Chapter 2

When Charlotte was two years old, she was taken by traffickers, and the ones who took her were my own biological parents.

At the train station, my parents abandoned me because I was burning up with a fever, and ran off with Charlotte instead.

I was rescued by Mr. Sinclair, who was searching for his missing granddaughter.

He rushed me to the best hospital, and the doctors said I almost didn't survive that night. But my survival instinct was strong, and I managed to pull through.

But because of that fever, my right ear went deaf.

After I recovered, the Sinclair family adopted me.

From that moment on, the lives of the two girls were switched forever.

The Sinclairs never kept it a secret that I was adopted.

To fill the void left by their missing daughter, they sometimes asked me to behave like Charlotte.

Whenever I resisted, they'd remind me that I owed them everything because they took me in. After a while, I forgot who I really was.

Lucas and old Mr. Sinclair were the only ones in this family who truly cared about me.

But when I was fourteen, old Mr. Sinclair passed away.

After that, Lucas was the only one I could count on.

He never treated me like I was Charlotte. He always told me to keep being myself, and I didn't have to pretend to be anyone else.

Because Lucas was so kind to me, I became dependent on him and trusted him completely. Over time, that trust and dependence turned into admiration and affection.

Before Charlotte came back, Lucas only had eyes for me.

When I felt lonely and helpless, he gave me love and filled the emptiness inside me. No one else could ever take his place.

But that special treatment ended abruptly when I turned fourteen.

Charlotte had been found.

She was in terrible shape, having been abused and neglected. At fourteen, she looked more like an eleven or twelve-year-old.

Her eyes were full of resentment and hatred, especially whenever she looked at me.

When everyone found out that the couple who had kidnapped Charlotte were my biological parents, they turned their anger and resentment on me.

Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair would hit me, yell at me, and force me to serve Charlotte. If she was even slightly unhappy, I'd be locked in a dark room without food or water until she decided to forgive me and let me out.

They could hate me all they wanted—I didn't care. The only one who ever mattered to me was Lucas.

"Lucas, do you also think it's my mistake?" Back then, I saw him as my only salvation.

But the moment he saw Charlotte crying, all the pain and struggle in his eyes vanished, replaced by indifference. "Just go. Letty doesn't want to see you."

I was abandoned by the Sinclair family, with nowhere left to go.

When I was digging through trash just to survive, Lucas found me.

When he reached out his hand to me, it was as if I was seeing a god, his whole being radiating warmth and light.

"Mia, come home with me," he said.

I broke down in tears and threw myself into his arms, clinging to him like he was the only light left in my world, unable to let go.

But he pushed me away, his voice cold and distant. "Letty can't handle any more stress. You need to stay away from her from now on."

I nodded obediently. "I'll do whatever you say, Lucas."

From that day on, I started living with Lucas.

He took care of me and made sure I could go to school.

However, he never treated me the same as before.

I used to be so carefree around him, but now I was always tiptoeing, bending over backwards just to please him.

People always wanted what they didn't have, especially when it was something they'd been missing all their life.

After being abandoned twice, I was scared to death of being alone. All I wanted was for someone to stay by my side, so I held onto Lucas for dear life, afraid to ever let go.

But over the years, I realized that the person I worshiped, my supposed savior, was just using me as a pawn, over and over again.

When I was seventeen, Charlotte bullied a girl in a way that was downright cruel.

I couldn't just stand by and watch, so I saved the girl.

The girl warned me not to cross Charlotte, or she'd definitely come after me.

The more I stuck my neck out to protect that girl, the more miserable things got for me afterward.

I became one of Charlotte's new targets, and what I suffered was even worse than what that girl went through.

Eventually, that girl drowned herself in the river. Her mother called the police and begged me to testify, to tell them it was Charlotte's bullying that drove her daughter to suicide.

On my way to the police station, Lucas stopped me.

I told him everything Charlotte had done, my heart full of hope that he'd finally take my side and do the right thing.

But instead of comfort or sympathy from Lucas, all I got was a slap across the face.

He didn't even hit me that hard, but it still stung so much that tears rolled down my cheeks.

Then, he said, "You owe her." It was the first time he'd ever said those words to me, and I could feel my heart shatter.

From the age of seventeen, those exact words stayed with me for the next six years.

Back then, Lucas kept me locked away, so I couldn't stand up for that poor girl.

By the time I was let out, it was all over—no one talked about it anymore.

The girl's mother was kneeling at the school gates, pleading with the school to give her daughter justice.

With no other options left, the school told Charlotte she had to leave, but Lucas made me take the fall for everything she did.

He said, "Mia, you owe this to Letty. She turned out this way because of what your parents did to her. As long as you take the blame, I promise I'll always protect you."

But when I tried to stand up for myself and refused, he just abandoned me.

That night, in the freezing darkness, he dumped me out in the deserted outskirts. He looked at me and said, "Guess life at home was just so comfortable for you that you can't even think straight. Spend the night out here and cool off."

The next day, he found me among the bushes, my body covered in bite marks from stray dogs. He scooped me up in his arms and asked, "Mia, do you want me to save you?"

I clung to his shirt, nodding desperately, fear in my eyes. "Please, Lucas, save me."

He smiled in satisfaction, holding me close and pressing a kiss on my forehead. "Then you have to do as I say, and I'll always protect you."

Stuff like this happened so many times that I eventually lost count.

He said he loved me, and I kept convincing myself that he really did.

After fooling myself for so long, maybe it was time to wake up.

I shoved Lucas away, a desperate, bitter laugh escaping me. "So, in your eyes, I'm the one who stole her life?"

He cupped my face, his brows drawn tight, coaxing me softly. "Mia, just do this one last thing for Letty, and then I'll marry you."

Those words shattered the last shred of love I had for him.

My feelings for him had become nothing more than a bargaining chip he could use against me.

"Lucas Sinclair, what am I to you?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"You're the one I love most," he said, but there wasn't a trace of love in his eyes.

I brushed his hand away as he tried to wipe my tears, forcing a smile. "Yes, I owe her. I should make it up to her. Lucas, I just hope you won't regret what you decided today."

Then, Charlotte called, saying she was scared, and he left without looking back.

Before he walked out the door, he turned to me and said, "Mia, I swear, this is the last time. From now on, I won't let you suffer anymore."

He'd said those words a thousand times before, but this time, I didn't believe him.

As the door clicked shut behind him, the silence in the room was almost suffocating.

Thinking about those creepy DMs, I hugged myself tight, every nerve stretched to the limit, and sat there the whole night.

The next day, I packed my bags and quietly slipped away from that painful place.

I blocked all the methods of reaching Lucas, running from his world without looking back.