He Chose the So-Called Sister Chapter 285: My Parents Died Because of Him

As long as she wanted it.

Sherry stood outside Yelena's door.

She hesitated for a long time before knocking.

Then Yelena opened it herself. "Come in."

Her eyes were redder than a rabbit's. In just that short time, her face was completely ravaged from crying.

She couldn't even muster a smile.

"About Hector and me—"

Sherry stopped mid-sentence. Yelena's phone was on the table, still displaying the trending topic.

She'd clearly already seen the photo of Sherry beating Hector up.

"You shouldn't have touched him."

Yelena had never spoken to her in that tone or with that look.

Sherry valued this friendship more than anything. In that moment, she couldn't read her at all.

Was Yelena blaming her?

Sherry had spent years preparing herself for this—telling herself she'd be okay no matter who left her. It was the only way to survive people walking out of her life, over and over.

But right now, her heart was racing with panic.

Before she could spiral, Yelena suddenly grabbed Sherry's hand. Her fingers were ice-cold.

"You don't know what Hector's capable of. Anyone who crosses him ends up destroyed. I'm living proof."

Yelena had never looked so broken, like all hope was gone. "My parents died because of him, too."

Sherry went rigid. She remembered Yelena's parents—good people. They'd been kind to her when she was little.

They'd even stopped Sherry's clueless mother from feeding her that toxic formula—the one that was all over the news for poisoning babies. Her mom had bought a whole stash just because the price dropped, which almost killed Sherry.

Yelena's parents were healthy. How could this have happened? "What? How? What happened?"

"Same story as yours, pretty much. You know how much my parents cared about face. The Snyders outranked us.

"My parents thought maybe they hadn't given me enough, that our family wasn't powerful enough. That's why Hector had someone else in his heart. So they started making deals behind my back. Trying to climb too fast. Got scammed.

"They burned alive in the villa. I begged him. I literally got on my knees and begged him to save them. He didn't believe me!

"He kept saying I was just trying to trick him into coming back."

To her dying day, she'd never forget the coldness in his eyes.

Even when he finally realized it wasn't a trick—that her parents were really dead—he just looked a little flustered for a second.

Then he composed himself and said the words she'd carry to her grave.

"You know how slow the firefighters are over there. Not enough water. Private teams are faster. All he had to do was say the word. My parents didn't have to die."

Yelena was talking too fast, her thoughts jumbled. It showed how traumatized she still was.

So that was what had happened to her. That was the pain behind her eyes. Sherry couldn't imagine how she'd survived it.

Sherry pulled her into a tight hug.

Neither of them had a real family anymore.

Sherry's family was still alive, but they might as well be dead.

"So why is Hector here? For Julia?"

"Yeah. Julia." Regret dripped from Yelena's voice. "But I didn't even know she existed back then.

"He's always had someone by his side named Anne—big chest, no brain, obviously."

Sherry had actually seen her before. Something about her look seemed familiar. So she really was connected to Julia.

"I knew Hector would never go for someone like that for real. So I did a lot of stupid things. My parents' death—I'm partly to blame. If I'd just listened to them and divorced him right away, none of this would've happened."

In the middle of the night, she'd lie awake wishing she were dead.

But dying without revenge felt wrong. Only, she couldn't get revenge either.

She'd dreamed of pulling a novel move—getting rich, making a comeback, making Hector pay.

But she couldn't. She was so pathetic. The moment she saw Hector today, all that rage came flooding back.

She wanted to kill him but couldn't lift a finger.

She'd always known this day would come. Just not this soon.

"What I'm most scared of is them targeting you." Yelena suddenly remembered something—a phone call she'd gotten right before leaving Keiperian. "Wait. I think I get it now. That call I got back then? That must've been Julia.

"She said I was too dramatic. That's why I ended up like this. She said, 'Who do you think you are, a lowlife like you daring to touch my man? I'll take everyone you love away from you.'"

She hadn't known it was Julia, only that there was someone like that.