The Secret Heir's Return to Wealth and Love novel Chapter 2247

The mist was thickening, swirling with an ominous darkness that seemed to breathe on its own. Wayne peered into its depths, a sense of dread creeping up his spine.

The first time he had encountered this strange fog, it hadn't been dark at all.

He stared into the undulating mist and murmured, "So it was you all along, morphing out of this thing, huh?"

The mist twisted and churned, and as it finally dispersed, there stood another Wayne, a mirror image of himself yet distressingly disheveled. Drenched to the bone, his frame was gaunt, a shadow of his former self.

"Your condition is a reflection of my fear, or the lack thereof," Wayne said, his tone even.

"Condition?" The man glanced at himself and let out a sickly chuckle, "You think I've become this because you're not scared of me anymore? Wayne, love really did a number on your brains, didn't it? This, this is because I'm merging with you, slowly but surely. What's disappearing from me is integrating into you."d2

"Is that so?" Wayne quipped, the corner of his mouth curling into a sneer.

The mist began to gather around the other Wayne again, threatening to engulf him completely.

"Back off!" he snarled, flailing his arms in disgust and shouting with loathing.

His eyes, filled with venom, fixated on Wayne, "Soon, we'll be one and the same. And when that happens, no shrink will be able to tell I still exist. Penn will sign the discharge papers just like his old man Osmond did. And then... oh, Wayne, when the time is right, I'll seize my moment. Just like Ayden did to Betsy, I'll tear Rosalynn apart!"

He paused, a wicked idea sparking in his eyes as he stared at Wayne, "I'll do it in front of your kiddos. Your little girl, she loves to draw, doesn't she? I'll have her use her mother's blood to paint the gruesome scene. Haha, quite the picture, don't you think?"

His words were chilling to the bone.

A wave of rage and terror shook Wayne's composure for an instant.

The fear fed the other Wayne, his surrounding mist quietly dissipating, his sunken eyes filling out slightly. He embodied Wayne's base instincts, his deepest dreads.