Twisted Ties of Love

At that time, if they googled "Izabella", they couldn't find any info about Ms. Izabella of R City. The first search result was of a celebrity.

Lucas knew that his sister was gone, but every time he heard the name "Izabella", he couldn't help but feel a pang of pain that left him in a daze.

The year Izabella died, he didn't dare to visit her grave, because he forgot their mother's last wish, and kept bullying Izabella non-stop, leading to her early departure from the world.

When Izabella left, the Salotti family was only left with him, with no relatives around.

Usually, it was only after losing something that people realized its worth. He had more than once thought of how good Izabella was in the past.

When she was learning to walk, her first word was 'brother', but he was always angry at her, treated her coldly, even blamed her for their mother's death, and never hugged her when she grew up as he was always pissed at her.

After Izabella inherited the Salotti family, he became increasingly dissatisfied with his sister. He called her ungrateful and cursed her with the cruelest words, hoping that she would fall ill and die.

Later, Izabella really got sick, and didn't tell anyone to keep it a secret. He didn't even know how she went to the hospital and got the gastric cancer diagnosis. He didn't even know when she miscarried, or when she was driven mad by Brett's depression.

What he didn't know even more was that, even though Izabella was deeply hurt by Brett, she still chose to stay by Brett's side, all because of him.

Because Brett threatened Izabella by saying that he would hurt her brother.

It was rather ironic that he only found out about all that from Presley Felton after Izabella's death. Why would Izabella choose to protect him in that way, given how he treated her, and how incapable he was as a brother?

Each time he recalled the past, Lucas couldn't help but shed tears. In five days, it would be Izabella's memorial day.

Time went like a speeding bullet; she had been gone for four years already.

"Mom, I forgot our agreement, I didn't protect her, it's me who harmed her. If she were still here, she definitely wouldn't forgive me, right? Would the one who comes to see you be my sister?" Some people can apologize, make up, and forget when they did something wrong, while others can only kneel in front of the tombstone and repent, tormented by guilt every day.

Every time Lucas came to the cemetery, he knelt for a long time, repenting for the mistakes he made in the past.

"I abandoned her once. She asked me to save her, but I didn't turn around," If he had turned around that time at the casino, fulfilled his responsibility as a brother, took Izabella away, confronted Brett, protected her, then Izabella wouldn't have died without returning home.

Izabella was used to life in R City. How could she adapt to the hot summer and cold winter in J City? Her ashes were scattered in the sea. She was so afraid of the cold when she was alive, why would she think about what would happen after her death?

Many things about Izabella were told to him by Presley.

Since Izabella married Brett, her life had always been very hard. The day her father was convicted, she was not out playing with other men, but was locked in the bedroom by Brett. She was forbidden to use the internet, and her phone was confiscated. She was locked in the bedroom for four full days, and her stomach pain was so severe that she could only fill her stomach with painkillers.

Presley said that Izabella knelt in the heavy rain outside the courthouse for half an hour that day. When she was sent to the hospital, she was all bloody. He washed her stomach out, and it was all bloody pulp. Lucas knew nothing about all of that.

When Izabella was given a critical condition notice, and her heartbeat stopped, Lucas was still outside drinking, and hoping she would die soon.

Lucas knelt on the ground, head down. He believed that it was his curse that killed her.

Lucas looked at his prosthetic right hand, sobbing to himself, "Deserves to be broken, this is the punishment for abandoning her," He then looked up at the two tombstones in front of him, at the photos of his parents on the tombstones.

"Dad, Mom, I really know I was wrong."

On the morning of the 23rd, Izabella and Casey went to Wye. Before boarding the plane, she was wearing a down jacket, but took it off as soon as they landed.

The average temperature in Wye

was 25 degrees, neither cold norContent © NôvelDrama.Org.

hot. Casey had already informed his mother in advance, so they saw people coming to pick them up as soon as they got off the plane.

That was Izabella's first time spending Christmas in someone else's house, and also her first time having so many people accompany her during Christmas. She finally wasn't counting down alone.

Casey was worried that Izabella would not be able to adapt, so he arranged another house in Wye. Once they greeted the Dempsey family and the elders; they could go there to rest. At the Dempsey family, Casey's mother was decorating the room. The just-ordered Christmas tree had been delivered to the yard, and the servants were decorating the tree with lights. There were a lot of decorations for Christmas, and Casey's mother liked colorful ones. The Christmas tree lights, and small decorations had also arrived, just waiting to be decorated. Izabella slept for a while on the plane and didn't feel sleepy when she got off the plane. So, she pulled Casey to help decorate the Christmas tree.

A star was needed to be hung at the top of the Christmas tree, which had to be done on that day.

Both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent with the Dempsey family. Casey's mother was very friendly to Izabella, but Casey's father was always cold to her.

Izabella had noticed that abnormality long ago, but she always pretended not to know.

Casey had a younger sister named Wendy Dempsey, and Izabella had few interaction with her.

The first time Izabella visited Casey's place; she felt a bit out of her element. Maybe she was too conscious of Casey's family's gaze, and everything she did seemed a bit stiff. After Christmas, Casey took Izabella to another house, a world for just the two of them.

One day, after receiving a phone call, Casey just got up and left, leaving Izabella alone at home, engrossed in a book. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Getting up from her seat, Izabella didn't immediately open the door, instead, she peeped through the peephole. To her surprise, it was Casey's Dad and Wendy.

What on earth were those two doing there? Were they there to see Casey? But their faces seemed off.

Izabella didn't think much about their arrival; they were there after all; she couldn't just leave them at the door. So, she opened it.

"Hello, please come in," Izabella greeted them. She then turned to Wendy, nodding as a sign of recognition, "Wendy."

Casey's Dad gave her a cold glance.

Izabella was a bit confused. From the first time she met Casey's Dad, she had felt his hostility toward her. But she had no clue what she had done wrong.

That time, without Bunny Dempsey around, Beck's hostility seemed even more intense.

Beck was an impressive figure, his eyes radiating wisdom and authority, Casey had inherited some of his facial features.

"Would you like some coffee?" Izabella politely asked.

She seemed not at all surprised by his visit as if she had expected all of that. Beck entered the house with Wendy.

Once inside, Beck took a seat on the

couch, watching Izabella make

coffee, his tone was rather

dismissive, "Ms. Salotti, these tricks

of yours might fool my wife, but they won't fool me. I just didn't expect you to win over my mischievous son so quickly, even bringing you back to the Dempsey family in such a short

time."

It seemed that his visit wasn't just for small talk, Izabella stopped making coffee and casually walked over to the other couch to sit down.

"Mr. Dempsey, did you come all this way just to tell me this?"

Beck reached into his jacket and pulled out a check, placing it on the table, "Here's 500,000 dollars; take it and leave my son."