Chapter 693 Burned Bridges

“Elsie!”

The moment Lily heard her daughter’s anguished scream, she completely broke down. Like a mother hen protecting her chick, she stumbled out of bed and rushed over, arms outstretched to shield Elsie.

“She’s my daughter! None of you are allowed to hurt her!”

Everyone looked around at each other in confusion. No one had even laid a hand on her. Was this pregnant woman out of her mind? She was putting on quite the performance.

Elsie dove into Lily’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably. The torment of the past three months had been even more terrifying than her days in the mountain village.

The crowd was overwhelmed by her crying. “She’s really your daughter? Then why didn’t you keep a better eye on her? Look at the mess she made!”

“Wait a second–aren’t you Lily?” someone frowned, then turned toward Owen. “And you’re Owen?”

Their eyes then locked onto Elsie. “You… you’re Elsie?”

“Elsie? That name sounds familiar…”

“Elsie! Wasn’t she the one involved in that rape and murder case? Didn’t the police report that she died?”

“That’s not Elsie. You’ve got the wrong person!” Owen struggled to sit up, his face full of disgust. “My sister is dead. I don’t know who this is. She must’ve escaped from some asylum. Someone call the police and have her taken away.”

Lily and Elsie both turned to Owen in stunned disbelief.

Why would he say that?

Elsie quickly tucked her hair behind her ear so he could see her face clearly. “Owen, it’s me. Don’t you recognize me? I’m Elsie. I’m…”

“Shut up!” Owen snapped. “My sister died pure. And you–showing up here pregnant–how dare you pretend to be her!”

His words made the crowd pause.

He was right. It didn’t make sense. No one could get that pregnant in just three months.

Suspicion spread fast. Several people reached for their phones to call the police.

Lily stood protectively in front of Elsie, anxiously turning to Owen. “Owen–what the hell are you doing?”

The police arrived in no time.

Lily clung to her daughter, chasing after the officers who were taking her away. She followed them all the way to the door before running out of breath, slumping against the frame, panting.

And that was when she saw someone else.

Yunice.

No one knew when she had arrived, but there she stood–right in front of Lily, coldly watching Elsie being dragged away in handcuffs.

Owen saw her too. His face tightened, lips pressed into a thin line.

He and Lily had just undergone surgery. He knew Yunice was here to rub salt in their wounds.

But she hadn’t come empty-handed. She was holding flowers and gifts.

To Lily, those things were unbearable to look at. All she saw was mockery.

Summoning every last bit of strength she had, she grabbed the flowers and gifts and flung them across the hall, scattering them in all directions.

From the hallway, curious onlookers peeked around the corner, eager to watch the drama unfold.

Yunice stood calmly, like an outsider, letting Lily scream and lash out.

When Lily finally collapsed from exhaustion, Yunice said coolly, “Perfect timing. Elsie’s case has been out of the news for a few days. You’ve just reignited the flames. The Saunders family is going to be famous again.”

As expected, Lily immediately turned to glance anxiously at the hallway.

Sexual assault and murder cases always attracted disgusting rumors, and with the attention back on the story, it would only hurt Elsie.

Especially now, visibly pregnant–just showing her face could unleash a storm of vile gossip.

Lily had always wanted a perfect daughter. Not someone treated like society’s garbage.

Yunice stepped past her and sat down in front of Owen, pulling up a chair.

“The doctor says you’re recovering well. If the cancer spreads slowly, you might have a few more years left,” she said.

Owen had already figured it out. “You planned this,” he muttered bitterly.

“You made your own choices,” Yunice replied.

Owen shut his eyes, no longer willing to look at her. “You think bringing out a girl who looks like Elsie is some kind of ace up your sleeve? That you can use her to reclaim an identity that was never yours? Let me tell you something–Yunice is dead. Her record has been erased. She doesn’t exist. You’re not the Saunders family’s Yunice. And neither is she.”

Owen believed Yunice had been hiding Elsie all along. Now that his death was nearly confirmed, she’d released her just to cause chaos, hoping to use it to restore her own registration.

But Yunice only chuckled softly. “You were planning to die without leaving any evidence. What else could I do? Like you said, the name Yunice is dead. Now that another ‘Yunice‘ has appeared, the police will do a DNA test. Our father’s blood is still in the blood bank–they’ll use it for comparison. If this Yunice doesn't match with him, then it proves she’s not the Saunders family’s Yunice, and she’s not your so-called Elsie either. She’s just some stranger with no connection to you at all. That way, you can kick Elsie out of the Saunders family for good. And you’ll bury the fact that you ever stole her identity. Because the real Elsie—the one you replaced—is already nothing but ashes. No one will ever know who she really was.”