Chapter 15
779words
The doctor said offhandedly, "Husbands and wives need to trust each other. You chose her, so you should believe in her. You, as her husband, pushed her to prove her innocence by hurting herself. That's not responsible at all."
Samuel only half listened.
His phone rang. It was the detective agency.
"Mr. Ferguson, we've sent you the information on Elias you asked for."
Samuel checked it right away.
Lucy, looking very pale, peeked over.
She could not let go of Elias, thinking that winning over a man like him was the high point of life.
Why did Tania have all the luck?
After a while, Samuel's face turned sour.
Lucy, with anger, silently called Tania names, convinced she was no good.
The detective agency had not found much, but it was enough to confirm that the information the Ferguson family had about Tania was accurate.
Samuel felt regret first of all.
Lucy's voice pierced the air, "I told you Tania was behind my troubles. She's the head of the research institute, and she got Kingston University to revoke my job offer. It wasn't easy for her to do that!"
Samuel nodded, acknowledging the truth.
After the initial shock and regret, he realized he had been tricked by Tania.
Samuel no longer doubted Lucy's words.
The private investigator's office had sent Samuel proof that Elias and Tania were siblings, clear as day.
"Unbelievable," Lucy pointed at the words, "Tania was so desperate to make you jealous that she'd even lie about her own brother being her fiancé? Samuel, you're lucky you divorced her. Who knows what else she might do?"
Lucy kept talking, "And think about it, Tania's family is loaded, yet in nearly four years of marriage, she never once mentioned it? She must have been scared that you'd want a piece of her family fortune. She never cared about you, not for a second."
Today, Samuel saw Tania for who she really was — a woman full of cunning plans.
"Samuel, didn't you ever ask about Tania's family?"
Samuel scoffed, "That woman… she never told the truth. She said her parents died when she was young, and that they were doctors who died helping people in a war-torn village. I even took her on a trip abroad to comfort her. It turns out that I've been played like a fool for four years!"
The TV in the hospital room was on, tuned to the news channel.
A name popped up that he knew all too well — it was Tania.
The news anchor read the announcement with excitement: "The Russell Pharmaceutical Group is going to pour 1.5 billion dollars into our city to create a park for new medicine development. Tania, representing the Russell family, will be hosting a press conference... As our nation's youngest expert, Tania's work on new medicines has saved so many lives..."
The following morning, Tania was all dressed up, stepping out of the lounge, ready to give her speech at the reception.
Walking past Elias, she hesitated for just a second.
Before, she would have grabbed his hand without a second thought, asking her 'big brother' how she looked and if everything was okay with her outfit, with a playful twinkle in her eye.
Elias would have casually fixed her hair and straightened her collar.
However, things had changed since Elias told her how he felt. After that, Tania could not even look him in the eye. She never imagined that Elias, whom she had called brother since she was eight and was adopted by the Russells, had feelings for her that were more than brotherly.
"Um... I..." Tania mumbled, staring at her shoes.
Elias wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug, patting her back. "Just talk like you normally do. You're not one to get nervous. You're going to help me run the family business one day, so you'll get used to all this."
Standing on stage, Tania faced the reporters' questions.
She was a little shaky at first, but as soon as the topic turned to her specialty, she found her stride and lit up the stage.
From the audience, Elias watched her, his face breaking into a proud smile.
The press conference was nearly over when the host said no more questions could be asked.
However, then, a reporter from a small-time paper stood up and pointed a microphone at Tania.
"Ms. Russell, people are saying you tricked Mr. Ferguson from the Ferguson family out of his money, and that you cheated on him and met up with other guys. What's your side of the story?"
