The investigators were highly efficient; a few days later, an encrypted file was delivered to the location Julian specified.

It was not a paper report, but a piece of restored and enhanced surveillance video.

The stairwell of the Woods' old mansion had originally been equipped with surveillance.

But after the incident back then, Skylar had wept, saying it was a source of trauma for her and requested it be removed; Ethan had people dismantle it.

The original surveillance hard drive had been treated as useless data and discarded in a corner of the old mansion's warehouse, left unvisited by anyone.

The investigator found it and successfully recovered part of the data.

Alone in a dim room, Julian clicked on the video.

The footage was not particularly clear, containing the noise of old-fashioned surveillance, but it was enough to see clearly.

Skylar and Summer were walking up the stairs one after the other, seemingly saying something.

Skylar was in front, and Summer followed half a step behind her.

When they reached the landing of the stairwell, Skylar suddenly stopped, turned around to face Summer, and said something with a strange, almost provocative smile on her face.

Then, just as Summer frowned slightly and seemed to want to bypass her to continue upstairs—

Skylar’s body suddenly tilted backward without any warning!

She did not slip, nor was she pushed.

Her foot had not even stepped on the edge of the stairs.

She had actively, voluntarily, fallen backward!

At the moment she tilted back, Summer, following behind, showed an expression of shock and, almost instinctively, lunged forward with her hand, trying to catch her!

But Skylar’s hand was faster, fiercely pushing away the hand Summer had extended to save her!

Only then did Skylar follow the momentum of her own backward tilt and tumble down the stairs with a scream!

The video ended there because of the camera angle, but those few seconds at the beginning were enough to explain everything.

Skylar had intentionally thrown herself down.

Summer had reached out because she wanted to pull her back.

Yet she was pushed away by Skylar, who then followed through with the act of being "pushed down the stairs."

"Boom—!"

It was as if a thunderclap exploded in Julian’s mind!

He stared fixedly at the frozen frame, at that eerie smile Skylar wore before falling back, at the pure shock on Summer’s face and her urgently extended hand, at the decisive and ruthless movement with which Skylar pushed Summer away...

So... the truth was like this.

Three years.

Three whole years!

They had sent an innocent girl, a girl they had once held in the palms of their hands and cherished, to prison! They let her endure three whole years of humiliation, pain, and despair in a place devoid of light!

And back then, when she had tearfully clutched his sleeve, saying over and over, "Julian, believe me, I really didn't push her," what was he thinking?

He was thinking: Summer, you have disappointed me too much. How can you still be so unrepentant after doing something wrong, doing nothing but making excuses?

He had even coldly pried her fingers off his sleeve, one by one.

A wave of nausea, even stronger than the last time, surged over him. Julian bent over abruptly; this time it wasn't just dry-heaving—his stomach was in an uproar. He vomited into the trash can until his vision blurred, until he was bringing up acid and his throat burned with pain.

Tears mixed with physiological vomit covered his face.

It wasn't grievance; it wasn't sadness.

It was remorse, self-loathing, and an impulse to wish he could turn back time and kill his stupid, cold-hearted self from three years ago!

He vomited until he was nearly spent before barely propping himself up against the sink. The man in the mirror had bloodshot eyes and a face as pale as a ghost.

He haphazardly splashed his face with cold water, grabbed his phone and the USB drive containing the video, and stumbled out the door.

He was going to the hospital.

He was going to demand the truth from Skylar!

And he was going to tell Ethan this truth!

In the hospital's VIP ward, Skylar was leaning against the headboard, taking small sips of a nutritional soup fed to her by Mrs. Woods. Though her face was still somewhat pale, she seemed much better in spirit. Seeing Julian rush in, her eyes lit up, and she set down the bowl, offering a weak smile: "Julian, you're here..."

She didn't get to finish her sentence.

Because Julian looked terrifying. His hair was a mess, his eyes were bloodshot, his face was deathly pale, and there were even stains on his clothes; he radiated a frantic aura on the verge of collapse.

"Julian, why are you..." Mrs. Woods was also startled.

Julian ignored Mrs. Woods. He strode to the bedside in a few steps and shoved his phone screen directly in front of Skylar’s face, which was frozen on the frame where Skylar pushed Summer’s hand away.

"Three years ago," Julian’s voice was terrifyingly hoarse, every word seemingly squeezed through his teeth, "on the stairs, you fell down yourself. Why?"

The smile on Skylar’s face froze instantly, and the color drained from her skin at a visible rate.

She looked at the phone screen; her pupils constricted sharply, and her body shivered almost imperceptibly.

But she reacted extremely quickly; tears welled up in an instant, sliding down her pale cheeks, making her look wretched and piteous.

"Julian... where... where did you get this?" she sobbed, her voice trembling. "This isn't real... I was so scared back then, I couldn't remember clearly... I only remember Sister seemed very angry, and then I fell... I didn't mean to blame Sister, I was just too afraid, afraid that you would only love her and not want me, the sister who had just come back... I... I didn't do it on purpose, Julian, believe me..."

Chapter Fourteen

"Not on purpose?" Julian began to laugh coldly, a laugh filled with mockery and desolation. He pulled back the phone and clicked on another audio clip.

It was a recording provided by the investigator of an old gardener from the Woods' estate who had long since resigned.

The old man’s voice wavered as he said that on the afternoon of the fire, he saw Miss Skylar surreptitiously carrying a white plastic bucket to the backyard, and later a fire broke out there.

He hadn't dared to speak then, fearing trouble.

"Then your repeated framing of her, finding people to humiliate her at the dress shop, forcibly feeding her protein powder at the hospital knowing she was allergic, and that fire at home..." Julian stared into Skylar’s eyes, his words like cold knives, "none of that was on purpose? Skylar Woods, you truly put on a grand performance! You played us all for fools!"

"What? What fire? Julian, what are you talking about?" Mrs. Woods listened in total confusion, shocked and suspicious.

Skylar’s face turned completely white; even her lips lost their color.

She hadn't expected Julian to investigate the fire as well! She thought she had cleaned it up perfectly!

"I... I didn't... Julian, let me explain..." She panicked, reaching out to grab Julian’s sleeve.

"Explain?" Julian violently shook off her hand with such force that Skylar fell back against the headboard. "How else do you want to explain? Skylar Woods, looking at your face only makes me feel disgusted!"

"Julian Rivers! What are you doing!" Just then, Ethan, who had rushed over after receiving a call from Mrs. Woods, burst into the ward. He arrived just in time to see Julian shake off Skylar. He immediately stepped forward to support his sister and glared at Julian. "What kind of madness is this?! Skylar is still a patient!"

"A patient?" With bloodshot eyes, Julian shoved the phone into Ethan’s hand and pointed at the video. "Ethan Woods, see for yourself! Look closely! Look at this 'frail and innocent' good sister of yours, and see exactly how she fell down the stairs back then! Then look at what we did to her! What we did to Summer!"

Suspiciously, Ethan took the phone and played the video.

It was only ten or so seconds, and he watched it three times on loop.

With each viewing, his face paled further, and the hand holding the phone trembled more violently.

Video does not lie.

The backward tilt, the hand pushing away—it was all clear as day.

"Skylar..." Ethan slowly raised his head, looking at Skylar, who was hiding in Mrs. Woods' arms, sobbing and shivering. His eyes were filled with unbelievable shock and heartache. "Is this... true? You... you fell on purpose to frame Summer?"

"Brother, it's not like that, let me tell you..." Skylar cried even harder, attempting to argue.

"And the fire?" Julian interrupted her sharply. "Do you dare to say that the gasoline at the house that day wasn't bought by a servant you sent secretly? Do you dare to say it wasn't you who set the fire while we were out looking for the 'kidnapped' Summer, and then blamed it on her?!"