And she did ruin that once arrogant Elisa, with the help of Hamish! But Lorelei never expected to relive those memories here.
“Who are you exactly? You are not Elisa! No, you are not the same Elisa from before! Who are you?” Apart from Elisa, no one in the room understood the meaning behind Lorelei’s words. They thought she was delirious, perhaps a lunatic.
“I’m indeed not the same Elisa as before, but you…” Elisa paused, then slowly stood up and walked towards Lorelei. “Are you Lorelei again?”
Lorelei’s face turned from pale to defeated, her whole body covered in cold sweat, her legs trembling.
“You’re not dead? You’re like me?” The “like me” referred to plastic surgery, but Lorelei had secretly investigated and found no history of Elisa undergoing such procedures. Why had Elisa changed so much? Lorelei couldn’t understand. If it was all an act from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been possible to act so much like her.
Lorelei had a bizarre thought: “Reincarnation.” If not, why would Hamish and Finn get close to her? This explanation completely made sense. No wonder she couldn’t compete with her.
At this point, Lorelei had come to believe that this was indeed Elisa herself. However, she still couldn’t accept that the “A. W Group” belonged to Elisa. It felt like a cruel joke from fate. Clearly, Elisa had died, so why bring her back? Clearly, Elisa had nothing, so how could she achieve what ordinary people couldn’t in such a short time?
Just five minutes ago, she was contemplating the advantages and disadvantages of negotiating with the CEO of “A. W,” but in the next five minutes, reality brutally slapped her in the face. The person she hated most in her life was Elisa, yet now Elisa had become her immediate superior, controlling her fate in the entertainment industry. This was a tremendous humiliation for her!
Apart from humiliation, Lorelei felt fear. She instinctively turned to run but was blocked by the security guard outside the door.
“Elisa, what are you going to do?”
“Miss Hannah, please close the door. Patrick, make sure to firmly keep her down!” After Elisa spoke, Patrick swiftly moved. He only obeyed the employer’s orders and wouldn’t take pity just because the other person was a woman. He immediately kicked Lorelei down, immobilizing her.
Watching Elisa approach with a fruit knife, Lorelei trembled. “Elisa, what are you going to do? I’m telling you, this is a crime! Intentionally hurting someone and now attempting murder?”
“You talk as if you haven’t ‘killed’ me before?” Elisa played with the knife, running her finger along the blade.
Lorelei’s outfit was the same as before, completely airtight. She wore a long skirt and stockings. She crouched on the ground, her eyes filled with horror as the tip of the knife was aimed at her forehead.
Tears streamed down Lorelei’s face; however, she felt nothing. Her entire focus was on the knife in Elisa’s hand, fearing that a tremor in Elisa’s hand might blind her or ruin her face.
Elisa, finding her face dirty, tapped Lorelei’s stiff face with the knife.
“You must have spent a lot on plastic surgery for this face, right? Should I call you Lorelei or Lila?”
No one had called her Lila for a long time, and it evoked many terrible and disgusting memories.
Lorelei, pinned to the ground, was like a fish thrown ashore, unable to flip over. Her struggles were fruitless, and she gasped for breath, her mouth dry.
“Does your former name disgust you?”
“No,” Lorelei gasped. “Elisa, you’ve returned, naturally, I cannot admit I am Lila.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know who Lila is,” she shivered, her eyes flickering, clearly lying.
“Oh?” Elisa made a sound, thoughtful, as she looked at her. “You’re not Lila?”
“I’m not Lila. Please spare me. I promise not to appear in front of you again in the future. Let me escape for now.”
Her words barely fell when Elisa shifted the knife’s direction, lifting her skirt, and effortlessly slicing through her stockings.
“No!”
Elisa stood up, stepping on Lorelei’s ankle to remove her shoe, revealing legs covered in pockmarked scars and uneven missing toes, extremely hideous.
This was why Lorelei had always refused to show her feet; initially, Hamish had locked her in a dog cage, where her feet were bitten and mangled by dogs.
“Lila, do I need to remind you howyour legs got like this?” Lorelei didn’t know why Elisa knew the secret of her legs. Could it be Hamish? If Hamish knew she wasn’t dead… Lorelei didn’t dare to continue thinking.
Hamish always sought revenge. Initially, he tortured her, locked her in a dog cage, and abandoned her in a mountain village to fend for herself. After finally being rescued and starting a new life, she didn’t want to revert to her past.
“Elisa, why does everything in this world favor you? Weren’t you supposed to be dead? Why have you returned? I’ve lost everything. Can’t you let bygones be bygones and spare me?” Lorelei curled up on the ground, looking at Elisa through tearful eyes, hoping to appeal to her in a pitiable manner.
“The term ‘let bygones be bygones’ is truly repulsive coming from your mouth. I don’t like the idea of letting bygones be bygones. I prefer an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,” Elisa said, taking out her phone.
Lorelei knew exactly what she was about to do. If Elisa made her identity and these ugly legs public, sealing her within the company, she could likely sue for breach of contract and at most receive compensation, but if Elisa exposed her identity and these ugly legs on the internet, her career in the entertainment industry would be over.
Lorelei racked her brain, her heart pounding. “What does your marriage to Hamish have to do with me? He is the one who harmed you, not me. Your death was because of him. If you seek revenge, go after him.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let them off either, but for now, you’ll go first in line,” Elisa said with a glance. Patrick instantly understood what she intended to do, lifting Lorelei with one hand and forcefully throwing her to the ground. Her legs were exposed on camera, and Elisa quickly took two pictures. Before she could crawl away, Lorelei knelt, shouting for help.
“If you can still crawl, then I’ll just have to break your legs,” Elisa said lightly. Her words rendered Lorelei motionless. She had never seen this terrifying side of Elisa before. It was as if she had emerged from the depths of hell.
No, she had emerged from the depths of hell because she had indeed died once.
“Elisa, please spare me. I shouldn’t have plotted against you…” Lorelei tried to stand up, but her legs were too weak. Trying to support herself, she fell down again.
Following Elisa’s instructions, Patrick, a towering figure, stood imposingly in front of Lorelei, and with a fierce aura, he kicked at Lorelei’s legs.
The sound of bones cracking drowned within the woman’s screams. Lorelei writhed on the ground, tears and mucus mixing with the cold sweat on her face.
Even if her bones were broken, it was too good for her. She did things that deserved a worse fate!
Elisa watched Lorelei, curled up like a worm in a ditch, and tightened her grip on the knife, remembering the past, including Mimi’s death. Fury surged within her.
Approaching Lorelei, she raised the knife towards her neck. As it descended, Louis’s face suddenly flashed in her mind.
―”Elisa, don’t soil your hands for these people.”
The blade veered aside, grazing Lorelei’s ear and embedding itself in the floor, a barely noticeable trace of blood staining the blade.
Lorelei was so terrified that she lost her voice, her pupils trembling and contracting. She belatedly felt the searing heat in her ear, but she didn’t even have the courage to reach up and cover it. She was petrified, like an old, malfunctioning phone, overwhelmed with memory that caused the system to lag, unable to respond for a long time.
Elisa’s face bore no extra expression; her deep, dark eyes seemed to absorb all light, casting a heavy darkness.
“Do you know why I rank second in the Powell family, yet others address me as Miss Shen? It’s because in the Powell family, they only remember me. Do you know why they only remember me?” Elisa’s tone was filled with sarcasm.
Lorelei’s face turned ashen.
Elisa slowly rose, returning to her boss’s chair, holding a cup of coffee. She spoke to Lorelei deliberately, “I don’t need to personally deal with you. You will never be able to stand up in front of me. Patrick, open the door and have the security throw her out, far away.”
Lorelei was completely speechless. As she looked at Elisa’s face, all she could think of was Hamish’s visage.
After Lorelei was escorted out by the security, Elisa examined the photos she had taken and sipped her coffee, simultaneously organizing and editing the information she had gathered.
Indeed, she didn’t need to get her hands dirty. Regardless of whether it was Hamish or Finn, their methods were more ruthless than hers. Why not leave them to deal with her? Especially Hamish.
She knew exactly what kind of person Hamish was. He had once told her that his greatest hatred was for betrayal, deceit, and lies, all of which Lorelei had embodied.
Back then, Hamish had been intent on killing Lorelei, torturing her to the point of near death. Surviving his hands had been a stroke of luck for Lorelei, but she seemed to have a penchant for tempting fate. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind meeting her end.
Elisa, having drunk half of her coffee, realized she had forgotten to add sugar. Her mouth tasted bitter. She furrowed her brow, set down the cup, and noticed Patrick had been observing her. She lifted her head to meet his gaze.
“Patrick, do you have something you’d like to say to me?”
“Nothing, just thinking about what I should teach you in the future.” Elisa was petite and lacked physical strength, and she was past the prime age for rigorous training. However, she was a natural killer, evident in her fierce determination and the aura of someone who had experienced life and death.