Those I had risked my life to protect, the family I had once cherished above all, all of them had betrayed me.

This time, I would not make the same mistake.

Richard stepped forward. Each stride was deliberate. His towering shadow fell over me, enveloping me.

The air around us seemed to freeze.

He did not say a word.

He swung his hand with full force, slamming a harsh slap across my face.

The slap sent me staggering, my lip tearing open, and blood flooding my mouth with a bitter, metallic taste.

“If anything happens to my daughter, I’ll make sure your whole family pays!”

He jabbed a finger at my nose. His voice was ice cold.

Before I could steady myself, I heard my mother’s panicked cry from behind, “Henry!”

My parents scrambled through the crowd, tripping and shoving, and when they saw the deadly tension, their knees nearly gave out.

My mother rushed in front of me. Her eyes flickered when she saw the blood in my mouth.

However, she did not ask if I was hurt.

Instead, she swung back and slapped me too.

“You beast! Why didn’t you move? Are you insane?!”

The sting of her hand burned, but not a fraction as much as the pain tearing through my heart.

In an instant, memories flashed before my eyes.

I remember when I was little, I fell and scraped myself, not even badly, and Mom got so anxious she almost burst into tears.

She held me in her arms, carefully dabbing on medicine with a cotton swab, murmuring, “Does it hurt, Henry? Be careful next time.”

Dad did not say much, but he always showed love through action.

Every time I came home first in class, he would raise a glass at dinner, pat my shoulder, and boast to our relatives.

“Look, this is my son, Henry! He’s going places!”

Dylan, my younger brother, trailed behind me since childhood, idolizing me, calling me.

He shared half his snacks with me, and was the first to fight anyone talking badly about me.

He said, “Henry is the best in the entire world!”

Those warm memories, wrapped in love, now cut through me like knives.

I could not understand how they could become like this.

Was it poverty? Or in the face of power, was so-called family love worthless?

My moment of daze lasted only a second, because my father’s next act of violence came directly.

He kicked my knee hard.

I could not hold myself up anymore and collapsed heavily onto the street.

My kneecap hit the pavement and a stifled groan escaped my lips.

My father towered over me, trembling with fury as he pointed at me.

“Get down and apologize to Mr. Grant now!”

I knelt there, slowly raising my head, scanning the family members before me.

I looked at their faces, twisted by fear, and asked calmly,

“Do you even know what happened?”

“We know! You ruined our entire family!” Dad practically yelled.

“If you’d gone to save her, we’d be living in glory, but now, you’ve ruined everything! You bring nothing but bad luck!”

In their eyes, it was not that a human life was involved, but rather that this was a ticket to wealth and prestige.

I was the sinner who had ruined their dreams.

They did not even bother to look at me.

My father turned around and grabbed my mother’s arm, and together they collapsed with a thud before Richard.

The impact sounded dull and heavy.

“Mr. Grant, I’m sorry! We’re so sorry!”

My father sobbed uncontrollably, snot and tears streaming as he shouted, “We failed to raise this monster! We cut all ties with him! From today on, this monster has nothing to do with our family!”

“Please, Mr. Grant, have mercy on us!”

Cut all ties…

Those words were as sharp as knives, driving deep into my chest.

I looked at my parents, kneeling in the dirt, pleading before a stranger.

Tears slipped down my face before I could stop them.

Richard’s gaze fell on my parents, kneeling desperately in front of him, but his eyes betrayed no emotion.

He looked at them as though they were a pair of filthy ants.

After a long pause, he finally spoke. His voice was flat and emotionless.

“Cutting ties? Too late.”

“If you want me to let you off, that’s fine too.”

He paused for a moment. His gaze fell on me, inspecting me like an object.

“From now on, your son will leave school and spend each day at the hospital, kneeling and praying for my daughter’s recovery until she wakes.”

My parents froze for a moment at his words. Then their faces lit up with wild joy.

“Yes! We’ll do it!”

They nodded frantically, as though this were a gift from the heavens.

“Thank you, Mr. Grant! Thank you!”

They got to their feet and tried to drag me along, murmuring nonstop.

“Did you hear that? Just kneel! It won’t kill you! This is what will save our whole family’s lives. You better do it!”

I yanked my hands free and stood on my own.

Back at home, I locked my door.

No matter how much they shouted or kicked at the door outside, I ignored them.

“Henry! You ungrateful brat! We raised you all these years. What’s so wrong with kneeling just once?!”

“Open the door, or we’ll drop dead right outside for you to see!”

I put on my headphones, blocking out all their vicious curses.

…

Three days later.

News broke that Evelyn had finally woken up.

They used a spare key to open my bedroom door and immediately dragged me out of bed.

“Hurry! Hurry to the hospital! Miss Grant is awake! Our good days are here!”

They dragged me all the way to the hospital.

At the entrance to Evelyn’s private ICU room, reporters swarmed, cameras and microphones flashing in every direction.

My parents shoved me through the crowd, pushing me to the very front.

The hospital room door opened.

Evelyn lay on the bed under the spotlight, pale and fragile-looking.

As she woke, her gaze swept past her parents and the reporters, locking perfectly on me.

For a moment, a flash of resentment flickered in her eyes.

However, it was quickly covered by a layer of tears.

She lifted her hand, wrapped thickly in bandages, and weakly pointed at me with all the strength she could muster.

“It… it was him…”

Her voice was quiet, yet through countless microphones, it carried clearly down the corridor.

The crowd fell silent instantly.

All eyes focused on me.

Tears streamed down her face like pearls breaking free of their string.

Through the cameras, she cried, “When the truck came at me, I tried to dodge it…

“It was him! He suddenly pushed me from behind!

“When I looked back, I saw him smiling… he was smiling…”

Just one sentence and the crowd went wild.

“What? It wasn’t negligence. It was a deliberate murder!”

“He’s a social scumbag! Look at his parents. They’re practically dying of shame! How could they raise such a monster?”

“Poor, jealous loser! Hating a rich girl like that? He’s disgusting and evil!”

My mother got furious, grabbed a handful of my hair, and yanked me to the ground.

“You murderer! I’ll beat you to death! Why would you harm our family?!”

My father was even worse. He kicked me over and over.

Then, along with my mom, they pinned my head to the ground with all their strength.

“Kneel! Apologize to Miss Grant for what you did!”

He screamed, pressing my head to the ground and hammering my back with fists like a maniac.

“I’ll beat this monster to death today! For justice!”

Blood quickly ran down my forehead, blurring my vision.

The pain and suffocating pressure hit me all at once. I felt like my bones were about to break under their blows.

Just when I thought I might die at my own parents’ hands, a sharp command rang out,

“Stop! Police!”

Uniformed officers pushed through the chaos, pulling my violent parents off me.

The lead officer, expression serious and calm, said, “Henry, please cooperate and come with us.

“We have new evidence in this case.”