CHAPTER 144: CHAPTER 144: SETTLING BOTH OLD AND NEW GRUDGES TOGETHER

Kicking open the door to the piano room, Sienna saw a woman playing the grand piano in the center of the room.

Sabrina Johnson was exceptionally beautiful, though her beauty differed from Sienna Johnson’s. If Sienna was the most vibrant splash of color in a garden, Sabrina was a touch of pure, understated elegance. After all, she was a cherished daughter of the Johnson Family, meticulously groomed by Mother Johnson.

"Sister, you’re able to get out of bed?"

Sabrina Johnson looked up, surveying the enraged Sienna Johnson, the corners of her mouth curving into a smug smile.

Sabrina had waist-length hair, a delicate, palm-sized face, and perfectly exquisite features. She appeared fragile and helpless, her pitiable and moving demeanor always evoking sympathy and affection.

"Mrs. Stewart, such refined taste. My father hasn’t even passed his first seven days, yet you’re here playing such cheerful music. Mrs. Stewart, people aren’t unfeeling like plants or trees. My father doted on you when he was alive. I don’t expect you to mourn him for three years, but if you must play the piano, at least go back to the Stewart Family to do it!"

"Sienna Johnson, why aren’t you dead yet!" Sabrina spat, hating the sight of Sienna’s face.

Sienna Johnson slowly walked towards her, stopping beside the grand piano. Looking down at Sabrina Johnson from her superior height, she chuckled. "Because you’re still alive! As long as you’re alive, how could I dare to die? I have to see you and Frederick Stewart die first."

"You shouldn’t have come back..." Sabrina Johnson’s long, elegant fingers pressed the black and white keys as she replied softly, "If you are Sabrina Johnson, then who am I?"

"You’re just a sparrow! Even if you wear a phoenix’s plumage, you can’t become a phoenix!" Sienna Johnson ruthlessly ripped away her pretense of being a phoenix.

"Oh, really? But everyone says *I’m* the phoenix, and you’re just the sparrow from the countryside!"

Sienna Johnson’s eyes suddenly turned fierce. With a loud SLAM, she forcefully shut the piano lid, catching Sabrina Johnson’s hand. "AH..." Sabrina screamed, yanking her hand free.

"My hand! My piano-playing hand!" Sabrina cried, looking at her injured fingers, her face a mask of devastation.

"Do you think I went too far?" Sienna asked.

"..."

"Do you wish you could kill me?"

Sabrina’s beautiful, slender fingers were already red from being crushed by the lid; skin was broken and bleeding in the worst spots. The slightest movement sent a wave of pain through them, as if the bones were fractured. "Sienna Johnson, I’m going to tell Mom!"

"Oh, please don’t, I’m so scared..." After speaking, Sienna Johnson suddenly burst into laughter, staring at the pitiful Sabrina Johnson. Her gaze was like a cat toying with a mouse. "Sabrina, since we were young, what else have you been good at besides acting obediently in front of Mom and tattling? ...Oh, I forgot. You’re even more vicious now; you even know how to kill."

Sienna lifted the piano lid again, her index finger sliding across the black and white keys, her expression chilling. Then, she suddenly slammed the lid shut once more with a resounding BANG.

This piano was bought by Mother Johnson at an auction house for a high price, all because her adopted daughter had been praised by some pianist for having talent. When the piano was first brought home, Sienna had wanted to play it too. Sabrina, in a fit of anger, had slammed the lid shut just like this. If Sienna hadn’t withdrawn her hand quickly back then, what just happened to Sabrina would have been her own fate.

Sabrina Johnson looked at Sienna Johnson with venomous resentment. Sienna’s beauty was at its peak, stunning to the point of being bewitching, as if she were the reincarnation of a siren destined to bring ruin upon nations.

"Sienna Johnson, you should have just stayed as Belinda Rafael! Why did you come back?" Sabrina cried out. "You want to take away everything that was originally mine! How can I not hate you?"

"Sabrina Johnson, have you no shame?" Sienna retorted. "What do you mean, *I’m* taking away what was originally *yours*? Sabrina, do you seriously believe that just because you’re called Sabrina Johnson, you’re truly a member of the Johnson Family?

Sabrina, let me remind you: *I* am the true Miss of the Johnson Family! It was you! You stole everything that originally belonged to me!

You usurped thirteen years of love and glory that should have been mine. It would be one thing if you were merely ungrateful, but you even dare to spew such shameless words. Sabrina, you truly are a little ungrateful white-eyed wolf!"

For seven years, the seven years since she had come to the Johnson Family, Sienna had always been repressed, cautious, and timid. She lived in the shadow of Sabrina, who shone like the sun, cowering, always carefully trying to win the favor of her grandmother, mother, and father.

Why?

Why did she have to cower and be timid?

Why did she have to be so cautious?

Why did she have to exhaust herself trying to win her family’s affection?

And yet Sabrina, that impostor, did nothing and received everything that should have been hers!

"So what if you’re the real Miss of the Johnson Family? Grandma, Mom, and Dad all like me, and none of them like you! Sienna Johnson, why don’t you just leave the Johnson Family? Haven’t you realized that no one in this family likes you?"

Sabrina’s words were like a sharp dagger, piercing deep into Sienna’s fragile, sensitive heart.

She wasn’t a fool. How could she not have noticed the looks of regret in her family’s eyes whenever they looked at her? Her arrival hadn’t brought the Johnson Family much joy; even the mother who had given her life made no secret of her dislike.

"Sabrina, it’s true you’re more likable than I am. The Johnson Family raised you for twenty-two years; even a dog would have formed an attachment by now. I’ve only been with the Johnson Family for a mere seven years, so naturally, the bond I have with them can’t compare to yours.

But, Sabrina, do you know what I have that you never will? It’s the Johnson blood flowing through my veins! Even if Mom dislikes me, they can’t deny my heritage."

Sienna Johnson laughed, a bewitching smile playing on her lips. "And one more thing I almost forgot to tell you: Grandma has decided that I will inherit the company!

I don’t know what schemes you and Frederick Stewart are cooking up, but you can forget them. I’d rather throw away everything the Johnson Family owns than let you have any of it!"

"Sienna Johnson, do you think you can hold onto it? Sooner or later, I’ll drive you out of the Johnson Family! Everything that belongs to the Johnson Family can only be mine!"

Perhaps it was because she had Frederick Stewart’s backing, but Sabrina Johnson no longer bothered to conceal her greed and ambition.

"Well then, we’ll just wait and see!" Sienna retorted.

"Fine! We’ll wait and see!" Sabrina snapped back.

Sabrina Johnson got up to leave, but Sienna Johnson grabbed her shoulder, pushed her back down, and said, "Don’t go yet. I haven’t settled the score with you. Last time, you and Frederick Stewart forced me to jump into the sea; I nearly died. Since you two wanted to kill me, I naturally have to repay you in kind.

However, killing you right now would be a bit troublesome..."

"Sienna Johnson, I will never forgive you!" Sabrina Johnson interrupted, her voice a venomous warning.

"That line should be mine, but you stole it." Sienna Johnson pulled a foldable fruit knife from her pocket. As she slowly flicked open the blade, Sabrina watched in terror.

"Sienna, what are you going to do to me?"

"Guess!"