Chapter 1082

The light that was hers reappeared in her life once more, and she longed to hold onto it tightly. Just as before, he had used his warmth to illuminate her entire world. She thought, "Please, light up my life one more time!"

She had been trapped in filth and darkness for so many years. Meeting him again felt like a blessing from above. She finally realized that she could give up all the money as long as she could stay by his side.

Lucas looked at Daphne, her eyes brimming with tears. "So, all this, everything you’re doing right now, is just for money?"

"Yes. I just wanted to squeeze as much as I could out of the Yuan family before they found out, and then make a clean getaway," Daphne replied.

"And then what? You say you want to run away. Where would you even go?" Lucas pressed.

"We could go abroad. Anywhere you want, I’ll be with you the whole way, okay? I can tell Eason I want to be with you, and ask for a dowry. No matter how much they give us, we’ll leave immediately."

"But lies always get exposed eventually. You’re not their daughter; they’ll figure it out sooner or later."

"I couldn’t care less about them. So what if they find out? By then, we’ll already be gone. We’ll disappear somewhere no one knows us, and I’ll make sure they never find me," Daphne insisted.

She gripped Lucas’s hand tightly. "Please, Lucas. I’m begging you. I’ll change, I swear. Little by little, I’ll become better."

Sometimes, she wanted to tear off that false face. She only wore it because no one had ever truly loved her. She hated the person she pretended to be, but now she was already too far gone to turn back.

Lucas stared at Daphne, deep in thought. He recalled how cautious she had been around him recently, how she had tried to kiss him but he had declined, and how she had appeared at his filming locations, claiming that she loved him.

Lucas let out a sigh. "Where’s the real Yalena?"

Daphne, who had just been holding his hand, slowly loosened her grip. "She’s… she’s dead," she said softly.

"How did she die? Can you tell me that?" Lucas pressed.

"I–I don’t know," Daphne muttered, turning her eyes away. She shook her head, looking completely lost and defeated.

Lucas pressed on, "If you didn’t know, how did you end up changing your face to look like her? Did you know her or not?"

"I don’t want to talk about it." Daphne suddenly broke down, her voice cracking. "Lucas, please, stop asking me. She’s dead, she’s never coming back!"

"Did you kill her?" Lucas asked, his voice low and steady.

Otherwise, there was just no way to explain how Daphne had become Yalena. He thought, "Making sure someone never comes back, once and for all, means killing them!"

When Daphne remained silent, a chill spread through Lucas’s entire body. He knew it. He’d been right all along. "So it’s true. You killed her, didn’t you?" Lucas exclaimed, his voice quivering.

Daphne’s head snapped up, afraid he might hate her. "Don’t worry, Lucas. No one will ever find out about me. You don’t have to worry. I’m sure no one will ever know."

Lucas’s anger flared. "What are you even talking about? Just because no one’s found out yet, you think you can just live your life like nothing happened?"

"Do you even realize what you’ve done? You killed someone, pretended to be her, lied to her real parents, and played with their feelings. Stop fooling yourself. Turn yourself in."