clean – even cleaning between each joint! The girl watched him with self-mockery written all over her face.
“Just like what you see,” she said with a sad smile.
“Yes, I’m not Danielle Parry; my name is Krystal Parry.”
She paused for a moment before glancing at herself in the reflection of the windowpane – feeling an ache deep within herself.
After all, she too was just an adolescent girl who loved beauty.
But losing more and more hair every day felt like being cursed back to square one again…
“About a year ago,” Krystal continued nonchalantly as though having cancer wasn’t such big deal after all,
“I found out that I had brain cancer. In order to make my mom’s life easier after I’m gone… I agreed to Danielle’s conditions.”
“What’s so bad about that? I’m just someone without tomorrow anyway,” Krystal shrugged indifferently,
“Six months in jail for two million dollars? What could be better than this?”
“Two million dollars – someone like me could never earn that even if I worked my whole life.”
“But even if I did earn it myself…my mom could still retire comfortably with this money.”
However… who knew that she was actually also part of ‘the Parry family’!
The Parry family has a tradition of killing one of the twins whenever they are born. Danielle was born stronger than her twin in the womb, and on the day of their birth, Mr. Parry died in an accident on his way to see them.
This tragedy only reinforced the belief that twins were unlucky, and so it was decided that one of them had to be taken away. Danielle, who was born a minute earlier and weighed six pounds eight ounces, stayed with the Parry family and became Miss Parry – living a life of luxury.
Her weaker twin sister, who weighed only three pounds at birth due to being malnourished in utero, was abandoned by the family. Mrs. Parry gave her away to an elderly couple without any children left.
Although Krystal’s adoptive mother was old, she loved Krystal as if she were her own daughter. However, when Krystal turned ten years old, tragedy struck again: her adoptive father died after being hit by falling debris while working at a construction site.
Krystal’s adoptive mother cried so much that she lost both eyesight for ten years while supporting herself by collecting garbage.
Krystal finally managed to go to college.
Due to the high cost of tuition, Krystal’s adoptive mother took up laundry jobs to earn around 50 dollars per day by washing over a hundred pieces of clothing.
For several months, she diligently saved up bit by bit, managing to accumulate 5, 000 dollars to send Krystal to college.
Just as Krystal started her freshman year, a neighbor called her and informed her that her mother had fallen ill and was hospitalized. The doctor explained that her mother’s illness was a result of excessive labor, causing strain on her body, including herniated discs and muscle fatigue. The doctor emphasized the need for her mother to rest.
Upon hearing the news, Krystal made the decision to drop out of college. She secretly worked multiple jobs from morning till night, without her adoptive mother’s knowledge, in order to save more money for her mother’s medical treatment and to ensure she could rest properly.
However, unexpectedly, it was Krystal herself who collapsed before she could fulfill her intentions.