I looked up in horror and saw Christopher's vicious face. His eyes were perfectly clear, brimming with mockery as he looked at me.

"Painkillers?"

Finding they were nothing more than painkillers, Christopher instantly lost interest.

"Give them back!" I roared hoarsely.

Seeing the desperation written all over my face, Christopher smirked cruelly.

"Are you in pain? Well, that makes sense. I did instruct Dr. Harding to use triple the dosage of every drug on you. Looks like he followed through. But why are you so hard to kill? How is it you're still alive after all that? I really didn't expect you'd survive and make it back to this rat hole."

With that, he threw the painkillers at his feet and gave a scornful sneer. Then, he crushed them one by one beneath his shoe.

"No!" I lunged at him desperately.

But with just a light shove from Christopher, I went crashing heavily into the corner of the wall.

With a sickening splat, I retched up a mouthful of blood.

Still not satisfied, Christopher kicked me viciously, his face twisted with malice.

"You jerk! Why did you have to be found and brought back? If you hadn't shown up, I would be the heir of this family! You made me play a fool for five years! You good-for-nothing loser!"

I was kicked back and forth like a sack.

Just as I thought I was going to die right there, a sound suddenly came from the doorway.

A ruthless glint flashed in Christopher's eyes, and he threw himself straight into the wall. In an instant, a fresh gash appeared on his head.

"Sutton, I only wanted to play with you! Why did you push me into the wall?" Christopher cried out, his expression turning childlike once more.

A terrible sense of foreboding washed over me. Ever since I had been brought back, Christopher had used tricks like this a thousand times over.

Sure enough, I was slapped viciously on the face in the next second.

"Sutton, I would have thought five years would teach you to behave, but it turns out you're just inherently wicked. Christopher is just a child right now, and yet you still had the heart to hurt him! If I had known it could come to this, I should never have brought you back!"

I collapsed onto the ground and looked at Eliza with bitter sarcasm.

"All four of my limbs have already been broken, so how could I possibly have dragged him into the wall?"

Eliza froze for a brief moment, a flicker of hesitation appearing in her eyes.

But beside her, Christopher refused to let go. "It was him! He's the one who dragged me into the wall! Eliza, he was perfectly fine just a moment ago. He must be lying to you! It hurts so much, Eliza."

Amid Christopher's sobbing, whatever faint wavering Eliza might have felt disappeared once more.

"Sutton, you never change, do you? You're still just as vicious as ever!"

She slapped me so hard she ruptured my eardrum. Now, all I could hear was muffled sounds.

Disappointment and disgust clouded Eliza's eyes, just like the day she was told Christopher had been in a car crash.

She had never once believed me.

I could no longer speak. Helplessly, I curled myself into a ball, bracing against the pain that might come.

Eliza pried my hands apart and dragged me out into the sunlight.

Jeremy and the other household staff began pointing their fingers at me.

My hearing was completely gone now, so I could only stand there blankly, watching them look at me with disgust.

"I always knew Sutton was trouble. First day back, and he's already going for Mr. Christopher. What a monster! If Ms. Parker hadn't brought him back, he'd still be out there somewhere begging on the streets. He doesn't know the first thing about gratitude."

Even though I couldn't hear, those words still echoed in my mind.

Ever since I was brought back, these were the exact things I was made to face every time I was framed.

No one would ever believe me.

The next second, I was struck by a familiar pain.

Amid Christopher's gleeful clapping, Eliza brought the whip down on my back again and again.

Unable to hold on any longer, I collapsed to the ground and threw up mouthful after mouthful of blood.

Yet, Eliza didn't slow in the slightest.

Only after the 99th lash had fallen was I dragged back into the basement like a dead dog.

Eliza looked down at me, her eyes brimming with disgust.

"Once Christopher has fully recovered in six days, I'll find another villa for you. Don't ever show your face in front of us again. I'll deposit money into your account every month. Consider it a payment for severing our ties."

My back burned with searing pain. As I realized what Eliza had just said, I stared at her face, and the words slipped out as if by some strange compulsion.

"I bet you'd be much happier now if you had never found me and taken me back."

Eliza's expression froze for a moment, and something unreadable flickered in her eyes as she looked at me.

But soon, she snapped out of it.

She turned her face away and said in a stiff and unnatural voice, "If you hadn't laid a hand on Christopher, I would have treated you like my brother too."

I stared blankly at the ground. With my eardrum ruptured, I hadn't heard a single word. The next second, I could hold on no longer and fainted to the ground.

Eliza's heart sank, and a look of urgency appeared on her face. She abruptly stepped forward, ready to scoop me up.

But just then, Christopher grabbed her arm and whined, "Sutton probably just fell asleep. Eliza, my head hurts so much. Can you please take me to the doctor?"

The words had barely left his mouth before he tugged her out of the basement.

…

No matter the hour I awoke, the basement greeted me with nothing but darkness.

Feeling the familiar, unrelenting pain radiating through my body, I opened my eyes.

I had a premonition that today was the seventh day.

At some point, the basement door had been left open.

Gazing greedily at the light seeping through the crack, I propped up my stiff body and slowly made my way out. Even if I were going to die, I wanted to die in the sunlight instead of this basement.

The villa was extravagantly decorated with colored lights and red silk, all in celebration of Christopher's recovery.

Faint sounds drifted over from the ballroom.

I walked out slowly, my breathing heavy with every step.

At the corner, Jeremy suddenly appeared. I tried desperately to dodge out of sight, but he spotted me anyway.

In an instant, his face twisted with disgust. "What are you doing here? Get back to the basement right now!"

As he spoke, he grabbed my arm, intent on dragging me back to the basement.

I fought back with the very last ounce of strength I had left.

Jeremy, irritated by my resistance, dealt me a heavy slap, knocking away that final bit of life from me.

Carried by the force of his blow, I tumbled forward until I crashed through a door.

The lively atmosphere inside the ballroom fell instantly into dead silence.

The next second, mocking voices and laughter erupted all around.

"Isn't this the younger brother Ms. Parker found five years ago? How did he end up looking like this after all these years?"

"Today of all days, he rolls his way in. Look at him—all ragged and filthy like some beggar."

Eliza's expression gradually darkened, the fury in her eyes blazing even hotter.

"Sutton, are you so determined to ruin Christopher's celebration? It seems letting you go was far too generous of me. You deserved to die in that basement!"

I lay on the floor, my eyes hollow and without a shred of strength left in me.

When she saw my deathly pale face, a flicker of hesitation crossed Eliza's eyes.

She took a few steps forward, but Christopher stopped her with a cheerful grin.

"Eliza, let me have a proper talk with Sutton."

Under Christopher's obstruction, Eliza ultimately stopped in her tracks.

Christopher grabbed my arm with an iron grip and dragged me back to the basement.

The struggle just moments ago had already drained every ounce of my strength. I could only watch helplessly as I was pulled back into the darkness.

After mercilessly flinging me onto the ground, Christopher patted my face and said mockingly, "I know you're about to die, and I also know you don't want to die in the basement.

"But I just want you to find no peace even in death. After all, a rat should die in its own rat hole. Don't worry. I'll take good care of Eliza and everything in this family. So, you can just go ahead and die!"

With that, he laughed heartily and left.

The basement door slammed heavily shut, and darkness swallowed me once more.

I crossed my arms and hugged my own body.

The cold and pain closed in around me.

In the final moments before my awareness slipped away, all I felt was regret. If only I could have died under the sunlight, and if only I had never been found and brought back in the first place.

…

It was only after the party ended that Eliza thought of me.

She idly noted that I'd been fairly well-behaved this past week, so she decided to let me move out and live on my own.

She summoned Jeremy and told him to check on the situation in the basement.

Just then, she heard sounds coming from upstairs. Following the noise up the staircase, she discovered it was Christopher speaking.

His door was slightly ajar, so Eliza could clearly hear him smugly laughing.

"God, I'm exhausted from keeping up this act for five years. Good thing Eliza is such a fool. All I had to do was look innocent and clueless, and she believed me every time."

Eliza trembled all over.

Just at that moment, Jeremy rushed over, shaking.

"Ms. Parker, the person in the basement… It seems he died at some point."