After all, misfortune never comes alone.

On the way here, Lilah had finally received the results of her investigation.

It confirmed her suspicions, the same as what she had expected. Yet, seeing the photos of Milly's and Adelynn's corpses had been upsetting.

“Adaline Phillips," Lilah said, her voice carrying a mix of triumph and sorrow, “your acting skills are too lousy. Compared to me, you are nothing. You never doubted whether I had stopped trusting you, did you?"

"Then why didn't you expose me earlier? Why did you keep me around for long?"

Adaline sneered. "Did you really have it figured out, or are you just playing games with me?"

“Games? You think I'll do such now that you're already at my mercy?" A wry smile played across her lips as Lilah fixed her eyes on Adaline. She walked to her and grabbed her hair, forcing her to look up at her. "You really have no idea why I kept you close? I made it clear. If you speak on your own, the consequence will be less severe."

Adaline didn't utter a word. She stared blankly as her thoughts wandered.

"Do you have time for this?" Gerard chimed in from behind Lilah. "I've run out of patience."

"Same here, honestly." Lilah took a step back, gesturing for two men, who had been flanking her, to advance.

They positioned themselves by either side of Adaline, tightly gripping her wrists.

Adaline turned to look at Lilah with both fear and confusion written all over her face. "Seriously? Are you not afraid—"

"Carry on, she's stubborn. This will show her that we're not here to play games," Lilah said as she signaled the men with a smile. They proceeded to forcefully remove one of Adaline's fingernails. She yanked her head backward in pain. Strains of veins were revealed from her agony. Yet she resolutely remained silent.

"Keep going until she speaks." Another fingernail was mercilessly extracted on Lilah's ice-cold command. Adaline pleaded, "I'll speak! What do you want to know? Just stop, please!"

"I see. Now it hurts, right? Why keep silent until now?" Lilah stepped forward and gave her a hard pat on the cheek. A smirk crossed her lips as she said, "Since you've decided to speak after much torture, I'll tell you why I kept you close. The reason is that I wanted to know Adelynn and Milly's whereabouts. You've been confidently posing as Milly because you thought I wouldn't find out. Your confidence stems from a certainty that Milly would never return."

"Yeah, so?" Adaline retorted defiantly.

“What did you do to Adelynn and Milly? Did you kill them?" Lilah enquired with a surprising calmness, devoid of the anticipated agitation, akin to a serene pond undisturbed by ripples.

She needed answers. She couldn't bear the thought of Adelynn and Milly buried in some forsaken place. After all, dead people couldn't be revived and revenge couldn't revert death.

Revenge never brought any satisfaction. Instead it replaced a kind of pain with another, birthing a cycle of unending pain.

"You overestimate me! I didn't kill them!" Adaline smiled awkwardly with her hair disheveled. She took a deep breath and continued, "You could have considered where I was at the time Adelynn disappeared. How possibly could I have killed them both? Just a moment, Lilah, you really think uncovering my true identity would make you avenge their death? No way! They died because of you!"

Lilah held her breath when she heard that. She knew the truth.

She was the target. Adelynn and Milly were only victims of their ploy to impersonate Milly and get to Lilah. Ultimately, two innocent people were wasted to get to her.

"Who is behind this? Who killed them?" Lilah tightened her hand around Adaline's neck in a bid to strangle her. She demanded, "Tell me, who killed them? What do you know? Tell me everything!"

"Will you let me live if I tell you?" Adaline struggled to breathe, her face turning red from suffocation. "No, I won't tell you."