From His Fake Wife to Billionaire Heiress Chapter 213: A Father's Curse

"What's wrong with you?" Riley walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down casually.

Anne looked up, visibly relieved to have someone to vent to. "Don't even ask—just the worst luck! I was walking around the neighborhood, hoping to chat with some locals, when this creep came out of nowhere. He grabbed my hand and started calling me 'wifey'! It was so gross. I couldn't shake him off—he kept touching my hand, and it felt all slimy. I've washed my hands like eight times since I got back and I still feel dirty."

As she spoke, Anne squeezed another large dollop of hand sanitizer into her palms and scrubbed furiously, not bothering to hide her disgust.

Riley raised an eyebrow. So Anne had run into the same guy—and it sounded even worse for her, since he'd actually laid hands on her.

Anne was still scrubbing aggressively when the office door opened again. Calvin stepped in, looking thoughtful.

He entered, glanced at Anne—who was still fuming—then at Riley, before speaking up. "Ms. Harper, Anne... after seeing how upset Anne was, I went to ask around about that guy. Like, why isn't his family keeping a closer eye on him?"

The moment Anne heard him mention the guy, she made a face. "What did you find out, Calvin? People like that shouldn't be allowed to wander around scaring people!"

Calvin didn't respond directly to Anne's outburst. Instead, he turned to Riley with a serious expression. "Turns out... that guy is the son of the current leader of Cedar Creek."

"The mayor's son?" Riley echoed, surprised.

She frowned slightly. How could the mayor's son be in that state—roaming the streets and harassing visitors?

Calvin nodded, found a chair, sat down, took a sip of water, and continued calmly. "Yeah, the mayor's biological son. I also dug up some history about the town and the mayor from back in the day. It might be relevant to our project."

"Oh? Go on," Riley said, her interest clearly piqued as she gestured for him to continue.

Even Anne paused her hand-washing for a moment and leaned in, curious.

"I talked to the owner of the convenience store near the town entrance, and then casually asked a few of the older locals," Calvin explained, organizing his thoughts.

"They told me that about twenty years ago, when the county was starting to grow economically, a developer showed interest in Cedar Creek. Just like us now, they wanted to buy up land to turn it into a vacation destination."

"Someone wanted to develop this place twenty years ago?" Riley was a bit taken aback. She didn't recall coming across any detailed records about that in the files.

"Right," Calvin went on. "Apparently, the developer back then offered pretty attractive terms—much better than what most folks here were making from farming or odd jobs. And at the time, the mayor—the father of that guy we saw—was fully on board."

"He supported it?" Anne cut in. "Then why didn't it happen?"

"The mayor didn't just agree—he went door-to-door trying to convince the townspeople, encouraging everyone to take the deal, relocate, and move into proper housing in the nearby town. Back then, this place wasn't like it is now. A lot of families were struggling financially, and plenty were tempted by what the mayor was saying. Quite a few were ready to sign."

Calvin paused, his tone shifting slightly. "But some of the older locals—especially the long-time residents and a few elders—were completely against it. They said Cedar Creek was land passed down from their ancestors. Every hill and stream had its own history, almost a sacred kind of connection. They believed you couldn't just hand it over to outsiders, or there'd be consequences—that the ancestors would bring misfortune, and the community would never know peace again."

"Superstitious nonsense," Anne mumbled under her breath, unimpressed.

Riley stayed quiet, listening intently.

Calvin continued. "Back then, the mayor was young and driven. He really wanted to help the town prosper and didn't take the elders' warnings seriously. He called them stuck in the past. The plans were moving forward—they were practically ready to sign and break ground... and then, right at that moment, something happened.

"The mayor's son—the guy we saw today—was about seven or eight back then. A normal, healthy kid. Out of nowhere, he came down with a severe fever. He was burning up and passed out. They rushed him to the hospital, and the doctors worked on him for days. He survived, but... there was brain damage. He's been like this ever since."

The office fell silent for a moment. The only sound was Anne's soft gasp.

"Because of that?" Riley asked. She wasn't one to believe in coincidences, and the timing seemed too precise to ignore.

"That's what people around here say," Calvin replied with a sigh. "The mayor and his wife didn't believe it at first. They took their son to specialists, tried every treatment they could find. Nothing worked. Then one of the elders brought up the old warning about the ancestors again. The mayor seemed to change his perspective almost overnight. He linked his son's condition to the development project and became convinced that he'd gone against the ancestors' wishes, upset the natural order, and that his son was paying the price."