My estranged billionaire parents finally came to pick me up. I was on a live stream, dancing, my hair a riot of colors, clad in micro-shorts and fishnets. Just as a viewer was about to send a donation, Tiffany yanked the internet cable. “Have you been whoring yourself out for cash all these years?” she sneered. My parents, hearing this, looked at me with open disdain. My idiot brother, Chad, then lunged, grabbing at my fishnets. “You’re absolutely sickening! How could I possibly have a sister like you? You’re a disgrace!” Not a single cent earned, I was seething. My hand flew up, delivering a stinging slap to each of their faces. “Seriously?! How else do you expect me to pay for Ivy League tuition? Do you have any idea how hard I fought to get into that school?!” A beat of stunned silence hung in the air before Tiffany and Chad burst into sharp, mocking laughter. “You? Ivy League?” “Hahahahahahahahahahaha!” Tiffany’s face was practically splitting from laughter. She clung to Eleanor, my mother, her nose in the air. “Do you actually think Ivy League is like a convenience store, you can just waltz in whenever you feel like it? Chad even had to donate a million dollars to the school just to get in.” “And you?” Tiffany scrutinized me from head to toe, her eyebrows scrunching in contempt. “Someone like you… you’d probably struggle just to get into a community college.” I’m naturally hot-headed; I can’t stand being insulted. I started to roll up my sleeves, ready to slap her again. But a strong hand from behind me yanked me back. “Enough!” A deep, commanding voice boomed, silencing everyone present. It was Mr. Sterling, the renowned billionaire. I’d only ever seen him on the news, never imagining he could be my biological father. His face was grim, his icy gaze fixed on me. His tone was thick with undeniable distaste and aversion. “Delusions need to have their limits. What Ivy League student looks like you?” Just two sentences extinguished the spark of familial warmth that had just begun to flicker within me. A gentle voice spoke next, my mother, Eleanor. “We know you’ve suffered, but one must not lie.” She gave me a quick once-over, then gingerly handed me a credit card. “Use this money to buy yourself some presentable clothes first.” She paused, then added, “Nothing too revealing, you need to be modest. And dye your hair back to its original color, then find a place to shower. After that… after that, you can call me. We’ll leave it at that for today, we’re heading back now.” With that, she handed me a business card and, without a backward glance, looped her arm through Tiffany’s and walked away. The early autumn wind was sharp, cutting across my face like a slap. I’d fantasized countless times about reuniting with my family. But I never imagined that I, a self-reliant, academically excellent, well-rounded student, would be met with such contempt from my own parents. They didn’t even believe I’d gotten into an Ivy League university. Not a single word of welcome, no desire to let me into their home. Tears traced paths down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away, taking a deep breath. It’s fine. Recognize me or not, I’ve raised myself well enough. I can walk my own path from now on. I crumpled the card she’d given me into a ball and tossed it aside. Then, I found an ATM and drained the entire hundred thousand dollars from the card. I found a place to settle down and immediately started looking for a proper part-time job. A hundred thousand dollars wasn’t a huge sum, nor was it negligible, but I still needed to save more. I hustled through the streets, but by evening, I hadn’t found a suitable job. As I sat on the curb, feeling defeated, that extended limousine silently glided up beside me again. My idiot brother, Chad, poked his head out. “Picking up clients on the street, are we? Be careful, the cops might catch you. If they do, the Sterlings won’t be bailing you out.” I instantly exploded. I grabbed a water bottle from the roadside and hurled it at his face. “What about you?! Are you out looking for prostitutes? You sound so familiar with it, you must do this a lot!” Before I could finish, two burly men suddenly appeared behind me, lifted me, and shoved me into the car. Inside, my father, Mr. Sterling, looked at me with a cold face. “I never imagined you’d stoop to such depravity. Now, I’m taking you to a hospital to see if you’re still a decent girl!”
I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that the “hospital” he spoke of would be the basement of the Sterling family mansion. Mr. Sterling, without a word, had his men strip me completely naked, hang me from the rafters, and spray me with a high-pressure hose for an entire hour. Before I could even catch my breath, I saw people bringing in an operating table, and the gleaming leg spreaders made my alarm bells ring wildly. The burly men, without a word, pressed me onto the operating table, my legs firmly secured in the spreaders. A sharp-eyed female doctor, Dr. Holloway, emerged from the shadows. She looked at me with disdain. “The real heiress, getting a body-check on her first day home.” “Tch, if you ask me, you’re just not as good as Miss Tiffany, who was raised in the Sterling family since childhood.” They completely ignored my struggles and curses, shoving the cold, hard instrument inside me. I gasped, sucking in a sharp breath of pain. The doctor, however, gave me a contemptuous look, raising an eyebrow in mockery. “What are you faking? You’re already suffering from cervical erosion, and you’re still trying to act innocent?” Tiffany, who had just stepped into the basement, let out an exaggerated shriek. “Mom! Did you hear that? Cervical erosion!” She tugged Eleanor and Mr. Sterling far away, pulling out a mask to cover her nose and mouth. “Dr. Holloway! You should be careful too! Be careful not to catch a dirty disease!” Dr. Holloway, hearing Tiffany’s voice, immediately put on a gentle, fawning smile. “Yes, yes, Miss. Thank you for your concern.” Then, completely disregarding my grimaces of pain, she roughly finished the examination, throwing a bath towel at me. “Done. Cover yourself. There’s no one here for you to seduce!” Cold, humiliation, and agony washed over me all at once. I shakily grabbed the flimsy towel, wrapped myself, and curled into a ball. I heard Mr. Sterling ask from a distance, “Dr. Holloway, how do we treat this condition?” I wanted to tell them that I’d merely gotten an inflammation from using cheap sanitary pads, and some anti-inflammatories would fix it. But my jaw was chattering so violently, I couldn’t form a single coherent word. “Ultimately, it’s just viruses and bacteria. If you don’t provide them nutrients, they naturally won’t have space to survive.” My heart sank. This doctor was a quack, plain and simple. Who didn’t know basic biology? I tried to stand up to expose her, but I was brutally restrained, dragged into a damp, dark storage room, and locked inside. I overheard their conversation outside. “No food, no water, but she must be disinfected three times a day.” My body violently flinched, remembering the icy, stiff feeling of being blasted by the high-pressure hose earlier. I forced myself up, banging on the door and screaming, but no one paid any attention. They all seemed eager to leave the place, as if I truly carried some infectious virus. For the next three days, they really believed the fake doctor, denying me food and water, only subjecting me to repeated hosing and disinfection. Soon, I was lying in the storage room like a dying dog, barely clinging to life. Tiffany stood before me, arms crossed, a smug smile on her face, enjoying my pathetic state. “Tch, I thought you were so tough. Dared to slap me the first time we met? Now aren’t you perfectly subdued by me?” Suddenly, the scent of food wafted into my nostrils. I laboriously lifted my head, seeing Tiffany holding a tray. “Hahahaha, you really look like a stray dog on the street!” “Want some?” She walked up to me, looking down her nose. “Kowtow to me three times, and I’ll give it to you.” I was sprawled on the ground, too weak to lift my head. Before me were Tiffany’s pale ankles. So I struggled, pushing myself forward, And in Tiffany’s expectant gaze, I opened my mouth and bit down hard on her ankle. A sharp scream pierced through the entire mansion. I heard hurried footsteps, followed by Chad’s furious roar. “Let go of my sister!” Then, a brutal kick landed on my shoulder blade. I cried out in pain, releasing my bite, and curled up on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eleanor tenderly cupping Tiffany’s ankle, then shooting me a glance filled with accusation and resentment. “Mom, I was worried Piper might be suffering. I came to bring her dinner, but she suddenly bit me for no reason. Mom, it hurts so much, will I get infected?” The whole family gathered around the slightly red, swollen tooth marks on Tiffany’s ankle. Not a single soul cared about me, emaciated and trembling, on the side. Before they found me, I’d been surviving on one meal a day for two months straight. Now, after three days of starvation, I was even seeing stars. They called an ambulance, and Tiffany was taken away. As Eleanor was leaving, she heard me cough twice. She turned back to look at me, a hint of awkwardness in her gaze. “Go upstairs and find some clothes to wear yourself. I’ll tell the housekeeper to make you a meal.” “Oh, right, don’t wander around, in case you spread your virus to Tiffany.” With that, she left the basement without another backward glance. I couldn’t tell if I was more heartbroken or more utterly speechless. Either way, leaving was now a certainty.
The housekeeper casually found me some ill-fitting clothes. She watched me like a hawk, not letting me wander, especially not daring to let me even step on the stairs leading to Tiffany’s third-floor room. I couldn’t stand this idiotic and cruel family anymore. I found an opportunity to escape. Tomorrow, my mentor, Professor Davies, had a project starting, and he’d specifically asked me to participate. That was why I was so desperate to earn quick money. The project required going abroad, and the expenses would be significant. I couldn’t burden my mentor, who had already helped me so much. But as soon as I escaped, I ran right into the family returning from the hospital. “Why can’t you ever settle down?” Mr. Sterling scowled the moment he saw me, roaring in anger. “I told you to stay home and recover.” “Once you’re free of that dirty virus, we can talk about everything, okay?” I wrenched my arm free from his grip, staring at him coldly. “Since you think I’m so unclean, then why don’t I just leave?” “You never really wanted to acknowledge me anyway.” Mr. Sterling grew agitated, ordering his men to seize me again and drag me back to the mansion. “Any other day, but not today. We can’t have a scene.” “Professor Davies is coming to our house for dinner tonight!” My ears perked up instantly. Professor Davies was coming! This was perfect! Seeing my stunned expression, Chad snorted. “Heh, you still claim you got into an Ivy League? Your cover’s blown, isn’t it?” “You don’t even know who Professor Davies is! I’ll tell you, he’s coming to take me on as his student today!” I grew even more puzzled. Hadn’t Professor Davies told me I was his chosen protégé? Mr. Sterling forcibly locked me in the attic, cautioning me. “Someone as filthy and unclean as you shouldn’t be seen by Professor Davies.” “If we can get involved in that massive project he’s working on, it’ll be a fortune beyond our wildest dreams!” “You understand how important this is, right?” “Don’t you want money? As long as you stay quiet and don’t cause trouble today, I’ll give you twenty thousand.” I remained silent, then agreed. A faint sense of glee bubbled up inside me. I hadn’t realized Professor Davies commanded such respect, making even a billionaire like Mr. Sterling nervous. The attic door was locked. I quietly waited for the commotion downstairs. After an unknown amount of time, a familiar voice drifted up from below. “Mr. Sterling, it’s getting late, I can’t stay much longer.” I immediately sprang up, pulling out the paperclip I’d hidden in my sleeve. In a few quick movements, I picked the lock. I tiptoed downstairs, listening to the Sterlings’ fawning flattery towards Professor Davies, all the while calculating how to make them pay. As I reached the corner of the dining room, Professor Davies’ hearty laughter reached my ears. I took a step forward, about to call out to him, But a pair of hands from behind clamped over my mouth, dragging me into the backyard. Tiffany brutally pushed my head under the swimming pool water. My mouth and nose filled with water. Just as I felt I was about to drown, Tiffany released me. I gasped and choked, coughing violently at the edge of the pool like a half-drowned rat. Tiffany leaned close to my ear, her voice venomous. “You, you will not ruin my life.” “I’m telling you, everything in the Sterling family belongs to me!” “You filthy Trailer Trash Girl, you’d better know your place.” “If this project goes through today, I’ll be a respected heiress nationwide.” “You dirty woman, don’t you dare try to ruin everything for me!” Before I could respond, a familiar voice cried out in alarm nearby. “What are you doing here?!” I struggled to lift my head, seeing Professor Davies standing a short distance away, his eyes filled with concern.
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