I did not know how much time had passed.

After the man was done with me, he tossed me into a storage room in the villa like I was nothing.

I lay on the cold floor, barely conscious, wrapped in what was left of my torn dress.

Every once in a while, someone would come in to grab something. They would glance at me curled up in the corner, then look away, assuming I was just a pile of discarded junk.

Then, they would leave.

I gathered what little strength I had left. When an old woman came in to fetch something, I reached out and grabbed the hem of her pants.

"Please… Help me…"

She jumped in shock.

Leaning closer, she realized I was a person. Her eyes widened in horror. She instinctively reached out to help me up, but the moment she saw my disheveled clothes and the blood running down my legs, she froze. Her hand pulled back.

"Oh, my child… Who did this to you? This is too cruel… Too cruel…" She kept murmuring to herself, then turned and hurried out.

For a moment, I thought hope had finally come.

However, after a long, long time, she came back alone.

"Child… Mr. Lawson's assistant won't allow anyone to interfere. He said Mr. Lawson reserved the whole villa and doesn't want anyone interrupting him while he's with his cousin…"

I clutched her hand tightly, tears streaming down my face. The old woman looked at me, sighed, and finally made up her mind.

Using the excuse of delivering something, she rushed to Sean. Her voice trembled as she spoke.

"Mr. Lawson! There's a girl in the storage room who's dying! Please, you have to help her!"

Sean had been chatting happily with Wendy. Being interrupted, he frowned slightly.

"Who?"

The old woman hesitated, unable to answer. She could only look at him helplessly, her eyes full of pity.

"I don't know, but that girl is too pitiful! Mr. Lawson, please, save her life!"

Sean nodded and ordered someone to call the medical team.

It should have felt like a moment of salvation. However, instead, my heart felt like it was being crushed in an invisible grip, numb with pain.

For a complete stranger, he could offer help without hesitation.

However, for me, his own sister, I was not even worth as much as a stranger.

For Wendy, he really could give up anything.

When the doctor saw me, his face filled with shock. "Ms. Lawson! What happened to you ?"

My lips were cracked and dry. I could not answer.

He hurriedly opened his medical kit, but quickly realized the equipment inside was not enough to treat the injuries to my lower body.

He immediately called Sean.

"Mr. Lawson! The injured person is your sister! Her lower body is severely hurt, and she's been hypothermic for too long. She needs to be sent down the mountain to a hospital immediately!"

Sean's voice rose sharply, trembling with urgency. "I was only gone for a moment. How did Wendy get hurt?"

He immediately shouted to his assistant, telling them to prepare a helicopter.

However, in the next second, the doctor corrected him anxiously. "Not Ms. Roberts. It's Ms. Lawson!"

The moment he heard my name, Sean let out a breath of relief. Then, he canceled the helicopter. His voice turned icy.

"She told you to say that, didn't she? Is she trying to trick me into going to see her? Did she bribe you too?

"Looks like she still hasn't learned her lesson. Tell her to behave herself and stop bothering me."

He hung up without hesitation. The doctor stared at the phone, disbelief written all over his face.

If even my own brother had abandoned me, there was no reason for him to care either.

The old woman was frantic. She stayed by my side, wrapping me in a blanket she had found.

However, my breathing kept getting weaker. My arms and legs went completely numb. I could only lie there, stiff and still, waiting for death.

Meanwhile, the man who had destroyed me was showing off. He pulled out his phone and proudly displayed the photos and videos he had taken to the people around him.

"Look at that figure. Pretty hot, right?"

In the photos, my dress had been torn to shreds. My body was covered in bruises and ugly streaks of blood.

Since my face was not visible, they all assumed I was just some low-level escort.

Sean happened to pass by and stopped to take a look. He did not recognize the silver pendant I had worn since I was a child. Instead, he let out a low whistle.

"Not bad. A little too skinny though. Nothing special."

The crowd burst into even more disgusting laughter.

Something inside me broke for good.

I remembered back in sophomore year, a boy from the class next door had looked at me for a second too long. Sean had almost broken his arm over it.

However, he watched a video of me being humiliated and did not feel a thing.

At that moment, I finally understood. The brother I knew had already died the day Wendy came into the Lawson family.

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest. I coughed up a mouthful of blood, and my breathing turned into desperate, ragged gasps.

Suddenly, Sean's assistant came running in, flustered.

Wendy had fallen while skiing. She said she felt dizzy and nauseous, possibly a mild concussion, and needed to be taken down the mountain immediately.

The doctor's eyes lit up at once. He turned to me, his voice urgent.

"Ms. Lawson, this is our chance. They're heading down the mountain. If we follow them, we can get you to a hospital. Just hold on a little longer!"

I did not have the strength to respond. I could only let out a faint, helpless breath.

The doctor found a snowmobile used for transporting supplies.

At the same time, Sean was already at the helipad, waiting for the helicopter he had called for Wendy.

Unfortunately, just as the helicopter arrived, the doctor drove me to the entrance of the helipad.

It was the only way down the mountain.

Sean carried Wendy and boarded the helicopter first. His bodyguards blocked our path.

The doctor shouted desperately at Sean. "Move! Please move! There's a critically injured patient behind us. If we delay any longer, she's going to die!"

At first, Sean ignored him. However, the doctor's persistence began to irritate him. Sean slid open the cabin window, his voice sharp with annoyance.

"Wendy's health matters more than anything. No one is more important than her. As for the one behind you, if she dies, then that's her fate. Some lives just don't matter."

He snapped the window shut without another word.

The doctor trembled with anger, but he had no choice. He maneuvered around the bodyguards, squeezing through a narrow gap.

At last, we managed to pass beside the helicopter.

As we moved past it, one of Sean's friends happened to open the window for some air. The moment he saw my pale, lifeless face, he recoiled in shock and fell back into his seat.

He stammered to Sean, "Sean… T-the person on that snowmobile… It looked like Kelly!"

Sean frowned and shot him an impatient glance.

"What nonsense are you talking about? How could she be here? Besides, she's full of tricks. There's no way she'd let herself get into real danger."

Hearing that, his friend swallowed the rest of his words.

Due to Wendy's concussion, Sean stayed by her side in the hospital for three full days.

By the time he had almost forgotten about me entirely, he received a call from our parents. They said they were about to return home and wanted to throw a celebration banquet for my academic success.

Sean did a quick calculation. By his estimate, I had probably reflected enough in the suite and could be let out then.

Just as he was about to call his assistant, his phone rang.

It was an unfamiliar number, but he still answered.

The voice on the other end was a police officer.

"Is this Mr. Sean Lawson? We found a female body on a mountain road outside the city. After identification, it has been confirmed to be your sister, Ms. Kelly Lawson."