Chapter 268 Tear Off Your Hypocritical Mask

Chapter 268 Tear Off Your Hypocritical Mask

"Don't talk nonsense! Cynthia is not that kind of person at all!"

Hugh stood up angrily, glaring at Emily with fury in his eyes. "Why are you framing Cynthia?"

Emily spoke through her tears, "I know I don't mean as much to Hugh as Cynthia does, but so many people saw me fall down the stairs. How could that be fake?"

"I really didn't mean any harm. I just came over to congratulate Cynthia!"

Hugh was furious and turned to look at Ethan for help.

Ethan stepped forward, frowning. "Emily, the Lockhart family never taught you to lie. The way you're acting is very disappointing to all of us."

Emily had grown up with Ethan. If you asked which of the five brothers treated Emily best, it was Ethan.

Now, seeing the disappointment and coldness in Ethan's eyes, her heart was deeply wounded.

She didn't want things to turn out this way either, but why—why was she the one who fell down the stairs, why was she already in so much pain, yet Randolph and Beatrice and everyone else still took Cynthia's side and blamed her!

Emily refused to accept it. She couldn't accept it!

She hated Cynthia to death!

"I really didn't lie." Emily cried until her eyes were completely swollen. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead from the pain, her hair stuck to her scalp, and she looked completely miserable.

"Ethan, please believe me, okay?"

Emily crawled painfully to Ethan's feet. "Ethan, you used to care about me the most. When I was little, you'd buy me the most beautiful princess dresses in the world. No matter how busy you were, you'd come to my sports days to cheer me on. Whatever I wanted to eat, you'd search the whole world to find me the best one."

The more Emily recalled, the more her heart ached.

"But ever since Cynthia came back, everything changed. You never took the initiative to care about me anymore."

Listening to Emily's words, Ethan only grew more disappointed.

He had clearly talked with her heart-to-heart last time, and she had said she understood. Now she was crying and complaining in front of all these people—her purpose was already very obvious.

Watching the kind and innocent little girl from years ago turn into someone filled with jealousy, Ethan knew there was no saving her.

Thinking back on everything that had happened before, he suddenly understood—Emily had tried to frame Cynthia many times, but Cynthia was smart and managed to resolve it each time.

Ethan reminded her coldly:

"Everything you mentioned should have been Cynthia's all along."

"You took eighteen years of love that belonged to her, so there's nothing wrong with us making it up to her. Besides, the Lockhart family never mistreated you. You're the one living in your own resentment, unable to move on."

"Emily, I really didn't think you were this kind of person."

Ethan's final sigh fell heavily on Emily's heart like a boulder, making it hard for her to breathe.

She felt Ethan's disgust, and that feeling made her despair.

Even before, when Ethan was just biased toward Cynthia, he had never looked at her with such heartless eyes.

Emily's heart ached, but she had no way back now.

Since she had already lost her family's love, she would destroy Cynthia, too—only then would she be satisfied!

Emily pitifully wiped her tears. Her appearance now formed a stark contrast with Cynthia's earlier, who had been exquisite under the spotlight, wrapped in love.

Anyone who didn't know the truth would feel sympathy for Emily.

"Mr. Ethan Lockhart." Someone from the guests couldn't stand it anymore and walked up to Ethan. "Even if Emily isn't the Lockhart family's biological daughter, you shouldn't be so cruel to her."

"That's right." Someone else stepped forward. "She's innocent, too. She didn't know about being switched. Finding out that the parents she'd known for over ten years aren't her biological parents must have been a huge blow to her. Not only does she not hold it against you, but she even came to congratulate Ms. Lockhart's return. Such a kind girl shouldn't be treated this way."

A cool, clear female voice slowly emerged from the crowd.

"She doesn't hold it against us?"

Cynthia had come down from the elevator on the other side and had also stopped by the security room.

She stood in front of Emily, facing everyone, her expression calm as water.

"What if she tried to kill me first?"

Everyone was shocked to hear this.

Cynthia nodded to a staff member nearby, and a video slowly appeared on the big screen.

A woman in a work uniform was sneaking around with several water bottles, the thick transparent liquid inside sloshing around. She walked to the staircase on the second floor and poured everything from the bottles onto the stairs.

Then she looked around and hid in a corner.

Although her cap was pulled very low and her eyes couldn't be seen clearly, you could tell from the direction her head was facing that she kept staring at the room where Cynthia was changing clothes.

When Cynthia came out, she couldn't wait to follow her.

"If anyone's interested, you can try the stairs. Crystal glass material plus essential oil—anyone who steps on it will fall hard."

Some curious guests actually tried walking up, and before they'd taken a few steps, they nearly fell.

Luckily, they hadn't gone far, so they didn't get hurt.

"There really is oil on the floor! My God, it's so slippery!"

"If Ms. Lockhart had walked down from up there, and she was wearing high heels—even if she didn't die, she'd be disabled!"

Emily's tears had completely dried on her face. She had already anticipated that Cynthia would check the surveillance.

"That's not me!" Emily said what she had prepared. "Cynthia, you can't frame me just by saying that woman in the video, whose face can't even be seen clearly, is me!"

Emily cried, "I'm already miserable enough! Why do you still want to slander me? What did I do to you to make you hate me so much?"

Cynthia quietly watched Emily's performance.

"You overlooked too many details." Cynthia waited until Emily had said everything she wanted to say, then delivered the final blow. "You probably don't know that to work as a server here, for uniformity and appearance, everyone must have the same hair color. So all the servers here have their hair dyed the same dark brown, but the server in the video has highlighted hair—and it's the same as yours."

Emily's heart sank.

How did she not think of that!

She had just gotten this highlighted hairstyle done a few days ago! So the color was especially noticeable.

"And also..."

Cynthia always paid attention to details. She paused the video at the part where the oil was being poured, then enlarged the image, focusing on the hand holding the water bottle.

"Roselle's latest ring, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. May I ask which server here could afford such expensive jewelry?"