Bye-bye Trash! Hello Queen! novel Chapter 275

Jerome lowered his head, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't say a word. The deception had been so obvious, yet he had never seen it. Joanna had manipulated Natalie, the sister who had been brought back from the countryside. Proud and raised in wealth, he had seen his sister as an embarrassment, a stain on their family. But what had Natalie ever done wrong? She was the victim of a mistake. If she hadn't been switched at birth, she would have been just as outstanding. No, she was outstanding; they had just refused to see it. They had all been caught in Joanna and Nathan's web, deliberately spoiled and ruined, raised to be arrogant and superficial.

Zenobia's words echoed in his mind: "Jerome, you are a complete and utter idiot. I will never love a worthless idiot like you again."

He thought Natalie was the embarrassment, but now he saw that he was the one who was a disgrace.

Joanna had framed Natalie time and time again, and with each incident, their judgment had become more skewed. Disgust was contagious. When everyone around you dislikes someone, you assume it's because that person is genuinely terrible. Only now did he understand how much it hurt when the knife was turned on him.

He remembered the lonely, helpless look in his sister's eyes when she was framed. He'd always thought she was just playing for sympathy. But now he knew her pain was real. Her own mother didn't believe her, and her brothers bullied her. He didn't deserve to be her brother. No wonder she hadn't mentioned her medical skills to him, even though she could heal someone with worse injuries than his.

Wendy watched her son weep in silence. "Without the shares I gave you," she continued, "if I were to fall one day, what would you do? You know nothing but racing."

Jerome gave a bitter laugh. "I'm not a fool anymore, Mom. Three days before the race, Natalie's design suddenly ended up with Verna. The only person who could have accessed my phone was Joanna. She's the only one who knew my passcode. I see it now. She wanted to turn me and Natalie completely against each other, so she could frame Natalie for my accident. It's a good thing Natalie found out ahead of time and foiled her plan."

Wendy's heart ached. "Natalie cared about us so much. That's why she never exposed Joanna. She loved this family, so she endured it all just to keep the peace. But the last time, when Joanna staged her own kidnapping to frame her, we all turned on her and disowned her. We utterly destroyed her love for us. We were so blind."