While I Slept Through Nights, They Raved In Flames

Chapter 4

I hauled my battered body into a taxi. The Romanov family estate was my destination.

I was about to leave this world. Before I did, I had to take the only thing my birth mother had left me, a silver cross necklace.

I pushed open the estate doors, and the laughter in the living room died on the spot. Every gaze snapped toward me at once. Alexander, Richard, and Victor Jones. All three heirs of the conglomerates I had once been tasked to win over were in the hall.

They stood around the sofa, helping Chloe choose her engagement dress for next month. When Chloe saw me, her eyes brightened for a split second before filling with tears.

"Olivia, you're back at last. I thought you were angry with me and would never come home again!"

She lifted her dress and ran toward me. I ignored her and headed straight for the stairs. My room was at the very end of the second floor. I only needed my things. I couldn't breathe another second in that house.

I had just stepped onto the third stair when Chloe suddenly rushed up beside me.

In a voice so low only I could hear, she said, "See? All three of them belong to me. Even if you're dying, not a single person will cry for you."

Then she suddenly cried out, "Olivia, don't!"

I never touched her. Yet she fell backward as if struck, tumbling straight down the stairs.

"Chloe!"

Alexander's and Richard's faces changed instantly. They rushed forward like men possessed. Alexander caught Chloe in his arms, pulling her tight against his chest. Richard checked her leg in a panic.

"It hurts! Why would Olivia do this to me? I just wanted to make things right with her," Chloe sobbed.

Alexander jerked his head up, his eyes filled with killing intent. "Olivia, are you out of your mind? It was already bad enough that you were causing scenes in the lower hold. Now you're doing it right in front of us?"

Richard jabbed a finger at me and erupted. "You evil witch, if anything happens to Chloe, I'll make you pay with your life!"

I stood on the stairs, watching how fiercely they shielded her. I pulled a black button from inside my coat. Ever since Chloe started framing me, I had kept a miniature recorder on me at all times.

I flung the button straight onto the expensive marble coffee table in the living room. "See for yourself."

Victor had been sitting in a single armchair in complete silence the whole time. As the youngest Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he always carried that cold, detached composure.

He set down his wine glass, picked up the mini projection device on the table, and connected it to the button. A crisp high-definition video was projected onto the wall.

On the screen, Chloe's vicious grin was laid bare, along with every word of provocation she had spoken. Then she shifted her weight and deliberately went down the stairs herself. From beginning to end, my hands never once left my pockets.

The living room plunged into dead silence. Alexander stiffened, his arms loosening slightly around Chloe. Richard stared at her in stunned disbelief.

Panic flickered across Chloe's face as she clung tightly to Alexander's clothes. "No, that's not true! It's fake! Olivia edited it to frame me!"

At that moment, Victor rose to his feet. He smoothed his suit and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.

"The video is genuine," Victor said evenly.

Chloe's face went as white as paper. But before I could even laugh under my breath, Victor shifted his stance.

"However, Olivia, under the country's recently amended privacy protection law, covert recording inside a private residence without consent constitutes a serious violation of personal rights."

He stepped closer and looked at me like I was already standing in a defendant's dock.

"Any surveillance material obtained through illegal means is inadmissible in court. In fact, sustained hidden monitoring like this can be classified as unlawful psychological abuse towards Chloe."

He turned slightly toward Harper. "Prepare the litigation documents. I will bring charges against Olivia for psychological abuse and illegal surveillance."

I stared at Victor. This was the same man I had once fought three days and nights to help secure critical corruption evidence for, negotiating with fugitives until I nearly had my artery cut open.

And now he was twisting the harshest legal codes into a shield for Chloe, who lied without a shred of hesitation.

A violent surge of rage and despair exploded in my chest. I doubled over and coughed up a mouthful of blood, splattering it straight onto Victor's expensive handmade leather shoes.

The entire room froze. Victor recoiled half a step, his brows knitting so tightly it looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"What is this new stunt supposed to be?" he said in disgust.

Harper rushed forward with a handkerchief to wipe the blood off Victor's shoes. As he picked up the miniature recorder that had fallen from my pocket, his fingers brushed against a report on the floor.

It was an expedited Royal Hospital report indicating widespread organ failure. Harper glanced at it once.

"Mr. Jones, this report..." he said, his hand trembling as he passed it over.

Victor took it at first almost absentmindedly. Then his eyes locked onto the terrifying abnormal readings and the line that read irreversible organ failure. His head snapped up to look at me.