Chapter 4

Vivian's POV

I was thrown into the basement.

Pitch darkness surrounded me. The damp air made my wounds throb with dull pain.

The door opened. Frederick stood before me, looking down from above.

"Hand over the antidote."

I moved my broken fingers.

"I told you, I didn't poison anyone. What antidote?"

He crouched down and grabbed my chin viciously.

"Vivian, you've been defying me lately. Is it because of your brother?"

Before he finished speaking, his iPad lit up with a video-

In a familiar hospital room, Marcus was being held down by men in black, coughing violently, blood staining his blue hospital gown.

On his right side, an opened bottle of poison sat quietly.

I immediately began to struggle.

"Frederick Ashton! What right do you have to touch Marcus? He's my last living relative!"

"Because you touched Felicity!"

His eyes were ice-cold and piercing.

"Anyone who touches her must die."

He leaned in close.

"Will you obediently hand over the antidote, or let Marcus drink that bottle?"

Marcus had stomach cancer. Drinking that would be a death sentence.

I finally stopped struggling.

"...Let him go, and I'll give you the antidote."

Frederick turned off the video with satisfaction.

I slowly stood up.

"I don't have an antidote, but I can pay with my life."

With that, I grabbed scissors and stabbed them toward my heart!

In the last second before darkness fell, I saw Frederick rush toward me in horror, my body falling into a trembling embrace.

"Vivian!"

I heard people talking near my ear.

"I'm sorry... I just had food poisoning, but I wrongly accused her of poisoning me..."

"Food poisoning makes you vomit blood?"

"I don't know either... maybe I was injured somewhere?"

Felicity's voice choked up.

"Are you blaming me? She could have explained herself..."

"I don't blame you." Frederick frowned.

"She deliberately opposed me."

"Don't blame her anymore." Felicity took his hand.

"Go rest. I'll take care of her."

"Alright."

I woke again two days later.

I threw back the covers, ready to get out of bed. This wasn't my home. I had to leave.

But Felicity blocked my way.

"Vivian, I'm sorry!"

I pushed past her and kept walking. Would someone like her ever repent? I didn't believe it.

But the next second, her words pinned me in place like nails-

"Marcus is dead!"

She put on a regretful expression.

"That day Frederick ordered them to release him, but unfortunately... after the news about Marcus molesting you spread, reporters stormed the hospital. In the chaos, someone forced the drug down his throat."

She waved her phone.

"He only managed to leave you a few words before he died. There wasn't even time to try to save him."

She added cheerfully,

"But he had terminal stomach cancer anyway. He was going to die sooner or later. Don't be too sad."

All strength instantly drained from my body.

Marcus, who had been so spirited just months ago, was now emaciated and being held down.

"Vivian, I'm sorry for dragging you down... From now on, even without someone to love you, you must love yourself well."

He smiled as he closed his eyes. Even as the poison burned through his organs, he didn't cry out in pain once.

I played the video on loop, tears splattering on the ground. I knelt there trembling.

"I'm the one who dragged you down... It's always been me dragging you down..."

"That's right, he didn't have to die."

Felicity suddenly agreed.

"So strange. I was the prettiest of all those kids at the orphanage, yet the family chose you."

She lowered her voice.

"Do you know why the car that came to take you home had brake failure? That was the price for them abandoning me."

That year, a family came to the orphanage to adopt. They had originally chosen Felicity.

But just as they were leaving, the mother noticed me in the corner and changed her mind at the last minute.

On the return trip, the brakes failed. The car crashed into a fuel tanker and burst into flames.

Marcus and I climbed out the window, but our parents were burned alive inside.

It turned out... it was never an accident!

My hands trembled. Hatred gnawed at my nerves. I wanted nothing more than to drag her down to hell with me right then!

I forwarded the video to my own phone and slapped her hard across the face.

"Felicity, I will make you pay."