NovelEnglishChapter 281 Because Vanessa and Nathan never imagined that their secret plot would be discovered by Irene, killing Irene to silence her was an impulsive, desperate decision.
Yet when Irene tumbled down the stairs, her head cracking open and blood pooling around her, panic seized both Vanessa and Nathan. Murder was a cr-one that could land them behind bars for the rest of their lives. Vanessa, terrified of prison, didn't hesitate for a second when Claire appeared at the top of the stairwell. She immediately pinned the blfor Irene's death on Claire, framing her for a murder she never committed. But this reckless move threw all of Vanessa and Nathan's carefully laid plans into chaos.
Instead of becoming a helpless victim for their schemes, Claire was dragged away by the police and locked behind bars. Ironically, prison spared her from a far worse fate-being forced into brain death, dissected alive for her organs, her conscious mind trapped in horror until the very end. Had things gone as Nathan and Vanessa intended, Claire would have been butchered while still aware, her body pillaged for parts, and when it was over, she'd have been donated to the medical school-a nameless anatomy cadaver for students to cut apart, all so Nathan could bask in the glory of a noble sacrifice.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIn a twisted way, Irene's death saved Claire's life.
But even though she escaped her planned execution, Claire's tin prison was a nightmare of its own-a relentless cycle of humiliation and violence. She endured agony that no human should ever have to suffer. In the end, no matter which way the conspiracy played out, Claire was never meant to walk away whole.
If Nathan and Vanessa's plot had succeeded, her body would have been hollowed out, and they would have gotten everything they wanted. If it failed, and she was sent to prison, she'd still be tormented-targeted by Jarrod and Karin, who believed the lies, and left at the mercy of monsters like Vanessa and Nathan.
Prison becher only "lucky" outcome. At least she survived long enough to walk free, to see the day when the truth finally cout.
But that truth was the cruelest blow of all.
Because five years ago, Claire had only two choices: die as a sacrifice, or live as a scapegoat. During those endless days behind bars, her tormentors made sure she knew exactly who had sent them-the Cole family. She hated the Coles for five years. Yet now, with the truth laid bare, even her hatred felt hollow.
If not for Irene's tragic intervention, Claire would have died five years ago, her body destroyed and discarded. She would have becnothing more than an empty shell, her remains chopped to pieces on a stainless-steel table, Nathan's reputation burnished at the expense of her suffering.
How could she hate the Coles after that? If not for Irene, there would be no "today" for her at all.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIn the end, Irene suffered in Claire's place, and in doing so, saved her life. Claire couldn't even bring herself to resent Irene's parents.
Her heart ached so fiercely it felt like needles piercing her chest, her vision swimming with tears. She thought she'd grown numb after years of neglect and suffering. She thought she was used to being unloved. But now, with the truth glaring in her face, she realized she could never accept it.
Nathan her own father-could be so cruel, so monstrous, as to offer up his daughter's body for slaughter. He'd abandoned her to a lonely childhood in an orphanage, and when she finally returned to the Linwood family, she was met only with cold indifference. Eighteen years of misery, and Nathan never once cared. Now, he'd even been willing to see her die for his own gain.
She was his flesh and blood. How could a father like Nathan exist in this world? What kind of darkness had Nathan grown up in, to becso utterly heartless? What crhad she committed to deserve being made a scapegoat in someone else's twisted plot?
In that moment, Claire almost felt grateful-grateful she'd been abandoned as a child. If she'd grown up in the Linwood household, would she have turned out as ruthless as Vanessa, or as naive as Ethan? Neither cruelty nor stupidity was what she wanted for herself. All she'd ever wished for was a simple, ordinary life. Why was that so impossible?
This conspiracy had destroyed not only her life, but Irene's as well, om dragging the Cole the Cole family into endless drasuddenly, Claire could no longer hate them. In fact, she felt she owed them a debt she could never repay.
The Coles had once been a happy, prominent family. Now, their daughter was left a vegetative m state-awake, but her body permanently weakened, her future cut short. Their bright, promising son was ruined, manipulated by Vanessa and now facing charges himself. All of it, collateral damage in a schthat spared no one.
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