Finally,” Camille murmured as she slowly swirled the deep crimson wine inside her crystal glass.
The liquid caught the glow of the chandelier, glistening like fresh blood beneath the light.
A satisfied smile slowly spread across her lips as she imagined Mei’s current situation.
“Mei is exactly where she belongs.”
Odessa lifted her own glass, her smile calm and content.
“In an asylum.”
Camille let out a quiet laugh, her fingertips lightly tracing the rim of her glass.
“I wonder what she’s doing in there right now. Do you think she’s still begging Lucian to believe her? Or has she finally realised no one is coming to save her?”
Odessa’s smile deepened as she took an unhurried sip of wine.
“I’m sure she’s suffering.”
Camille noticed the meaning hidden beneath her mother’s words and slowly turned to look at her.
“What do you mean?”
“I may have instructed them to make her stay a little more memorable,” Odessa replied indifferently.
“If she resists, they’ll restrain her. If she refuses to cooperate, they’ll abuse her. I also told them to give her a few volts of electricity.”
Camille froze, the smile on her face disappearing almost instantly.
“But… she’s pregnant, Mum.”
She had wanted Mei out of the way.
She had wanted her to disappear from Lucian’s life forever.
She had imagined countless ways for Mei to fall from grace, but she had never thought of harming the unborn child.
Odessa remained perfectly composed, as though discussing someone else’s suffering meant nothing to her.
“It will only take care of the baby. Lucian wants that child gone too, doesn’t he? He doesn’t even believe it’s his. As for Mei, she won’t die. She’ll simply suffer a little more. Sometimes pain is the quickest way to make someone lose everything.” She lifted her eyes towards Camille and smiled knowingly.
“Once the baby is gone, there’ll be nothing left connecting Lucian to her. You’ll finally have him all to yourself.”
A faint blush spread across Camille’s cheeks before a smile slowly returned to her lips.
“You’re a genius, Mum.”
Crystal met crystal with a delicate chime.
“Jealousy alone doesn’t destroy someone,” Odessa said as she gently swirled the wine inside her glass.
“It takes intelligence… and patience.”
Camille lowered her eyes, unable to hide the satisfaction on her face.
For the first time in years, she felt as though she could finally breathe.
Ever since she was born, she had lived beneath Mei’s shadow.
Mei was the legitimate daughter of the Zhao family.
She possessed everything Camille never could: the Zhao family name, the rightful inheritance, effortless grace and a beauty capable of captivating everyone around her.
Wherever Mei appeared, admiration naturally followed.
Society adored her without hesitation.
Camille, on the other hand, was Odessa’s daughter, the child born to the wealthy patriarch’s mistress.
Although her father loved and indulged her far more than he ever had Mei, it changed nothing.
The whispers followed her everywhere.
Illegitimate.
The word hid behind every smile, every greeting and every lingering stare.
No amount of affection from her father could erase the humiliation or silence the gossip.
In the eyes of the upper class, she would never truly belong.
She wanted everything that belonged to Mei.
Her name.
Her place in the Zhao family.
The admiration people gave her so effortlessly.
Even the elegance that seemed to come naturally to her.
Then came the marriage alliance.
The Fu family was the most powerful family in the country and the family every influential household wished to be associated with.
Lucian Fu was the most outstanding heir of his generation.
Cold, capable and untouchable, he was the perfect successor to the Fu Corporation.
Camille had believed that engagement would belong to her.
Instead, without the slightest hesitation, the Zhao family handed Mei over to the Fu family.
That single decision turned years of jealousy into hatred.
She no longer wanted Mei to lose.
She wanted her completely destroyed.
Odessa quietly watched her daughter before asking, “Tell me, how do you intend to convince Lucian that the child is his?”
Camille laughed softly before resting a hand over her still flat abdomen.
“I won’t tell him. Not yet. By the time he learns the truth, every piece on the board will already be exactly where I want it. Even if he has doubts, it’ll already be too late.”
Odessa nodded approvingly.
“You’ve become far more calculating than I imagined.”
Camille’s lips curved into a faint smirk.
“I learned from the best.”
Months earlier, mother and daughter had already begun laying every piece of their trap.
“I can’t wait for our plan to take shape,” Camille said with quiet excitement.
“Once it does, that country bumpkin will become the laughing stock of the entire country.”
Everything had begun with a single bottle of wine.
Mei had been instructed to personally deliver an exceptionally rare bottle of Shui Long Noir, a legendary mountain vintage reserved exclusively for China’s wealthiest collectors, to the Fu family’s private penthouse where Leon Fu, Lucian’s stepbrother, often stayed whenever business brought him into the city.
She had been given the address and every necessary instruction, never once suspecting she had already walked into a trap prepared long before she arrived.
The bottle itself was genuine, but its contents were not.
Hidden inside the wine was a colourless, tasteless compound known throughout underground circles as Lóng Mí, Dragon’s Dream, a rare intoxicant capable of causing severe disorientation, fragmented memories and impaired judgement.
Everything that followed had been meticulously orchestrated.
The servants had been dismissed.
The security cameras had been disabled.
Every piece of evidence had already been planted before Mei ever stepped inside the penthouse.
Every witness had already been bought.
By dawn, every carefully prepared photograph, every testimony and every fabricated lie would point towards one conclusion: Mei Zhao had shamelessly spent the night inside Leon Fu’s penthouse.
By sunrise, the rumours would spread throughout every influential family and every upper-class circle.
No matter how desperately Mei tried to explain herself, no one would believe her because they had already witnessed exactly what Odessa and Camille wanted them to see.
Camille slowly lifted her wine glass once again, confidence shining in her eyes.
“No one will question what they believe they’ve already seen.”
Odessa smiled as she raised hers in return.
“To the beginning of Mei’s downfall.”
Camille gently touched her mother’s glass with her own, her smile growing colder.
“To the end of hers.”