"If it weren't for this drawing, I would have forgotten you even have a grandmother." Mandy shrugged nonchalantly. "So what if I tore it? Serena, did you really think I would let you go study abroad as you wished? I just can't stand seeing you do well! If you hadn't messed things up before, I would have landed Christian long ago. Why are you so cheap, always trying to steal men from me?"

So she had deliberately lost the drag race to Christian!

"Julian was sent by you to seduce me, and Christian was a prize you offered yourself by losing a race. When have I ever stolen a man from you?"

Serena was trembling all over with rage, her chest heaving violently.

"So you knew all along," Mandy let out a cold laugh, her gaze growing increasingly sinister. "Your cheap, broken state from being played around with—that grandmother of yours doesn't know about it yet, does she?"

"What are you trying to do!"

Looking at Serena’s suddenly pale face, Mandy laughed even more frantically. "I'm going to teach you a lesson, let's see if you ever dare to compete with me again."

Chapter 7

Serena felt her temples throbbing violently, her blood rushing straight to her head.

Her grandmother was her last living relative in this world, and she would allow no one to hurt her.

"What do you mean by that?"

Her voice trembled as she lunged forward, grabbing Mandy by the hair with such force that Mandy shrieked in pain.

The sharp agony from her scalp twisted Mandy's features, yet she still laughed savagely. "What do I mean? You’ll find out very soon."

Before the words could fully leave her mouth, Mandy suddenly picked up a fruit knife and plunged it ruthlessly into her own lower abdomen without a moment's hesitation.

Splat.

The blade pierced through flesh, and blood instantly soaked through Mandy’s clothes.

"Ah!"

She let out a piercing scream, her body slumping weakly to the floor.

Right then, the study door was violently thrown open.

Julian saw this horrifying scene the exact moment he walked in.

He charged over with large strides, pushing Serena away with brute force to gather Mandy into his arms.

"Mandy!"

Serena was shoved backward, the back of her head crashing heavily against the sharp corner of the solid wood desk, a warm liquid trickling down her temple.

Leaning in his embrace, Mandy’s face was as pale as paper, her breath faint. "Julian... Sister Serena tried to kill me."

"I'm taking you to the hospital."

With that, he carried Mandy and walked out, not sparing Serena even a single glance, as if she were nothing more than a piece of unsightly trash on the floor.

The door slammed shut tightly, leaving Serena all alone in the study.

Since Mandy dared to stab herself, there had to be an even larger conspiracy at play, one that might even involve her grandmother.

Propping herself up from the floor, she slowly crawled up and stumbled after them.

The moment she arrived at the emergency hall, she heard a nurse's anxious voice. "The patient is hemorrhaging and urgently needs RH-negative blood. The blood bank has no stock right now. Is anyone in the family of this blood type?"

"I... I know someone..." Mandy murmured weakly from the hospital bed. "Sister Serena's grandmother seems to have this blood type. I heard family members mention it before..."

"No!"

Serena had just rushed to the doorway, and hearing those words felt like a physical blow.

"Absolutely not! Grandmother has always been in poor health, she can't handle having blood drawn!"

Her temple was still bleeding, her appearance utterly disheveled.

Julian’s tone was ice-cold and piercing. "You caused this mess, so it's only right for your grandmother to clean it up for you. Besides, she is an elder. Considering we're getting married in the future, she should save your sister so our family can live in harmony."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone to make arrangements.

"Hey, go bring Serena's grandmother over here..."

Serena tried to rush forward to stop him, but she was held back tightly and dragged away by the bodyguards who had just arrived.

Once Arthur heard the news, he locked her directly inside the family's private room, leaving her to scream with no one paying her any mind.

Finally, as dawn was breaking, the door opened.

She ran to the hospital like crazy, grabbing a nurse to ask, "Excuse me, how is the elderly lady who came to donate blood yesterday?"

A flash of pity crossed the nurse's eyes. "Are you talking about the elderly Mrs. Vanderbilt? She... she passed away just now after failing to respond to emergency treatment."

She stumbled back a few steps, murmuring to herself, her heart feeling as though it were being viciously squeezed by an invisible hand, the pain leaving her nearly suffocated.

"Why... why did this happen..."

A doctor walked over and handed her a sealed bag.

"This is the elderly lady's phone. She suffered a sudden emotional collapse after donating blood, which triggered a myocardial infarction. Combined with the excessive blood loss, we did everything we could."

Serena took the phone and opened it, discovering several read messages.

The first one was sent by Julian’s people.

"If you want to protect Serena's reputation, come to the hospital to donate blood and save Mandy. Otherwise, we will leak her private photos online so she can never hold her head up again."

The next few were anonymous texts, sent not long after her grandmother had donated blood.

"Old lady, don't be a fool. Serena's photos have already spread all over the internet! Look at what the netizens are calling her—'slut,' 'shameless,' 'disgrace of the high society.' Some even say she's worse than a hooker!"

Attached below the messages were several screenshots, all filled with the unbearable insults of netizens.

It turned out they had not only deceived her grandmother but had also cruelly told her the truth right after she donated blood, literally driving her to her death.

Serena gripped the phone tightly, nothing but deep, bone-deep hatred remaining in her eyes.

"Julian, Mandy..."

Holding the phone, she provided all the anonymous text messages inside to the police, then returned to the estate's study to retrieve a hidden pinhole camera.

This had originally been intended to keep track of where she placed her books, but she never expected it to come in handy today.

She connected to the camera's storage device, pulled up the complete video of Mandy directing and performing the self-stabbing that day, and set it to be sent to Julian in five hours.

In five hours, she would already be boarding a plane out of the country.

With everything done, she locked herself in her bedroom to paint a new drawing, her state of mind and brushstrokes entirely different from before.

Once finished, she sent the photograph to the art school abroad.

When she was preparing to board the plane the next day, she received the school's reply.

"Congratulations, Serena. Your work is incredibly moving. We have unanimously agreed to pass your examination. Welcome to our school."

At the exact same time, a message from Julian popped up.

"I'm also deeply saddened about your grandmother's passing, but she saved Mandy's life before she died, and Mandy has decided not to press charges for you hurting her. She even wants to shake hands and make peace with you at her birthday party tonight. For my sake, stop making a scene without reason."

He had caused her grandmother's death, yet he could still act out a play so pretentiously; it was truly sickening.

Serena let out a cold laugh, gave no reply, and blocked Julian's number.

From this moment on, her life would never involve him again.

Chapter 8

On the other side, Mandy’s birthday party took place in the evening exactly as scheduled.

Julian sat on the sofa, glancing toward the door from time to time, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

Seeing that Julian was in a bad mood, someone patted his shoulder.

"Jules, put your mind at ease. That woman Serena is utterly infatuated with you. She even threw away her reputation for you before, how could she not listen to you? She's probably dressing up meticulously right now to give you a surprise."

Another person chimed in, "Exactly. Even if she comes and we didn't get any explosive photos, it doesn't matter. We can just humiliate her thoroughly to ensure Mandy has a good time."

Hearing these words, Julian felt a strange wave of irritation rise in his chest.

Serena's grandmother had just passed away, and given her fragile nature under emotional blows, she might very well be hiding at home crying right now.

"Don't go too far, play gentle later."

Mandy immediately turned her head, speaking with sarcastic jealousy, "Caring about another woman at my birthday party, what do you mean by that?"

She let out a cold snort. "Today, I'm definitely going to make her lose face in front of everyone."