Chapter 469: Chapter 469: I Have No Such Stupid Brother
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Logan Lockhart shot up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Jessica Lockhart was stunned, too. ’So after all this time, not only has our stupid little brother been a backup lover, he’s also gotten the wrong person?’ It was so ridiculous, she had to laugh.
"What’s so impossible about it?" Arabella Donovan gave Logan Lockhart a look like he was an idiot. "Have you forgotten how you and your long-lost Lover reconnected after all that time?"
As soon as Arabella said this, the struggle in Logan Lockhart’s eyes became more apparent.
He had reunited with Annie at a private cocktail party. They had bumped into each other by accident, and the champagne in Logan Lockhart’s hand had spilled all over Guinevere Rhodes’s dress, embarrassing her in front of everyone.
Logan Lockhart felt terrible and offered to compensate her. Guinevere Rhodes refused and even comforted him, saying it was just an accident. This made Logan Lockhart develop a good impression of her.
Of course, at the time, his good impression had nothing to do with romantic feelings. He simply thought she seemed like a decent person worth getting to know.
Because of this small accident, the two of them got in touch.
As they spent more time together, their relationship grew warmer. Finally, when he unexpectedly learned that Guinevere Rhodes was the Annie he had been searching for for so long, everything simply fell into place.
Before this, Logan Lockhart had never even considered the possibility that Guinevere Rhodes wasn’t Annie. Now that Arabella had pointed it out, he suddenly felt a jolt for some reason, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Thinking back on the details of how they reconnected, he realized that she had never once explicitly admitted to being Annie.
Whenever he brought up their time together in the game, she would be vague or awkwardly change the subject. And before now, he hadn’t noticed at all, as if something had completely blinded him!
Arabella Donovan saw the change in his expression, her eyes glinting. "It looks like you already have your answer."
Logan Lockhart pressed his lips together and said hoarsely, "Guin... No, Miss Rhodes... she really did give me a different feeling from the Annie I knew back then. But she could clearly state our in-game names, and she knew some of the things that happened between us in the game..."
It was precisely for this reason that, when faced with this somewhat unfamiliar Lover, Logan Lockhart had subconsciously deceived himself. He’d thought she was different because time had passed and things had changed. People don’t stay the same forever, just as he himself was no longer the person he used to be.
Hearing this, Arabella laughed. "What’s so difficult about that? All it would take is for your precious darling to have shared stories about your time in the game with someone close to her. And if that person then spread those stories around, it wouldn’t be hard at all for someone to find out everything you just mentioned."
At this, Arabella raised an eyebrow and said meaningfully, "You two connected through a game. After you met again, you never thought about going back into the game to relive old memories? Revisit old places?"
Logan Lockhart froze. "Miss Rhodes said she quit gaming for a long time back then because of some things that happened. The account had been inactive for ages. She said she wanted to keep that account and everything that happened in it as a beautiful memory, sealed away forever, so..."
"...So she said that, and you just believed her. You went along with her wishes, never logged into that game again, and never bothered to verify anything with her."
"I was just worried about bringing up her painful past. You know, trying to be considerate..."
Arabella Donovan: "..."
Everyone: "..."
Logan Lockhart felt his skin crawl under everyone’s palpable stares. He stammered, "Wh-what is it?"
Jessica Lockhart rubbed her temples in frustration, looking thoroughly exasperated. "Did Mom and Dad use up the entire family’s supply of intelligence when they had me, leaving absolutely none for you when you came along?"
"Sis..."
"Don’t call me ’Sis.’ I don’t have a stupid little brother like you."
Jessica Lockhart had already figured out the gist of it from their short conversation. After glaring at her brother, she quickly turned to Arabella Donovan to confirm. "Are you saying that this woman, Rhodes, isn’t the girl my brother fell for all those years ago? That she’s just an impostor who somehow found out the details of my brother’s past with that girl and deliberately got close to him? Is that what you mean?"
"Correct."
Jessica Lockhart’s eyes lit up. Amidst her anger, she was actually a little excited. "Then who is the girl who single-mindedly helped my brother get through his lowest point? Can we still find her?"
"Well..." Just as Arabella was about to say something, her phone suddenly vibrated.
Arabella glanced at the screen, then quickly raised a hand to signal for Jessica to wait.
She then opened the message and picture someone had sent her. She stared at the person in the photo for a long moment, and her expression changed drastically.
"This is bad!"
"What’s wrong?" Seeing the strange look on Arabella’s face, Eloise Donovan quickly stepped forward to ask.
Arabella shook her head at her, then turned to Logan Lockhart. "Your *real* Lover is in danger. We have to go save her now, or it’ll be too late."
"?!?!"
Logan Lockhart was completely dumbfounded. He had just learned that the Lover he’d cherished, the apple of his eye, was very likely a fake. The idol he had worked so hard for, pouring his heart and money into pleasing, was a fraud.
He hadn’t even wrapped his head around the situation or figured out who his *real* idol was, and now he was being told that she was in trouble?!
After saying this, Arabella started giving orders. "Mr. Sherwood, go down and get the car. Mr. Lockhart, help me look up some information."
"Go on, what information?"
"Is there a female employee at your company named Yvette Chandler?"
Jessica Lockhart frowned, the name vaguely familiar. "I think there is someone by that name."
"Yes! She’s an employee in my department. She took the day off today." The speaker was Logan Lockhart. It seemed he had finally put two and two together. He looked at Arabella anxiously. "Why are you looking for her? You just said Annie’s in danger, and now you’re asking about her. Don’t tell me..."
"It’s exactly what you’re thinking. This Miss Yvette Childs is the person you connected with in the game, the one you’ve been so desperate to find: Serene River."
Logan Lockhart swayed on his feet. "It’s her? How could it be her?"
"She’s in great danger right now. Guinevere Rhodes knows she exists. She’s worried that with Yvette hanging around under your nose, the truth about you two will come out sooner or later, so she’s sent people to ’take care’ of her. We have to go save her right now. If we’re late, you might never see her again."
"What?"
"Are you a broken record? All you do is ask ’what?’ and you don’t do a damn thing. Since she’s an employee in your department, hurry up and pull up her file! Find out where she lives!"
It had to be said, when it came to a crisis, his older sister Jessica Lockhart was far more reliable.
Getting yelled at like that finally snapped Logan Lockhart to his senses. He scrambled out of the office to find the file.