Chapter 6
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The ambulance siren pierced the quiet night. The Hermans didn’t even glance my way as they swarmed around the medical staff and rushed to the hospital.
With my cheek still stinging from the slap, I fished out a pack of cigarettes and shook one loose. Just as I was about to light it, an icy drizzle began to fall out of nowhere from the pitch–black sky.
Just my luck.
Carly was really ruthless to herself.
I let out a bitter laugh. The rain mingled with the traces of blood on my face, tasting bitter.
Though we were fated to be enemies in this life, I had to admit that I somewhat admired her ruthless determination.
The scars all over me made her realize that unless she could inflict wounds even more gruesome than mine, the stain of her birth mother alone would never let her truly secure her place in this family.
She wanted to frame me.
Fine, I played along and let her scheme succeed.
The next day, the Hermans returned from the hospital, utterly exhausted.
Samuel was disheveled and haggard. Nora had puffy, red eyes–clearly from crying all night. As for Bryce, the look he gave me was filled with undisguised loathing and icy contempt.
He grabbed my arm and shoved me roughly against the wall.
He said in an icy tone, “Elena, you should be grateful Carly isn’t in critical condition. But she has a concussion, a broken left leg, and three cracked ribs. She can’t even take the SAT.
“We must have been blind to ever bring back an ungrateful brat like you. What Meagan did has nothing to do with Carly- she’s never even met that woman. How could you take your anger out on her? She’s so kind and innocent.
“Listen, you’re coming with me to the hospital right now to beg Carly for forgiveness.”
I nearly laughed in his face at his self–righteous tirade.
“Seriously? You want me to apologize to Carly? Why don’t you have Meagan apologize to me for the eighteen years of suffering she put me through?” I retorted.
Bryce’s eyes held nothing but indifference.
He said, “That’s between you and Meagan–it has nothing to do with the Herman family. But harming Carly? That concerns
us.”
I nodded with feigned enlightenment.
I said, “Oh, I see. Well, guess what? I’m not about to apologize to her.”
Even Nora, who had always maintained her “loving mother‘ facade in front of me, finally snapped. She jabbed a trembling finger at my face, her voice shaking with fury.
“Elena, you are not my daughter. My daughter could never be someone as vicious and heartless as you,” she shouted
I gave another slow nod, as if taking it all in.
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23:12 Tue, 29 Jul
Chapter 6
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Samuel slumped onto the sofa, head bowed, his expression unreadable–who knew what thoughts were churning in his mind?
38
I was done wasting words on these clueless people. Without hesitation, I pulled from my backpack what I’d already prepared -a disownment agreement signed with my name, and a digital recorder.
I announced, “Sign it, and give me one million dollars. After that, we’ll be square. You never really raised me–call it 30,000 dollars a year for emotional damages, that’s 540,000 dollars for eighteen years.
“Consider the rest compensation for my suffering, or money you can use to buy back my life. After all, with all these scars, it’ll cost a fortune to have them properly treated.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” I said, pressing play on the recorder. Carly’s words by the window, the crash as she hit the glass, and her smug chuckle rang out clearly. “My last gift for you, so you can know the true colors of the daughter you raised.”
Nnora seemed stung by my resolve. She whirled around abruptly, unable to meet my eyes.
The living room was thick with a suffocating silence.
Samuel cycled through several shades of shock and resignation after hearing the recording. In the end, he took the agreement and signed his name with trembling hands.
Then he pulled a black bank card from his pocket and flung it onto the coffee table in front of me.
“1.5 million dollars. Take the money and never show your face here again,” he said coldly.
Nora and Bryce both shot him disapproving looks, but he seemed truly resolved to sever all ties with me.
I stuffed the agreement and bank card into my pocket, slung my packed canvas bag–with a few changes of clothes and that little metal box–over my shoulder, let out a whistle, and turned my back on this so–called “home” where I’d spent less than a month yet had seen the true coldness of human nature.
Standing at the villa’s gate, the icy rain pelting my face, I never looked back.
Truth be told, I gave the Hermans chances.
From testing the waters when we first met, to the warning signs at the welcome party, and now this recording, I gave them many chances.
Sadly, once bias took root in people’s hearts, it was almost impossible to straighten it out. I gave them three chances, and in the end, their choices sealed our fate.
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