Chapter 3

6

I pushed the door open with such force that Linda stumbled and was nearly knocked over.

"Riley, what the hell are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?"

I hooked my lips.

"Nothing, just verifying my guess."

I raised my eyes to look at the laptop on the bed with its back to me, the white light reflected on the screen said it all.

Following my gaze, she didn't care about her sprained waist, and took a step over to cover the computer.

"What do you want to verify? What's there to see here?"

I playfully met her sheepish eyes and said, "No, I just want to know if you're still messing around when my dad isn't around. After all, a dog can't change its ways."

"What do you mean, you little bitch? You want to say that I'm cheating, right? Don’t you even know what kind of filth you are?"

Originally, I was going to turn around and leave after I scolded her, but now she had gone over the line.

"Riley? Filthy thing? Is that how you casually define the gentlest and kindest person in the world? Who do you think you are, bitch? Who can be more filthy than a coquettish slag like you?

Before my sister's accident, I rarely used foul language.

Because my sister once told me. "It's other people's business to be evil, we can't be like them."

So, my sister was always tolerant and was bullied.

So much that she ended up suffering such a great injustice.

‘But Riley, do you see? I’m taking revenge for you.’

There were some things that couldn’t be solved by tolerating alone.

Sometimes the fist would be needed in order to make some people back off.

7

I deleted all the pictures about my sister on the internet.

But it was found out by my own father who was a busy man.

I knew it was a move by the sympathetic Joanne and Linda.

Not only to make my father ashamed of me, but also to make the Lawson family withdraw from the marriage.

My sister was engaged to James Lawson, the son of the Lawson family, a long time ago.

The two of us were destined to be sacrificed for our dad’s business alliances.

This was why my mom insisted on claiming that I had died.

It was to keep my dad from knowing about my existence.

But now, those photos were being passed around in the upper class circles of Oceanwood.

How could an affluent family like the Lawson family tolerate their daughter-in-law to have such a history before getting married?

"Do you know that I spent all these years training you so that you could marry into the Lawson family? But now you've lost your virginity and your reputation has been ruined. James won't dare marry you."

I was silent.

Because the corners of Linda's mouth couldn't grin any wider.

In the end, I sank my face and said, "First of all, to turn your daughter into a marriage tool, have you asked me if I'm willing or not? Secondly, Mr. Jackson, we’re not in medieval times anymore, so don't try to use the old ways with me. A woman’s loyalty isn’t determined by her virginity. I’m the victim. You have time to accuse me, don't you have time to catch the person who victimized me?"

"Enough, Riley!" He interrupted me angrily. "When did you become so articulate. You still want to catch the rapist, do you think it's not a big enough deal? Why can’t you think of what you’ve done wrong?"

This was it felt like to have a suffocating father.

He then put me in solitary confinement.

I stayed in the room where my sister used to live for a full month.

In the drawer of the dressing table, I accidentally found my sister's diary.

In the young girl's beautiful handwriting, she not only recounted the joy of secretly chatting with me and the memories of spending time with Joanne.

There was also a name that was hard to ignore, James Lawson.

It turned out that my sister liked him.

Even if it was a business marriage, there would have been no feelings at all.

But my sister had developed feelings for him early on.

A glimpse at the cocktail party and a few simple sentences of conversation were enough to keep her calm for a long time.

But now, my sister was gone.

But now that my sister was gone, how could I live with myself if I meet James? What would I do?