Chapter 477: This Melodrama Is Happening to Me

Chapter 477: Chapter 477: This Melodrama Is Happening to Me

In the next second, however, Mila was restrained by the two police officers behind her.

Victoria Ford looked up at Mila, then at the two officers standing behind her, and finally shook her head, signaling for her to stop struggling.

Ultimately, Mila relented and let herself be handcuffed.

Due to Naomi Rivers’s physical condition, the two police officers guarding her found a clean, flat patch of ground and brought a chair over for her to sit on.

That was the extent of the consideration, however. Naomi Rivers was not permitted to make any other movements.

"Captain Keller, we’ve completed a preliminary sweep of the scene. The condition of all the deceased is identical: their bodies are rigid, their faces are cyanotic, and they were foaming at the mouth. Our initial assessment is poisoning. However, determining the specific type of poison will require an autopsy and further forensic analysis.

Additionally, we’ve searched the entire kitchen but found nothing suspicious. The poison was likely disposed of beforehand." An officer trotted over to Evan Keller to report his findings.

Evan Keller nodded, his gaze sweeping over the entire scene.

’To kill everyone in the village at once... poison is the only explanation.’

’But what kind of poison? Where was it administered? Is any of it left? These were all questions that needed answers.’

"Right, got it. Contact the local precinct again and ask for their ETA," Evan Keller ordered.

"Roger that!"

Sean Hughes’s thoughts turned to Naomi Rivers. He walked over to Evan Keller’s side and murmured a few words, then went over to Naomi, pulling up a chair to sit beside her.

"Naomi Rivers, can you tell me what happened?" Sean Hughes asked, his voice gentle. He looked at the woman before him, who appeared to have aged by more than a decade. "The file I have says you’ve changed your name. Your appearance is different, too."

Perhaps sensing her distrust, Sean Hughes added, "I’m a police officer. You can trust me."

Naomi Rivers said nothing, merely lowered her head and stared at her belly.

Sean Hughes didn’t press her. He simply sat in front of her, waiting quietly.

After several minutes, Naomi Rivers finally looked up. She stared at Sean Hughes and asked, "I saw you carry that woman out of the cellar."

"That’s right. She’s severely injured, and she has two gruesome scars on her cheeks.

We couldn’t find any identification on her, and she hasn’t regained consciousness, so we have no way of knowing who she is right now." Sean Hughes nodded, giving a factual summary of the woman’s condition.

Because they had already reported the crime, they couldn’t just transport the victim themselves. They had to wait for officers from the local precinct to arrive and take her into their care.

Hearing Sean Hughes describe the woman’s injuries, a smile spread across Naomi Rivers’s face. "I did that."

"What?" Sean Hughes stared at Naomi Rivers, his expression stunned.

His stunned expression seemed to please Naomi Rivers.

The smile on Naomi Rivers’s face grew wider. "I did that.

Last night, I put a heavy dose of sleeping pills in her food. Then I found an iron rod and used it to break her legs—shatter them. After that, I used a knife.

"Do you know, Sean Hughes? Listening to her scream in agony, begging me to spare her... I was so happy. It’s the happiest I’ve been in six years!"

A cold sweat trickled down Sean Hughes’s back. The stunned look was still frozen on his face when, before he could speak, Naomi Rivers asked another question. "Do you remember my story?"

"...I remember," Sean Hughes said, his expression turning wry. "You grew up in an orphanage. You only made it through high school thanks to donations from good Samaritans."

’Back in high school, Sean Hughes had already decided what he wanted to do. He was going to be a police officer, so he spent all three years studying hard and working out.’

’He was merely on nodding terms with most of his classmates.’

’His main impression of Naomi Rivers came from the summer after the college entrance exams, when he heard the news that she’d found her biological parents.’

’Naomi Rivers’s biological parents were wealthy. To make it up to their daughter, they decided to send her abroad to study, after which she would return home to a life of comfort.’

’Sean Hughes remembered being happy for her at the time. But soon after, he was immersed in his own training, and since they had no contact, the memory gradually faded.’

’Now that Naomi Rivers was asking, Sean Hughes quickly dredged up those details from the depths of his memory.’

Hearing Sean Hughes’s summary, Naomi Rivers lifted her chin. She glanced toward the other woman, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You might not believe it, but the whole real-daughter-versus-fake-heiress drama? It happened to me.

"That woman’s name is Selene Rivers. After I went missing as a child, my biological parents adopted her from an orphanage. They raised her as their own for more than a decade—right up until they found me again after the college entrance exams."

As Naomi Rivers told her story, Sean Hughes finally understood what had really happened to her.

Naomi Rivers was the family’s eldest daughter. Her parents were business owners with a fair amount of money, and they had eagerly awaited the birth of their first child.

For the first two years, Naomi and her family lived a happy life. But that changed in an instant.

One day, while out with her grandmother, Naomi fussed until she was allowed to walk on her own. In the bustling crowd, the two were separated.

She was so little that she just followed the flow of people, with no idea where she was going. She was even swept along onto a public bus.

By the time she got off, someone noticed the unaccompanied little girl and assumed she had been deliberately abandoned.

But this person was in a hurry and didn’t want to get involved, so they simply dropped Naomi Rivers off at the nearest orphanage.

Being so young, she couldn’t remember her parents’ names, phone number, or address. The orphanage assumed she’d been abandoned and took her in.

The orphanage was poorly managed back then. To make matters worse, there was a change in director, and the facility itself relocated.

By the time Naomi’s biological parents came looking, the entire orphanage was gone.

To console his wife and mother, Mr. Rivers decided to adopt a girl of a similar age from a nearby orphanage, even as he continued the search for his own daughter. That adopted girl was Selene Rivers, the woman now lying just a short distance away.

And everything changed after Naomi Rivers finished her college entrance exams.

Naomi Rivers knew that now that she was an adult, the charity of strangers would end. So, she started working at a factory to save up for tuition and living expenses.

During her second week at the factory, she came face-to-face with Mr. Rivers, who was there on an inspection tour.

"I look a lot like Mrs. Rivers, so he recognized me at a glance."