1 My mother was a maid for the Diabys. A drunken accident left her pregnant with me. They discarded her and kept me, treating me as their lifelong shame. The legitimate daughter saw me as a thorn, leading her clique to bully me daily. Derek, the eldest son, beat and cursed me at will. On my eighteenth birthday, he tried forcing me to marry an old man. When I refused, he personally dragged me to that man’s bed. Wayne Ashford kicked the door open. He shielded my trembling body with his coat and fought the entire Diaby family for me. He bought me fine clothes and took me to see the ocean. Whenever I cried about my mother being forced that night she simply passed my father’s room, he kissed my tears away, swearing he believed me. I thought I’d found salvation. With nothing else to give, I offered myself as his birthday gift in the dark. As he coaxed me closer, the lights snapped on. My siblings, classmates, and wealthy heirs all pointed at my disgrace. Wayne tore away the blanket I clutched. “You claimed your mother wasn’t a slut who seduced men,” he sneered. “But you are, aren’t you?” His favor was only a trap to grind me into filth. After crying until I was hollow, I called overseas. “Mom,” I whispered. “I’ll come home.” The glaring white light fell over me, pinning my naked body in place. I was like a cheap product stripped of its packaging, exposed for everyone to inspect. Flashes kept going off. Shutter clicks mixed with filthy laughter. “Oh, isn’t this the Diaby family’s illegitimate daughter? You sure know how to play.” “Wayne, impressive. You could actually stomach this kind of goods?” “Hahaha, the sounds she made just now were so dirty my bones went weak.” Those obscene words pierced my ears like burning needles. I curled up, trying to grab the blanket Wayne had taken away, but my fingers caught only cold air. He stood by the bed, looking down at me. His face held a sarcasm and coldness I had never seen before. I trembled, not from the cold, but from betrayal that had sunk into my bones. “Why?” My voice was dry, like sandpaper scraping my throat. “Wayne Ashford, didn’t you say you would protect me?” He let out a soft laugh. It was colder than winter wind. “Protect you?” He bent down, and with the hands that had once gently stroked my hair, he gripped my chin hard. “A maid’s child thinks she deserves protection?” “Get this straight, Tina. Using someone like you as a toy doesn’t cost anything.” A lazy voice came from the doorway. “Tsk. My dear sister, how are you still so naive?” Derek Diaby leaned against the doorframe, a champagne glass swaying in his hand, his face wearing the smile of someone enjoying a show. That face, which looked somewhat like our father’s, was now full of undisguised malice. “You didn’t really think Wayne went against me for you, did you?” My mind went blank. I could only stare at him. Derek walked in and paced around the bed like he was admiring a trophy. “That’s right, we used to be enemies. Couldn’t stand the sight of each other.” He paused and handed his glass toward Wayne. The two of them clinked glasses softly. The crisp sound of glass against glass rang in my heart like a funeral bell. “But now, Wayne is my real sister’s fiancé. We’ve long since turned from enemies into allies. Strong joined with strong.” Derek’s smile grew worse. “As for you…” He pointed at me from a distance. “You were just a bet between Wayne and me.” “A bet on how long it would take a naive country bumpkin like you to treat her ‘savior’ as her one true love.” “Looks like I won.” Louder laughter burst from the crowd. A girl I remembered from high school, who always followed Sylvia Diaby around, pointed at me and shrieked, “I remember her. That’s her. Back in high school, she wore that washed-out old uniform every day. So ugly.” Someone else immediately joined in. “Right, right. I once saw her hiding in the corner of the cafeteria, eating leftovers. I thought she looked poor and pathetic back then. I didn’t expect she’d dare dream of marrying into wealth.” “Wasn’t her mother that maid who crawled into a man’s bed? Like mother, like daughter. Cheapness runs in the bones.” “Exactly. She really thinks she’s something.” One sentence after another. Every humiliating thing about my past and present, everything I never wanted to look back on, was torn open bloody and spread in front of everyone. Those self-conscious, embarrassing memories I had desperately tried to forget had become their most entertaining jokes. I looked at Wayne. The man who had once told me, I don’t care about your past. I only care about your future. Now, he was laughing with those people, enjoying my collapse. So it wasn’t that he didn’t care about my past. He was simply enjoying the process of personally forcing me back into it. Tears burned in my eyes. But I bit my lip hard and didn’t let them fall. I couldn’t cry here. I couldn’t let them see my final humiliation. Supporting my weak body, I climbed off the bed. Ignoring their probing, contemptuous gazes, I picked up the clothes scattered on the floor and put them on one by one. The laughter in the room gradually quieted, replaced by an eerie silence. Perhaps they hadn’t expected me to remain so calm. I smoothed the last wrinkle from my clothes, straightened my back, and walked step by step out of the suffocating room. The hallway was empty. It was as if it belonged to another world from the debauchery inside. I leaned against the cold wall, took out my phone, and dialed a number I knew by heart with trembling fingers. The call rang for a long time before it connected. A gentle female voice came from the other end. “Tina?” It was my mother. Years ago, she had married overseas. Her husband was a wealthy man who treated her with respect, and she became his lawful wife. More than once, she had offered to bring me to her, even to have me adopted under her husband’s name so I could become a legitimate daughter. But I had refused. I didn’t want to burden her. I didn’t want to make her life difficult in her new family because of me. Back then, she had only sighed and said, “All right. Mom respects you. But remember, whenever you want to come back, Mom will come take you home.” I had once thought I would never make this call. But now, I truly couldn’t hold on anymore. “Mom, I agree to come back to you.” The moment I spoke, my voice broke. The other end was silent for a few seconds. She didn’t ask what had happened. She didn’t ask why I was crying. She only said in a voice so steady and reassuring, “Okay.” One word. Yet it was like a pair of warm hands reaching across the ocean, holding up the version of me that was about to collapse. “Tina, send me your address.” “I’ll have your brother pick you up.” I ended the call. That last okay was like a lifesaving straw dropped into the deep sea where I was drowning. Just as I put away my phone, the door behind me opened. Sylvia Diaby, my so-called half-sister, stood leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed. Her exquisitely made-up face was filled with undisguised mockery. “Oh, isn’t this our family’s little pitiful thing?” “What, couldn’t help crying to your maid mother?” Her voice was sharp and thin, like nails scraping glass. I gripped my phone tightly. I didn’t want conflict right now. I only wanted to leave. Immediately. Seeing that I didn’t speak, she grew more interested and walked toward me step by step in her heels. “Why aren’t you talking? Cat got your tongue?” “Let me tell you, crying is useless. What can a lowborn thing like your mother teach you besides climbing into men’s beds?” She stopped in front of me and looked me up and down condescendingly, as if looking at garbage. “Oh, right.” As if suddenly remembering something, she covered her mouth and laughed. “She can teach you how to seduce men harder.” “After all, that’s the ancestral craft of you mother and daughter, isn’t it?” My knuckles turned white around my phone. A metallic taste rose in my throat. But I held it back. I told myself I was about to leave this hell. There was no need to argue with a mad dog. I turned sideways, wanting to walk around her. But she had no intention of letting me go. Smack. With a crisp sound, she slapped my phone out of my hand. It hit the wall and fell to the floor. The screen instantly shattered into cracks, like my already-broken heart. “I’m talking to you. Are you deaf?” Her voice suddenly rose, sharp and piercing. I looked at the black, dead object on the floor. It was the first smartphone my mother had bought me after saving money for a long time. I bent down, wanting to pick it up. Even if it was broken, I wanted to take it with me. Just as my fingertips were about to touch the remains of the phone, a rhinestone-studded pointed heel kicked my shoulder hard. The force made me lose balance, and I tumbled awkwardly onto the floor. The cold marble pressed against my cheek. I looked up. Sylvia stood there, looking down at me from above, a proud, cruel smile on her face. This scene was exactly like all those times in childhood when she and her friends pinned me to the ground and bullied me. So after all these years, I was still the pitiful worm lying on the floor, looking up at her. “Oh, sister, what are you doing? Such a grand bow?” Derek’s voice came from not far away, carrying his usual nauseating frivolity. A group of men and women surrounded him, all watching the show. They looked at me lying on the floor like a monkey in a zoo. “Still haven’t left? Thick-skinned, aren’t you?” Derek raised his brows and sauntered over. Someone in the crowd whistled obscenely at me. “What, not going to lift your skirt and let us see again?” “Tsk. Only letting Wayne see? That won’t do.” Filthy teasing rose one after another. Sylvia exaggeratedly covered her ears, full of disgust. “You’re dirtying my ears.” Then she turned and intimately hooked her arm through Wayne’s, who had appeared behind her at some point. “Wayne, let’s ignore this dirty thing. Where do you want to eat tonight?” Her voice instantly turned sweet and coquettish. The crowd immediately began cheering. “Candlelit dinner! Candlelit dinner!” “Kiss! Kiss!” Amid the noise, I saw Wayne smile. He lowered his head and looked at Sylvia, tenderness almost spilling from his eyes. He said, “Whatever you want.” Those three words were like three poisoned blades thrust into my heart. They left arm in arm, followed by the jeering crowd, leaving only a beautiful and cold silhouette behind. The vast hallway soon held only me, Derek, and a few of his followers who hadn’t left. Derek clearly had no intention of letting me go. He walked up to me and kicked my arm with the tip of his shoe. “See that?” “Only someone like my sister is worthy of Wayne Ashford.” He crouched down, gripped my chin, and forced me to look up. “What are you? A bastard born from a maid, and you dare dream?” His eyes were cold, like a snake flicking its tongue. “Behave yourself from now on.” He let go of my face, stood, and brushed off nonexistent dust. Before leaving, he casually waved at the remaining men like he was ordering servants. “She’s yours.” “Play as you like.” The men immediately revealed malicious smiles. They closed in on me step by step, like hyenas that had smelled blood. I struggled to get up, but one of them stepped on my back and pinned me to the floor. “Why run? Your brother gave you to us.” “Let us have some fun.” A hand shoved me roughly. Flashes lit up, accompanied by shutter clicks and excited howls. Cold, sticky hands wandered. I fought desperately, only to be met with harder punches and kicks. “Bitch. Still moving?” “Ungrateful trash.” Curses and beating sounds mixed together. I felt like my bones were about to break. My consciousness blurred beneath endless pain and humiliation. I didn’t know how long passed before they seemed to get tired of playing. I was dragged like a broken rag doll. My hands and feet were tied roughly, and some unknown cloth was stuffed into my mouth. Finally, the wardrobe door opened. I was shoved inside heavily. Bang. The door shut. The world sank into complete darkness and silence. I didn’t know how long I had been locked inside the wardrobe. When the door opened and blinding light rushed in, I could barely open my eyes. The first thing I saw was my father’s dignified face. Derek and Sylvia stood behind him, waiting to enjoy the show. I rarely saw my father. In this family, he was a symbol, a representation of power, not a father. I didn’t hold much hope that he would punish his precious children for me. But surely he would at least scold them a little. After all, I was his child too. But he only calmly swept his gaze over my miserable state, then turned to Derek and Sylvia. “You went too far.” There was not a trace of warmth in his voice. “If the photos get out, the family’s reputation will be affected. Be more restrained next time.” Then he glanced at me. His eyes were full of undisguised disgust. As if I were a filthy object that brought him shame. Then he turned and left. He didn’t look at me again. My heart sank completely. So he didn’t not know. He knew everything. He had merely allowed it. No. He had indulged it. My father’s support became Derek and Sylvia’s strongest backing. The smugness on their faces could no longer be hidden. Sylvia grabbed me out of the wardrobe with so much force that I staggered. She took out her phone and opened the album in front of me. Inside were photos of me being humiliated yesterday. “Don’t want these photos spread, do you?” Her smile was sweet and vicious. I looked at those humiliating images and nodded in shame again and again. “Sure.” Sylvia sneered. “Then curse your mother in front of us.” “Each curse, I delete one photo.” “No repeats.” I bit my lower lip hard and refused to speak. Seeing this, Derek said nothing and simply swung his fist. Bang. One punch landed on my face. The taste of blood instantly filled my mouth. A tooth mixed with blood fell onto the floor. “Ungrateful thing. Are you going to curse or not?” They continued pressing me. I shook my head. Then fists and slaps rained down on me. Again. And again. Only when they got tired did they finally stop. I lay on the floor, my whole body in pain, my consciousness beginning to drift. Under my hopeless gaze, Sylvia uploaded the photos one by one to social media. As if that wasn’t enough, she shoved the phone screen in front of me and read the filthy comments beneath them one by one. “Haha, look at this one. Says you must be good in bed.” “This one is even better. Asking how much for one night.” “Tsk, tsk, Tina, you’re famous now.” Those filthy words hurt me more than their fists ever could. “Had enough?” A cool voice sounded from the doorway. It was Wayne. He leaned against the doorframe, his expression faint. “Uncle just warned you, and you’ve already forgotten?” “When he comes back, I’m afraid he’ll be unhappy.” Derek and Sylvia looked at each other. Their excitement finally faded a little. Only then did they stop. But before leaving, Sylvia still unwillingly found rope and tied my hands and feet. “Before we come back tonight, stay here obediently.” “If you dare run, I’ll break your legs.” With that, the three of them left together, laughing and harmonious. The door shut. The room returned to dead silence. Only I remained, bound and abandoned on the cold floor. I didn’t wait to die. I wriggled my body little by little toward the desk. Using the sharp corner, I began grinding the rope around my wrists. Once. Twice. My skin tore, blood seeping out, burning painfully. But I didn’t stop. Five whole hours. Just as I thought the bones in my wrists would be ground apart, the rope finally snapped. I broke free. I had to leave this hell. I stumbled out of the house. After so much torture and blood loss, my consciousness had already started to blur. Just as I reached the entrance, my legs weakened, and I was about to fall. But I fell into a warm embrace. “Don’t be afraid.” A gentle male voice sounded above my head. “I’m taking you home.” I struggled to raise my head and saw his face clearly. It was Everett Lin. My stepfather’s eldest son, the publicly acknowledged sole heir of the Lin family. At that moment, a sharp female voice tore through that brief warmth. “Oh, Tina, found another man to seduce already?” Sylvia and Wayne had returned. She looked Everett up and down. Seeing that he was unfamiliar, she naturally assumed he was some lowly nobody. “Where did you find this lover? He looks decent enough.” She spoke with contempt. “Two lowborn things together. What a perfect match.” But beside her, the moment Wayne saw Everett’s face clearly, his entire body went stiff.
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