Chapter 1

On the day my daughter was discharged from hospital, the man who assadulted her was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

In the media footage, Cedric Sutton—the man who ruined my daughter's future—smiled hypocritically. He looked exactly like the sanctimonious fraud he was.

"Justice rests in the hearts of people. I believe that everyone is no stranger to gold-diggers like Mia Carson. Though, if she truly were in need of money, I wouldn't be unwilling to help, haha..."

The truth was, our family had never taken a single penny from him.

…

The day after, Mimi's engagement was called off. Her fiancé didn't hesitate to break things off.

His exact words were, "Now that you're no longer pure, do you think... I'd still want you?"

"You could've been a great scholar, yet you chose to do such unspeakable things. Pah, how shameless! If my son were to marry you, it would surely bring us misfortune."

"I've known from the very beginning that you weren't a decent girl. You stink of the vixen you are."

Such was the way of life—gossip from the mouths of others was often the sharpest blades resulting in the deepest gashes.

Mimi only longed to settle things peacefully. That night, she had come to me and wept in my arms, questioning what she had done wrong.

She was wondering why this happened to her.

I gazed into her empty, lifeless eyes, and it drove a dagger into my heart.

I couldn't agree more. Why? Why should something like this happen to us?

It took me a whole night comforting her before she finally fell asleep.

But then, I saw a trending post that fueled an urge to slaughter that beast.

Cedric had no intention of letting Mimi off the hook.

He hired someone to write an article on his behalf, painting an image of a victim for himself.

It was nearly ten thousand words of sheer fabrication. With every line I read, my nails dug deeper into the flesh of my palms.

Throughout the entire article, Mimi was depicted as a dissolute young lady who would do just about anything for money. On the other hand, Cedric was portrayed as a gentleman who resisted temptation with chivalrous composure.

……

Three days after his endeavor to manipulate the public's opinion, he vanished without a trace.

He was last seen on camera somewhere near where I lived.

It was that very same alleyway where Mimi had struggled, fighting to escape.

A few weeks earlier, I received a call late at night. It was from the hospital.

I was informed that my daughter was found unconscious by the alleyway, completely naked. She suffered severe tears in her crotch that resulted in massive blood loss. On top of that, she was missing one of her kidneys...

She was but 20 years old.

She was in the prime of her life, with a bright future ahead of her.

When I arrived at the hospital, she was lying there in silence, various tubes sticking out of her body.

Her complexion was pallid, like a broken toy that was about to break apart at any moment.

I crouched in a corner and cried bitterly.

I had failed as a mother. I had failed to protect my own daughter.

—

It was four long days later when Mimi finally opened her eyes for the first time.

She looked at me, but there was no life in her gaze.

By the seventh day, she spoke her first words.

"Cedric Sutton," she muttered.

"It was Cedric Sutton who did this to me."

—

To clarify, Cedric was her boyfriend's boss.

He was a well-known investor in the city of Sunnyvale. He was born into a wealthy family, 20 years before my daughter entered the world.

Ever since Mimi's fiancé, Kieran Yancey, introduced them to each other, Cedric seemed to have fixed his eyes on her.

Wherever Mimi went, Cedric would magically appear out of the blue. And every time it happened, he would act like he'd bumped into her by chance.

Meanwhile, Kieran almost seemed to encourage this at times. Outrageous, if I must say—he was supposed to be Mimi's boyfriend!

In the 20 years of my daughter's life, that was the first time I slapped her.

I warned her to break up with Kieran and stay away from those two men.

Nevertheless, she claimed that they were truly in love with each other. That their affection was worth more than gold.

She had hoped to get our blessing.

She even told me not to jump to conclusions.

My eyes traveled down to my daughter in the hospital bed, and my lips pulled into a wry smile.

How could this be true love? It was clearly a hunter's trap, set to capture its prey.

……

It wasn't until Mimi's second week in hospital that she regained feeling in her fingers.

The first thing she did was call the police.

Before the police arrived, she took my hand, albeit feebly.

In a trembling voice, she said, "Mom, there's a surveillance camera... in that alley."

My breath caught in my throat. I knew how much courage it took for her to tell me that sliver of information.

I couldn't afford the slightest delay. After a few words of comfort, I jumped into a cab and headed straight to the scene.

To my dismay, the security team denied me access. My numerous attempts either ended in inconvenience as an excuse or forthright refusal to see me.

It was only when I handed over the last 300 bucks I had on me that they let me into the surveillance room.

Inside, the guard watched my every move, as though he was afraid that something might go wrong.