I grabbed Victoria by the collar and glared at her.[]
“What gives you the right to talk about my dad!“]]
“Which one of your good days wasn’t given to you by my father?! Tell me!”]
“And right after Dad died, you tried to make me drink sulfuric acid with you for suicide, saying you couldn’t live without him–but look at you living just fine!“]]
“I became this inhuman monster because of YOU!“]]
“The person who deserves to die most in this world is you, you piece of trash!“[]
“Shut your fucking mouth!“[
SLAPI
The hit sent my mask flying several feet away.[]
Everyone around us gasped, some even started throwing up.
“Oh my God, that’s disgusting. What am I even looking at? How can someone be that hideous!“]]
“No wonder she wears that mask every day. She’s uglier than a horror movie monster. How did her boyfriend even–I think I’m gonna be sick.“]
4
“Who the hell hired this thing? I can’t work with her sitting here every day. I’ve lost my appetite just looking at her.“]
The face I’d hidden for over a decade was now exposed to everyone because of Victoria’s slap.]
Listening to their cruel comments, I couldn’t stop shaking.
I even wanted to disappear completely.]
Victoria looked at my face and gagged, but I could see the satisfaction in her eyes.]
She leaned close to my ear.[]
11
“See that? You’re a freak. Only Marcus is kind enough to put up with you. If you want into my family, you’ll donate that bone marrow.”
“This is as good as your life gets. Might as well do something useful for your sister’s future.“[]
Then she pulled a bank card from her purse and threw it at my feet.[]
“Five million dollars. Compensation for all these years.”
Under everyone’s stares, I picked up the card and looked at Victoria one last time.[]
11
Chapter 3
“All these years, have you ever felt even a trace of guilt toward me? Or have you ever thought of me? Even once?“]]
Victoria hadn’t expected that question.]]
Her eyes darted away, speechless.]
But I already had my answer.[]
“Day after tomorrow. See you at the hospital.“]
That night at home, I looked at my plane ticket while my phone blew up with messages from Marcus.[]
[Riley, I’m so sorry. Don’t look at anything on Tik Tok, okay? I’ll handle the work situation. Just rest at home for now. Aunt Victoria was just upset–she’ll cool down in a few days.]]]
[You and your mom should sit down and talk things through. Mothers and daughters don’t stay mad forever.]]]
J
[Zara’s innocent in all this. Please don’t take out your anger with Aunt Victoria on her.]]]
Tik Tok?
I had a sinking feeling and opened Tik Tok.]
The top trending post was a video from earlier today.[]
In just a few hours, it had gotten a hundred thousand likes.]
In the video, I appeared heartless, ignoring my mother’s desperate pleas on her knees and refusing to save my critically ill sister, even having the audacity to demand five million dollars.]
Even worse, the latter half of the video featured close–up shots of my hideous face after the mask was knocked off.[]
The comments below exploded like a pot of boiling water, updating every second.[]
[Ugly on the outside, ugly on the inside. That face is disgusting. Won’t even save her own sister.]]]
[Someone doxxed the sister–she’s gorgeous. Honestly, why not just swap them out? Keep the pretty one who’s actually useful to society.]
[This is my classmate’s mom. My classmate’s always on the honor roll, first in her class, plays piano at a professional level, total beauty queen. A few days ago they said they found a donor, but apparently…]]
[Why didn’t they blur her face? I’m gonna have nightmares.]]
Like a masochist, I scrolled through every single comment until it was midnight.[]
Darkness surrounded me, but I hadn’t even noticed.]]
When I finally looked up, my tears had long since dried.[]
At least tomorrow was coming…]
31.000
Chapter 3
The next day at the hospital, Victoria waited excitedly with two others for the surgery.[]
By afternoon, I was still nowhere to be found.[]
For the first time in 25 years, she called me.]
“Riley, where the hell are you! Don’t you dare try to back out now?!“]
