Seven Years a Shadow: The Stand-In's Escape novel Chapter 86

In the previous life, I occasionally wanted to enter design and art competitions, but Lucas would always shoot down my dreams.

"You’re just a housewife, stop dreaming big. You should spend more time reading cookbooks instead, since your food tastes awful!"

Looking back now, I realize how small, how foolish I was.

I wasted half my life on someone like Lucas, who didn’t deserve it.

For the next few months, I stopped paying any attention to anything related to Lucas.

The next time I saw Lucas was three months later at my MoMA exhibition.

After a day of interviews, I was exhausted.

I was about to go out for a late-night snack with Ethan when I ran into Lucas, who was squatting at the entrance of the art exhibition.

I almost didn't recognize him; in just over a hundred days, he had become so gaunt.

His beard was unkempt, and he looked like he hadn’t cared for himself at all, almost as if he had just escaped from a refugee camp.

But the money I had given him, while not enough to make him rich or famous, should have at least secured his future, making sure he would never have to worry about basic needs.

When Lucas saw me, he didn’t even care that Ethan was still by my side. Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees.

As I listened to Lucas' tearful and remorseful pleas, I finally understood how he had ended up in such a miserable state.

It turned out that after receiving the money I had given him, he didn’t settle down to work hard and rebuild his life.

Instead, just like in the past life, he chased after a dream of instant success.

He invested in stocks and made risky investments, only to lose everything overnight.

Not willing to give up, Lucas resorted to borrowing money from loan sharks, hoping for a big turn of fortune.

The result, as expected, was disastrous.

Not only had he spent all the money I gave him, but he also accumulated an enormous amount of debt.

With tears streaming down his face, Lucas begged, “Sophia, please help me again. You can lend me some money; I swear I’ll turn things around.”

What struck me was that, even now, he still couldn’t face the true reasons for his failures in both lives.

The success he had five years ago wasn’t out of hard work—it was because he had already lived through these experiences in the past life.

He knew exactly which projects would succeed and which stocks would soar.

His life had been like using a cheat code, and he had indeed found success because of it.

But he didn’t value it.

This time, I wouldn’t show any weakness or pity.