Chapter 3

Late at night, my phone rang abruptly.

I jolted awake from the couch, seeing "Emily" flashing on the screen, my heart pounding wildly.

Had she regretted it? Did she want to come home?

I answered hastily, my voice trembling slightly.

"Emily?"

Silence on the other end for a few seconds, then her cold, impatient voice came through.

"Pack up my things. I'll send the driver tomorrow to pick them up."

My heart plunged back into an ice pit.

Early the next morning, a black Audi pulled up outside my shabby apartment building.

The driver looked at me with arrogance.

"Ms. Reed, Mr. Smith sent me to collect Miss Smith's belongings."

I blocked the hallway entrance, looking at him coldly.

"I won't give them to you unless I see Smith in person."

The driver smirked, pulled out his phone, dialed directly, and put it on speaker.

"Miss Smith, your mother refuses to give me the items."

Smith's irritated voice immediately came through.

"Mom! Stop making a scene, okay? What's the point of this harassment? Haven't you tortured me enough for ten years?"

"Tortured?"

I hung up and rushed out of the complex like a madwoman, hailing a cab straight to Victor's gated community, wanting to see if she was being coerced.

Unsurprisingly, the security guards stopped me at the entrance.

"Sorry, ma'am, you can't enter without an appointment."

No matter how I explained, the guards stood like a wall, coldly blocking me.

Just as I was about to despair, the villa's iron gate slowly opened.

Lily walked out leisurely with a cup of coffee.

She looked at my disheveled state, a fake sympathetic smile curling her lips.

"Oh my, Grace, why put yourself through this? Emily is taking lessons with her new private tutor. She doesn't have time to see you."

She sipped her coffee casually.

"Grace Reed, you should start living for yourself. Stop clinging to Emily. She's about to apply to college, enter high society. This isn't good for her future."

"Get lost!"

I forced the word through gritted teeth.

Lily didn't seem offended. She just shrugged and turned back inside.

I stood at that gate from morning to noon, then from noon to afternoon.

My legs felt like lead, but I wouldn't move an inch.

Three hours later, Smith finally came out.

She wore a brand-new Chanel dress and delicate leather shoes, completely different from the uniformed girl I'd seen yesterday.

I rushed forward and grabbed her arm.

"Why won't you see me? Why did you say I tortured you?"

She frowned prettily and shook off my hand forcefully.

"Dad hired eight tutors for me—math, English, science, piano, horseback riding, French... How would I have time to see you?"

I held out the old backpack I'd been clutching, my voice softening.

"Emily, come home with me. Look, your favorite doll—I kept it for you..."

Inside that old backpack was the stuffed toy she'd treasured as a child, sewn by my own hands, stitch by stitch.

She glanced at it, disgust filling her eyes.

"Those things are garbage. I stopped wanting them ages ago. Just throw them out."

"Garbage?"

I felt like I'd heard the biggest joke, my emotions completely collapsing.

"Emily Smith, where's your conscience? On your tenth birthday when you had a high fever, you cried holding that doll, saying you wanted it with you forever! Have you forgotten?"

She looked at me coldly and said something I would never forget.

"Can conscience get me into Harvard? Can conscience give me the good life I have now?"

With that, she turned without looking back and walked through that magnificent villa gate.

"Smith!"

I screamed her name desperately, trying to chase after her.

Two security guards immediately rushed over and dragged me out like a dead dog.

I struggled, but one guard shoved me hard, and I fell to the ground again.

My palms and knees scraped against the rough concrete, drawing blood.

That cold black gate slammed shut in front of me with a heavy bang.

My world completely collapsed.