Chapter 1
When the fake heiress, Claire Walker, was about to be mowed down by a massive truck, my brother Ethan Walker charged forward without hesitation.
In my previous life, I grabbed him with everything I had and stopped him.
Because of that, Claire was crushed under the truck. Both her legs were destroyed. She would never dance again.
After we buried her, I became the villain of the family for what I did.
Ethan broke my leg and shouted angrily, "You heartless animal! Who the hell gave you the right to stop me from saving Claire?!"
My parents slapped me dozens of times, their faces full of regret and disgust. "We should never have brought you back.
"Our family has only one daughter, and that's Claire. You vicious, snake-hearted thing. Get out."
They refused to treat my injuries and dumped me deep in the mountains, leaving me to fend for myself.
In the end, wild dogs tore me apart alive.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the exact moment when my brother ran toward Claire.
*****
This time, I didn't grab him with all my strength.
I only brushed my fingers against the corner of his jacket and shouted with fake panic, "Ethan, don't go!"
I wanted to stop him. At least, that was what it looked like.
But Ethan completely ignored me.
He charged ahead without a second thought and yanked Claire back.
Because of the momentum, his body slammed to the ground. Instinctively, he threw out his arms to brace himself.
He forgot what was right in front of him. A ten-ton truck. A blind spot.
The driver never saw him.
The truck rolled over without slowing down.
Ethan's scream tore through the air, bone shards and bloody flesh splattering everywhere.
His arms were reduced to two mangled heaps of flesh.
Claire froze in shock. My father Benjamin broke down crying. My mother Helena fainted on the spot.
And inside, quietly, I smiled.
Back in my old life, Ethan went running to save Claire.
I knew exactly how deadly that truck was. Best case scenario, you lost your limbs. Worst case, you died on the spot.
I didn't want him throwing away his future or his life for a fake heiress, so I used every ounce of strength I had to hold him back.
He couldn't break free. All he could do was watch Claire get crushed, her legs destroyed beneath the truck.
His eyes turned bloodshot. He looked like his soul had been ripped apart.
When he heard Claire's agonized screams, he turned around and kicked me straight in the chest. I flew several feet back.
When Benjamin and Helena showed up and saw the mess, they rushed Claire to the hospital without a second thought.
I was left on the side of the road like trash. No one cared..
A kind stranger eventually helped me get to the hospital.
That was where I heard the news.
Claire's legs had been amputated.
Ethan beat me again.
That was when regret finally hit me. I regretted stopping him.
But it was too late. There was no way to turn back time.
Someone uploaded the video of me holding my brother back. It went viral.
The internet tore me apart.
I was cyberbullied, doxxed, harassed offline, pelted with rotten eggs.
At school, every single student isolated me, mocked me, bullied me.
Then Claire woke up. She realized her legs were gone.
She would never dance again. Her dream of becoming a lead ballerina was over. She couldn't take it. She killed herself.
That night, my brother cried until his voice was gone. Then he picked up a baseball bat and came for me.
One swing after another.
He personally shattered my legs and screamed, "You bitch! If you hadn't stopped me, Claire wouldn't have been crippled, and she wouldn't have killed herself!"
I cried so hard I could barely breathe and tried to explain.
"I stopped you because I didn't want you trading your life for hers. That truck weighed over ten tons. There was no way it could stop. If you had died and I hadn't stopped you, I would've regretted it forever. Why can't you understand that?!"
His eyes turned red as he roared back at me, "You'd regret it? And you think I wouldn't?!
"Watching Claire get hit by a truck and doing nothing is something no human being could live with!"