Chapter 3

They dragged me into the PE equipment room.

And Elysia, just like every other time, stood outside with tears in her eyes, looking like the victim everyone needed to comfort.

My old bruises hadn't even healed, and now new purple marks were blooming all over my body.

This was the girl my family raised like a princess. She had been orchestrating my bullying for over a decade.

I closed my eyes, biting my lip, refusing to make a sound even when the taste of copper filled my mouth.

BANG.

The heavy metal door slammed shut, plunging me into absolute darkness.

I fixed my torn clothes, dragged myself up through the agonizing pain, and left a trail of blood on the floor.

I pulled open the dusty curtains. The schoolyard was completely empty.

I spat out the blood in my mouth, walked calmly to the corner of the room, and picked up a heavy metal wrench.

I smashed the rusted lock on the window, shattering the glass. A jagged piece sliced open my wrist, and blood began to drip onto the sill.

Ignoring the pain, I hauled myself out of the window.

"Stop right there!"

I turned. It was the newly hired Vice Principal.

She pushed up her glasses in disbelief, letting out a sharp gasp.

She dragged me straight to her office. After flipping through my file, she immediately called my father.

She glared at me, her face tense. "Why aren't you home? Getting into trouble at your age is one thing, but destroying school property? This is unacceptable!"

I looked down at my filthy clothes. Scott and his friends were smart—they never hit my face. They only targeted places hidden by my clothes.

To the Vice Principal, I was just a delinquent.

Yet, despite her harsh words, she poured me a cup of warm water and set it in front of me.

"I am going to have a serious talk with your parents when they get here!"

A few minutes later, sirens wailed outside.

Pierce walked in with a couple of officers. The moment his eyes landed on me, his face twisted into deep annoyance.

"We received a call from the school about vandalism. I should have known it was you."

I kept my head down, silent.

The Vice Principal didn't know he was my brother. Afraid a criminal record would ruin my future, she quickly tried to smooth things over.

"Officer, she only broke the window to get out. Let's not file an official report. We can resolve this privately once her parents arrive."

Pierce said coldly, "I am her guardian."

He turned to me, looking down his nose. "Do you have any idea how much police resources you are wasting? I have every right to put you in a holding cell."

I looked up at him, my voice flat. "I know."

I picked up the cup of water and drank it all.

Did I want to fight back against the bullies? Of course I did. But every single attempt had failed.

Pierce was a detective. He saved so many people, but never me.

The very first time I was beaten up, I ran to him. I pulled up my sleeves to show him the bruises.

He didn't even look up from his desk. "Don't bother me with your petty high school drama," he had said.

I thought he was just busy, so I went to the police station to file a report. But as I was taking off my jacket to take photos of my injuries for evidence, he walked in.

"Who are you trying to seduce?" he had sneered.

My cries for help were treated as disgusting attention-seeking. In the end, to teach me a lesson about "wasting police resources," my righteous brother personally locked me in a holding cell for fifteen days.

"Oh my god! Chloe, your hand is bleeding!"

The Vice Principal gasped, staring at the cup in my hand. She quickly grabbed a first-aid kit and started wrapping my wrist in gauze.

I looked up at Pierce, a tiny, subconscious glimmer of hope rising in my chest.

For the first time, my wounds were laid bare right in front of him.

Would he believe me this time?

Pierce smirked, his eyes full of disdain. "Don't waste your gauze on her. This self-harm act is getting old."

"If you want to die that badly, don't bother getting treated."

He violently ripped the gauze off my wrist and dragged me out of the school.