What Separates Me and You

"Chairman..." Conrad was startled. Recalling Lewis' words, he didn't know what to call him.

"Your injuries haven't healed. The doctor said you shouldn't get emotionally agitated."

Lewis closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

"I'm fine."

His tone and expression had returned to normal. It was as if the person on the verge of collapse just moments ago wasn't him.

He pushed past Conrad, got into the car, and leaned back in his seat. Then, he closed his eyes wearily.

Conrad glanced at him with concern, but he didn't dare to insist on taking him to the hospital. Instead, he quietly drove away from the manor.

"Chairman Alvarez, now that you've brought all these matters to light, what about the company?"

He wasn't Nancy's son, nor was he Robert's son. If news got out, it could lead to more claimants coming to assert their rights to the Alvarez family's inheritance. Even without those individuals, what about Sophia and Sierra? Would they accept this situation?

Lewis continued to ignore Conrad with his eyes still closed.

Conrad sighed and fell silent. He continued to drive through the rain-sprinkled night. The car soon disappeared into the darkness.

In a certain room, Josephine woke up from a long and dark slumber. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the snowy white ceiling. She couldn't tell whether she was dead or not.

Her memories were still stuck in the heavy snow, but she wasn't at Styx Mansion.

"Ah!" A woman's cry of surprise came from the door, and Josephine turned her head with difficulty. She saw a woman running out. She furrowed her brows and stared fixedly at the doorway.

A minute later, several people entered from outside. There were three doctors, one of whom she recognized as Yannis Halliday. Once they entered, they began to examine her.

Josephine lay on the bed, looking lost. She ignored the doctors beside her and stared at the two figures behind them.

"She seems to be in shock."

"Hmm."

These two people were none other than Kiran and someone who should have already been dead, Seth.

Josephine felt like her brain was about to explode when she saw these two. She couldn't comprehend how or why these two individuals had appeared before her. Weren't they both dead?

At this moment, she was even more uncertain whether she was in the afterlife or still in the living world.

After the doctors examined her, they quickly retreated behind Kiran and Seth. An elderly doctor said, "Mr. Vance, her body is still weak, but now that she's awake, there's no immediate life-threatening danger." Seth had a familiar smile on his lips. He gestured for them to leave.

The group respectfully exited, and Kiran followed, leaving Josephine and Seth behind.

Josephine and Seth stared at each other.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Don't recognize me anymore?" Seth sat down beside her, his gaze fixed on her.

Josephine opened her mouth. Her throat felt dry. After a while, she squeezed out a few words, "Did I ... die?"

"If you had died, wouldn't all my efforts have been in vain?"

Josephine struggled to slip her hand under the blanket and pinched her leg. She felt an intense pain that almost brought tears to her eyes. "I'm still alive?"

"What's wrong? Do you want to die that badly?" Seth took her hand out, revealing the gruesome scars on her wrist.

Josephine stared at him intently. A whirlwind of emotions overwhelmed her heart. She couldn't decide whether she was more shocked or angry.

Seth seemed to pay no attention to her gaze as he examined the wound on her wrist. He spoke casually, "I thought you chose Lewis and planned to live happily ever after with him. Why the sudden change of heart?"

He raised his gaze to look at Josephine. He was smiling, but his eyes were full of mockery.

Josephine's mind was a chaotic mess at the moment, and she couldn't be bothered with his words. "What's going on here? Where am I?"

Seth didn't answer her question but instead focused on her neck. "Where's the pendant I gave you?"

"I don't know."

He furrowed his brows slightly. As if thinking about something, he called out to the door, "Come in."

The next moment, a young man dressed in black entered the room. "Sir."

"Send a few people to Elysium to retrieve the pendant. Don't let Lewis get it."

"Yes."

After the man responded, he turned and left the room. Feeling even more confused, Josephine stared at Seth. "What is that pendant?"

"It's obviously something good. Without that pendant, you couldn't deceive the doctors or the hospital's medical equipment."

The contents of the pendant could

weaken a person's body when inhaled excessively. If someone already had a weak constitution, inhaling it would make their body even weaker. It would cause vital signs like breathing and heart rate to decline.

That was why Yannis couldn't detect Josephine's pulse.

Moreover, the material of the pendant could interfere with mechanical devices. Apart from blood drawing, all other instrument checks would show a thirty percent decrease in bodily functions.

The pendant was a highly

dangerous item because it could

induce a state of pseudo-death

when a person became extremelvet

weakened. Vital signs such as respiration, heartbeat, pulse, and blood pressure would become very faint. It would make the person appear almost dead.

With any minor mishap, pseudo-death could turn into actual death.

While this might sound mystical, such occurrences were not uncommon in hospitals. They had a set of procedures for detecting this pendant, which was used to deceive examinations. Josephine couldn't fully grasp the details, but she was deeply shocked. She stared at Seth in disbelief and asked, "So, you've been planning this since you gave me that thing?" "Yes. Surprisingly, despite my best efforts, Lewis didn't make you throw it away. It seems he cares about you quite a bit."

He pretended to kiss Josephine at that time to divert Lewis' attention.

quarrel over this matter. Lewis wouldn't make her throw the

Seth had foreseen that the net

pendant in the heat of the argument. Otherwise, their relationship would have been even more strained.

Josephine asked, "If that's the case, why did you still lead him up the mountain?"

Seth cast her a meaningful glance. "Don't you understand yet?"

"If I had killed him that time, we wouldn't be dealing with all this now." He chuckled mockingly. "In fact, it was all expected. You couldn't bring yourself to do it."

Josephine stared at him blankly. It was only now that she understood his entire plan.

Killing Lewis would have ensured their peace.

If they failed to kill him, everything that followed would have been Seth's punishment for her.

Josephine was devastated. She wished she could die now. The item inside the pendant intensified the deterioration of her body. She had barely survived that month in pain and self-torment.

Josephine smiled bitterly.

Seth and Lewis knew it. Seth knew Lewis wouldn't kill him, while Lewis knew she couldn't bring herself to kill him.

What role had she played in this power struggle? In the end, she was the clown.

All the guilt and anguish of the past month seemed utterly ridiculous now.

Seth chuckled and said, "You see, I promised to take you away, and I did it, didn't I? Lewis won't find you ever again. He'll spend the rest of his life in pain and torment, which is more amusing than killing him." Josephine turned away, not wanting to engage with him any further.

She couldn't be angry with Seth. Nor could she accept his methods.

Observing her reaction, Seth softly added, "After all the effort to get you out of there, you won't see him again, will you?"