Chapter 1

As I lay on the floor, my breathing came out weakly. I no longer had the strength to fight back.

Naomi, my sister, was crying badly. To comfort her, I endured the pain and shook my head slightly.

The enraged kidnapper grabbed my hair. “Are you the one who revealed our location?”

My scalp hurt, and I was forced to look up.

When we were first kidnapped, I had two of my fingers cut off. More were eventually cut off. When I no longer had any fingers left, the kidnappers moved to my feet.

The mutilated parts were already putrid and necrotic. Every single day, they hurt.

Compared to that, being beaten did not hurt as much.

Yesterday, the kidnappers gave Naomi and I each one minute to talk to our parents.

While Naomi cried and spoke to our mother, she also dropped hints as to where the kidnappers held us.

It was no wonder why the kidnappers moved us elsewhere overnight. Our mother must have called the police.

My parents cared a lot about Naomi. I wanted them to be happy, so I swore in my heart that I would protect Naomi when we were kidnapped.

I stammered out a plea, “Please… I… won’t do it… anymore…”

But the kidnappers were vicious people who had nothing else to lose. They were not going to spare me that easily.

Another kidnapper tried to dissuade the one grabbing my hair. “Stop. I think she’s about to die. We need her for money.”

The kidnapper grabbing my hair cackled cruelly. “It’s fine. Her parents don’t care about her. If we had kidnapped her alone, we might not have gotten a single cent. They’re only going to save the sister.”

I shut my eyes. I no longer had any strength to argue.

My parents got the wrong baby, so Naomi and my lives were switched.

It was the cliche, wrong baby story. I was the true daughter who was hated even after returning to my parents’ side. Naomi was the fake daughter everyone wanted and loved.

Even after I returned to my parents’ side, they still loved Naomi more. To them, she was their real daughter.

I was just a stranger who shared their blood.

“Honestly, even if we kill her, no one would care,” one of the kidnappers suddenly said.

I understood then what he meant, and I could not suppress the trembles in my body. My heart sank.

At that moment, my parents were on a call with the kidnappers. I forced my eyes open and instinctively started begging for help.

With great difficulty, I said, “Dad… Mom…”

But before I could finish speaking, my parents had already cut me off anxiously.

“Is Naomi okay? Make sure nothing happens to her! If she’s hurt, we won’t pay you a single cent!

“Let us hear her voice!”

“Of course she’s fine. But we’ll have you know that we’re going to send you a gift, so one of the two is going to suffer,” one of the kidnappers said.

“We know. So long as you don’t hurt Naomi, you can do whatever you want!”

My parents only wanted to know about Naomi and only ever mentioned her.

How I hoped they would say my name just once—Dawn.

But my eyelids were already so heavy that I could not open them. Even so, I was able to hear my parents’ voices before I breathed my last, so I was content.

When my mother came to see me in the village, she hugged me and cried.

Then, my parents told me that they were not going to let me live a life of hardship anymore. They promised that no one would hit me or yell at me again.

But gradually, they stopped loving me.

My breathing became weaker and soon stopped.