- 12.
The principal arranged everything for our
departure. She and Ryan were the only ones
who truly cared about me.
Before we left, the principal and I talked all
く
night. She had seen Ryan’s feelings for me,
but she reassured me that even if we didn’t
end up together, I would always be her
daughter.
At college, I severed all contact with the
Evans family, although they continued to use
the bank card. I heard snippets of news from
old friends. Things hadn’t gone well for them.
Lily’s eye condition had flared up during her
art school entrance exam. This time, without
me to steal from, she had switched her paper
with another student’s – a student who
happened to be the child of the chief
examiner. Lily, with her usual manipulative
tactics and her father’s influence, had
managed to cover it up initially. But the truth
came out. Lily was disqualified, and my
father’s reputation in the art world.
Г
The scandal cast doubt on all of Lily’s
previous work, raising suspicions that she had
been using ghost artists all along. Her image
as a fragile, talented prodigy crumbled.
People who had bought her art demanded
refunds.
Ironically, my father, once so enamored with
his adopted daughter, seemed to wake up
from his Lily–induced delusion, no longer
rushing to her defense. Perhaps he had only
ever loved the prestige that came with raising
a gifted, albeit sickly, artist.
Unable to cope with the fallout, Lily and David
moved out of the Evans house and soon
announced their engagement. David sent me
an invitation, but I wasn’t about to send them
a dime, let alone fly across the ocean for
