The Substitute Wife: My husband opened his eyes

Chapter 2

Anna wore the Larson residence cleaner’s attire every day. The cleaners were the lowest status within the Larson household. They are even lower than the other maids.

She was assigned to stay in a storage room on the same level as Ethan’s room so that she could respond to him with minimum delay.

Under the repeated nagging of Daisy and the other maids, she had learned how to take care of Ethan. “Be gentle! How can you wipe young master’s body that hard?”

Daisy immediately pinched Anna’s arm and she winced painfully. “Yes, yes, I will pay attention and be gentler!”

Thereafter, Daisy and the rest of the maids left the room, leaving her alone with the comatose Ethan. Anna finally let out a sigh of relief. The only time she could be more relaxed and breathe easier was when she was alone.

“Mr. Larson, is it true that when you recover, I can have a more normal life?” Anna mumbled to herself as she looked out into the distance out of the window. She massaged her bruises and continued, “Mom said that no one knew that it was Amy who injured you, so what about you? Do you know who hit you? When you wake up, you’ll certainly know that it was I who married you instead of Amy.”

Oh...

Anna’s mind was overcome with grief and she squatted down and hugged her shoulders, terrified about what the future would bring.

If and when Ethan woke up, would they decide to get rid of her as revenge since they would no longer need her to take care of him anymore?

The best thing to do now was to take good care of Ethan. If he ever woke up and realized that she replaced Amy to marry him, hopefully, he would be grateful for her care and not seek revenge for his injury. In the best-case scenario, he would defend her and not let anything happen to her in the Larson household.

In the blink of an eye, it had been 3 months since she came to the Larson residence. During this time, she could not even make a phone call home, not to mention going home.

Finally, due to good performance, Daisy allowed her a day off to go out. She eagerly changed into some casual attire that she had brought with her and left the villa quietly.

When Anna returned to the Lanes’ villa, the first person she was eager to see was Alice but she was nowhere to be found.

Tom, who had heard her asking the other maids where Alice was, came to the staircase and said, “Alice quit and left on her own.”

“Dad, did Alice say where she went?” Anna asked anxiously.

Tom shook his head.

Anna began to panic and was worried sick about Alice as she was very sick and weak. Where could she have gone?

She asked urgently, “Dad, I’ve married Ethan and as promised, can you transfer the two thousand dollars to me now?”

Tom’s expression immediately darkened when he heard this. Susan’s offer was just a ploy to make her agree to the swap. How could they give 200 thousand dollars to an adopted daughter?

Tom forced a smile and reassured. “Anna, you should know that business is slow recently and our cash flow is a little tight. I will transfer the money to you when the situation improves.”

Anna became even more flustered when she heard what her father said and immediately asked, “So when will you be able to transfer the money to me?”

Tom replied ambiguously. “I can’t be sure.”

But... Can Alice’s condition wait?

She wanted to plead with Tom more, but he interrupted, “Anna, Alice will be fine. You should just focus on taking good care of Ethan. You’ll get the money sooner or later, so be patient!”

Anna then realized that she was duped and most likely would not get the money. Her adoptive parents had treated her this way since she was a child. They would promise her gifts if she did something for them and after she did it, they would turn their backs on her. She treated them as her parents but they did not treat her as their daughter!

Anna left the Lanes villa in despair and arrived at Alice’s former rental apartment just in time to see Alice walking out slowly with a garbage bag.

“Alice!” Anna rushed over, threw away the trash for her, and then helped her back to her apartment.

“An...Anna, what...what are you doing here?” Alice exclaimed in surprise.

Her heart sank when she saw how pale and weak Alice was. She said softly, “I went back to my parent’s place and could not find you. I was so worried about you and then I remembered that you once said that you had rented an apartment here...”

Alice started to cough and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

Ah! Anna screamed. “Alice! You’re coughing up blood! I have to take you to the hospital! Your treatment can’t be delayed any longer!”

Alice grabbed Anna’s arm. So, what if she went to the hospital?

She did not have the money for Alice’s medical treatment, not to mention the exorbitant medical bills.

Anna felt so upset and disappointed with herself. “It’s all my fault, I’m the one who failed to raise the money for your treatment.”

Anna sat on the floor next to Alice’s bed and a thin and wrinkled hand gently stroked Anna’s hair and said softly, “It’s really going to be okay, don’t worry.”

Anna could not hold back anymore. She wailed sorrowfully and leaned over to hug Alice tightly. She recalled that whenever she was sick, it was Alice who cared for her instead of her parents.

Every time she was in distress, Alice would gently be by her side, stroking her hair as she said, “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry.”

Anna wiped away her tears and said firmly, “Alice, although I can’t send you to the hospital right now for a full treatment, I can get you some medicine!”

She left to go to a pharmacy to get some medicine and returned to instruct Alice on the dosage. Thereafter, she returned to the Larson residence and was both physically and mentally exhausted.

All was quiet at the villa.

Anna was puzzled for a moment as the villa should be abuzz with activities at that hour.

Why was it so quiet?

Anna did not think much about it and quickly changed into her attire and went to Ethan’s room. She looked at the readings on the medical machines that were monitoring his vital signs and all were in the normal range.

When she thought of her fussy mother-in-law and Daisy who liked to find fault with her, she immediately began to clean up the room to deny them any excuses to punish her.

After cleaning the entire room, Anna went to the window for some fresh air and grunted softly as she stretched her aching back.

She dragged her tired body toward a storage room where she previously saw an ointment that could help her relieve her muscle aches. As soon as she found the bottle of ointment, she heard a loud thud like something had fallen heavily onto the floor in the quiet villa.

Anna rushed downstairs but did not see anything that was out of place. She then walked back along the corridor toward Ethan’s room and gasped when she saw a figure lying on the ground.