Chapter 4
I handed the medical report to my parents.
Their first reaction was to tear it up and order me not to tell anyone.
"If Mabel finds out we've caught her lying, she'll be heartbroken," they said.
I froze, wanting to ask them what about me.
Wouldn't I get hurt?
Was I made of stone?
But Mabel still found out.
She ran straight to the rooftop, crying her heart out.
She said, "Mom, Dad, Edward, I'm sorry. I really did lie to you.
"But it's only because I love you all so much. I crave the warmth you gave me. I'm just a cowardly, selfish girl.
"I'm going to jump off this rooftop today. If I were given a second chance, I hope I can be a real daughter of the Grant family.
"Charlotte, I'm giving Mom, Dad, and Edward back to you. Please don't hate me anymore. I'll die to make up for what I've done!"
Mabel didn't die, but she broke her leg.
She lay weakly in bed, smiling at Edward.
She looked just like a stubborn little flower, quietly resilient no matter what.
She said, "Edward, don't frown.
"It's such a pity that I won't get to dance with you again."
Edward clenched his fist, his voice icy and dark, like a devil straight out of hell.
"Charlotte has to pay for this," he growled.
I shot back, "She's the one who lied. Why am I the one getting blamed for this?"
Edward jumped to his feet. "Her leg's broken! Are you blind?"
"She jumped herself. I didn't push her. If she's old enough to make her own choices, then she's old enough to deal with the consequences. Doesn't she get that?" I retorted.
Edward glared at me, but he couldn't say a word.
Mabel timidly tugged at Edward's sleeve. "Edward, don't fight with Charlotte. Charlotte's right. I should own up to what I did."
Edward said, "Mabel, don't be like this. It hurts me to see you so thoughtful. You're just too mature for your own good."
Mabel bit her lip, her eyes downcast. "But if I want to get along with Charlotte, maybe she should work on her temper a bit. I... I get a little scared around her."
Richard, still wearing that gloomy look, nodded. "I agree."
My mom looked helpless. "How do you even fix someone's temper? Maybe we should send Charlotte to the farm for a while?"
Mabel whispered, "The farm is so far away. I'm worried Charlotte would get homesick.
"Or maybe we should send her to Bloom Club. Back when I lived in the countryside, some of the girls working there told me that even the proudest ones get turned into the most docile pets there."
She smiled sweetly while saying the cruelest words.
Richard stood up. "I agree."
"Dad!" I cried, my voice trembling uncontrollably. "Am... Am I really your daughter?"
Richard said, "From the moment you drove Mabel to jump off that roof, I decided right then and there. I don't have a daughter as cruel as you."
Edward personally escorted me to the Bloom Club.
The wide-open doors looked like the gaping maw of some giant beast.
Edward himself pushed me into the darkness.
"Charlotte, you'd better learn your lesson," he said coldly.
Overwhelmed by fear, I curled up on the floor and fell asleep.
I was jolted awake by Mabel.
She was holding a used pull-string confetti popper in her hand.
"You didn't even hear all that noise? Charlotte, are you deaf or just plain stupid?" Mabel sneered.
I shrank back from the crowd surrounding me, secretly adjusting my slipped hearing aid, my heart thumping wildly.
Hostile voices echoed from every direction.
"Nah, she's just a whore," someone jeered.
"You sleep so soundly. Must be because you never got any shut-eye at Bloom Club, huh? Always busy entertaining clients all night?" another voice mocked.
No, that was not true.
I shook my head frantically.
I'd never done anything like that. Otherwise, they wouldn't have beaten me all the time.
"Mabel, is this your sister?" someone asked with a sneer.
A few people came right up to me, and the instant I recognized their faces, my hair stood on end and my heart was about to leap out of my chest.
The leader grabbed my chin and lifted it. "You look quite familiar."
"Yeah, weren't you at Bloom Club before?" another one jeered.
My own sister had brought in the very clients I used to serve, just to put me through hell.
"Oh, I remember now. I puked all over her, and she just smiled and asked, 'Sir, are you still feeling sick?' That cracked me up. Never met anyone so pathetic," one of them sneered.
That was because if a client got sick, the supervisor would make us kneel on ice all night as punishment.
"Big deal. For 15 bucks, she'd crawl between my legs without a second thought," another one scoffed.
Because with 15 bucks, I could buy two boxes of painkillers. Then my stomach wouldn't kill me all night, and I could finally get a little sleep.
"This bitch can really hold her liquor. I had her chug three bottles of Hennessy once," another guy said.
Mabel's eyes lit up with mock excitement. "Seriously? Was that really you, Charlotte? You can really drink like that?"
All eyes locked onto me, and my face grew hot with humiliation.
She wanted me to confess, right there in front of everyone, that the proud, untouchable heiress of the Grant family, the one everyone in Riverside City looked up to, was really just another nobody working the floor at Bloom Club.