Chapter 27

Tears welled up in Kaia's eyes as the pain hit her, and her gaze grew red wen Verena called her out so bluntly. She pressed herlips together, determined not to admit a thing. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Honestly, I don't get it."

Verena looked at Kaia's face, taking note of the features they had in common. This was her sister,after all.

Still, Verena couldn't ignore the fact that Kaia wanted her disfigured.

Before coming to Shoildon, Verena had assumed that her sister, whom she had only met once, likely didn't think much of her. She never imagined that Kaia would actually hate her this deeply.

Trying to keep her feelings in check, Verena kept her tone cold and held Kaia's gaze. "Kaia, you don't like me, and I don't like you. We're both well aware of it.I haven't gone after you, so don't think you can start with me. As long as you behave yourself, I'll let you do whatever you want. I'm not interested in fighting for anything you want. But if you ever try something

against me again, I promise I'll make you pay dearly."

Kaia found it impossible to tolerate the way Verena looked down on her. She had grown up beside their parents,spoiled by them,while Verena had lived out in the countryside, so why did Verena always act so high and mighty?

By now, Alec and Laura were both at work, and Luka was out somewhere with friends. With nobody around to back her up, Kaia felt completely alone.

Holding her hand over her scalded neck, Kaia glared at Verena and warned,"Do you really think I won't tell Mom and Dad that you're bullying me? That you spilled hot soup on purpose just to hurt me?"

With her patience gone, Kaia didn't bother to act like the good sister anymore.

Verena faced Kaia's empty threat with a faint smile. "If you have time to complain, you should hurry up and go to the hospital. If you're slow, you might actually end up with scars."

There was a challenge in the way she spoke her final words.

Kaia,who cared more about her looks than anything else, lost all color in her face the second she heard the word "scars."

Several drops of hot soup had splashed onto her face as well.

She shot Verena a furious glare and gritted her teeth."You're evil. You really are the worst."

Anger boiled inside her, but Kaia forced herself to focus on getting to the hospital first.

She gave quick directions to the driver, and soon she was on her way tothe hospital.

After doctors reassured her that her face would be fine, Kaia stretched out on a plush VIP bed, snapped a picture of herself, and posted it online with a simple caption: "At the hospital."

Within minutes, a few of her so-called friends from her circle of rich acquaintances sent messages to her in the group chat, pretending to be worried. "Kaia,what happened to you? How did you end up like this?"

Kaia let the questions pile up and waited until her phone buzzed with nearly a dozen messages before deciding to answer.

Kaia finally replied, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious.Verena just came to live with our family. We're not really close. I wanted to do something nice and made her some soup, but when I handed her the bowl, she bumped it and the soup ended up all over me."

Because people in the group already looked down on Verena for faking her academic background, not many were willing to defend her.

After reading Kaia's message, one of the group members quickly commented, saying, "You're telling me that was an accident? She definitely meant to do it!"

Someone else jumped in right after. "Of course she did. She's jealous that you're so pretty and probably wants to ruin your face."

Watching the flurry of reactions, Kaia felt pleased with herself, but she kept up her sweet and innocent act."Please don't misunderstand her. Verena can be difficult, but I really don't think she did it on purpose."

To make her message seem even more pitiful, she added a sad-faced emoji at the end.

When Bobby read through the group chat, his eyebrows knitted together in doubt. He wasn't convinced by what Kaia said. After all, these two were sisters, so it seemed unlikely things would get so ugly.Besides,after talking to Kaia a few times, he knew she was good at putting on a show and couldn't be trusted.

Someone else in the group shared his doubts and tagged Kaia. "You can try to explain, but people are still going to question you. Doesn't your house have cameras in the dining room? If you show the recording it'll be clear whether Verena meant to do it or not."

Other people quickly chimed in with agreement."Exactly, just upload the video."

Kaia had already seen this coming. She had spent her ride to the hospital editing the footage so it would look the way she wanted.

Still, she couldn't let herself seem too eager to share it.

She responded in the group, "Okay, I'll go look at the recordings now."

After a few minutes, she picked the video she had already prepared and sent it into the chat.

In the video, a woman with long hair sat at the dining table, her back turned toward the camera. Moments later, another woman appeared, wearing a pink nightgown and holding a bowl of soup. It was clear the one in the pink nightgown was Kaia, and the woman seated with her long hair flowing down could only be Verena.

The footage showed Kaia standing about three feet from the table. As Verena pushed her chair back and rose to her feet, her arm swept out and hit the boWl,sending hot soup splashing across Kaia's arm. With the way the video was shot, it looked like Verena did it on purpose.

Of course, Kaia knew the truth. Verena never made contact with the bowl at all; she had only lifted her hand while getting up.

But Kaia had cut out the key section of the recording

After seeing the video, everyone in the group sent messages to comfort Kaia, believing Verena did it on purpose.

When Bobby finished watching, his frown grew even deeper, and a mix of emotions clouded his face. Kaia was far from innocent, but anyone willing to hurt her own sister was no better.

He had always thought Verena was just a compulsive liar who wanted to outshine everyone else. After he saw this, she struck him as jealous and vindictive. If Isaac really ended up marrying her,the entire Bennett family would be thrown into chaos. He could not let that happen. As long as the marriage hadn't taken place, there was still time to stop it.

Determined, Bobby threw off his covers, got out of bed, and stormed toward Isaac's study.

He didn't pause to knock. Instead,he marched right in and blurted out, "Isaac, I'm serious. You can't marry someone like Verena. You have no idea how cruel she can be. She almost ruined her sister's face. If you go through with this,our family will never know peace. If you don't believe me, I have the video to prove it..."

"Enough!" Isaac slammed his folder on the desk, and the sharp sound made Bobby jump.

In a cold, steady voice, Isaac replied, "I've told you before, Verena is going to be your sister-in-law.I won't let you talk about her like that."

Isaac folded his hands in front of him and stared Bobby down. "Or do you think now that Dad's gone,what I say doesn't matter anymore?"