My older sister, Noelle Brown, has an unhealthy obsession with me.

When I was ten years old, Noelle almost got kidnapped by the kidnappers. I got into the kidnappers' van in her stead.

Later on, I was returned to my family after they paid a ransom. But my face had already been slashed by the kidnappers, and my legs had been broken by them, too.

Since then, Noelle has worked extremely hard to improve herself. That's how she successfully brings the company Dad has left behind to a new level of success.

I become Noelle's most cherished person as well as the vulnerable spot that no one else is allowed to touch.

Someone made fun of my ugly looks in the past. Noelle had stuffed his head into a sack filled with rats, where he literally got his face chewed off him alive.

There was also someone who ran his mouth about me being a cripple behind my back. Noelle responded by crushing his legs with a road roller, resulting in his legs being reduced to paste.

Noelle is the demoness who's feared by the entire city. But to think that such a fearsome woman dotes on me endlessly. She even dumps a huge amount of money into sending me overseas, where I undergo numerous plastic and orthopedic surgeries while finishing my college studies.

Before returning to the country, I receive an engagement invitation from Noelle. She tells me that soon, I'll have a brother-in-law who will spoil me like she does. She even sends me a photo of her fiance, Faris Smith.

But as soon as I arrive at the villa, Faris barges in with a group of brutes. He's mistaken me for Noelle's side piece, whom she keeps in another country, so he begins torturing me endlessly.

By the time Noelle reaches the scene, Faris points at me while shouting at her.

"Don't tell me I can't even compare to that pretty boy!"

Noelle's eyes go bloodshot at the sight. "What makes you think you're even worthy of being compared to him?"

With a deafening shatter, the villa's floor-to-ceiling shattered into pieces as a group of fierce, menacing men barged inside. Reeling from shock, I recognized the leader. He was the man in the photo my sister, Noelle Brown, had sent me a few days ago—Faris Smith, my future brother-in-law.

Before a greeting could even form on my lips, his face twisted with pure malice as he swung the iron rod in his hand straight into my face. Searing pain shot through my nose, and I felt something warm oozing down. I reached up and touched it; my fingers came away bloody.

The sudden blow caught me completely off guard, sending me into vertigo.

"Gotcha, you pathetic boy toy. I knew I'd catch you eventually! And here I thought you'd stay hidden overseas forever like a total coward!" Faris snarled. Taking advantage of my dazed state, he swung his rod again, raining brutal blows down on my head and body.

Shielding my head as the sheer agony ripped through me, I stumbled backward and tripped, crashing to the ground. "You've got it all wrong! I'm—"

Before the words could leave my mouth, Faris jammed the iron rod straight into my mouth and shoved it wildly a couple of times. A sharp, excruciating pain erupted inside my mouth, and the metallic, sweet taste of blood flooded my throat, causing me to choke and spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Like hell I've got it wrong! I know exactly how you sweet-talked Elle into buying you this place. You must've found out about our engagement, so you came back to insert yourself into our lives.

"Even if you failed, you figured you could still be her kept man, right? Right here and right now, I'm going to show you exactly what happens to homewreckers!" He brought his foot down, kicking me flat onto the floor.

The back of my head slammed violently against the sharp edge of the coffee table, and I felt my skin split open on impact. Desperate and enraged, I swallowed the blood pooling in my throat and forced out, "You seriously have it all wrong! I'm Noelle's biological younger brother. She literally texted me a few days ago, asking me to fly back for the engagement party…"

Faris froze. One of the brutes behind him stepped forward and whispered in his ear, "I actually did hear that the Boss has a biological younger brother who's been living abroad for years. None of us knows what the guy looks like, though. Word is, they're fraternal twins."

Faris glanced at my face. "Fraternal twins? This kid doesn't look a damn thing like Elle."

Right at that moment, another heavily built man with a prominent facial scar walked in. It was Blaine Dawson, Noelle's trusted subordinate.

He was an old-timer who had been by Noelle's side for years. He would definitely recognize me!

"Blaine, it's me, Noe!" I forced the words out of my throat.

Blaine was caught off guard for a moment. Then, he looked over at me. "Who is this kid? How does he know me?" he asked, confused.

Faris, however, raised the iron rod in his hand once more, cracking it hard against my jaw. Clutching my mouth, I was in too much agonizing pain to utter another word.

"He's that boy toy I told you about. He must have caught your name when the guys greeted you."

Blaine shook his head. "That can't be. I could've sworn he just said he was Noe. Noe is Mr. Brown's nickname. There's no way a random stranger would know that."

He strode up to me, forced my face up, and tilted it side to side as he studied me. "He looks nothing like Mr. Brown."

My heart sank. Blaine had never seen me since I had my plastic surgery.

"Wait a minute! Mr. Brown was sent abroad specifically to undergo plastic surgery back then," Blaine remembered out loud. "Did you have work done on your face?"

I nodded frantically, pouring all my hope into my eyes to plead with him. "Yes, I'm Noelle!"

Faris sneered, refusing to buy it. "He's a boy toy who makes a living off his looks. Isn't it normal for someone like him to have plastic surgery?"

Blaine raised his hand, stopping him in his tracks. "Faces can be changed, but identities can't. Search his pockets for his ID; that'll settle it."

At his order, two heavy-built men stepped forward and pinned me down to rifle through my pockets. I writhed and tried to break free from their grasp, only to be slapped across the face by Faris. "Hold still! Let's tie him up."

Bound tightly, I endured the sheer humiliation of being patted down. Blaine grew anxious. "Why did you beat him up this badly? What if he really is Mr. Brown?"

Faris chuckled, offering Blaine a cigarette. "Relax, will you? I'm about to get engaged to Elle. Even if I roughed up her brother a bit over a misunderstanding, it just proves how much I love her. In any case, she'll forgive me!"

Blaine took a drag from his cigarette and nodded. "Fair enough."

It didn't take long for them to find my ID. Faris snatched it, took one look, and burst into laughter. "See? I told you this little bastard was lying!"

Blaine leaned over his shoulder and slowly read my name. "Ash Bennett."

He moved on to my graduation certificate. "Ash Bennett. He really is an impostor. Mr. Brown's name is Noel Brown. On top of that, the country he went to wasn't Kessland; it was Eisenwald."

My heart plummeted straight into my stomach. Following the incident, Noelle had completely removed me from the family registry and secretly changed my name to my mother's maiden name. To ensure I'd never fall victim to another kidnapping, she didn't utter a word about this to a single soul.

Did she lie to everyone about where I actually went just to keep me safe? "Oh, Noelle… Your secrecy is going to be the death of me!" I panicked inwardly.

Blaine's gaze turned ice-cold. "This little bastard actually had the nerve to masquerade as Mr. Brown. Beat him to a pulp!"

I was held in place and brutally beaten, the impact knocking my phone right out of my pocket. The moment the screen lit up, the lock screen caught Blaine's eye. His expression changed drastically. "Hold on!"

It was a selfie of Noelle and me. With trembling hands, Blaine picked it up and inquired, "Is this phone yours?"

I nodded frantically. Faris curled his lip. "It's just a photo, Blaine. For all we know, the kid photoshopped it beforehand!"

I puckered my lips, gesturing for Blaine to unlock my phone and look inside. Reading my mind, he held my phone up to my face to unlock it and pulled up my chat history with Noelle. "Holy shit, he actually has the Boss saved as 'Sis'!" he gasped.

Faris snatched my phone away from him. "He's a scheming boy toy. Of course, he calls her sis. How else do you think they smooth-talk their sugar mummies? Don't fall for his tricks!"

He scrolled up a few lines, and his face instantly contorted with rage. "Would you look at that? Not only did she buy you a villa, but she even calls you 'honey' and says she never wants to be apart from you again?"

I desperately wanted to explain, but the slightest movement of my jaw flared the wounds inside my mouth, stripping away my ability to speak. Noelle and I only had each other; she hated having me so far away overseas.

Growing up, no one had ever dared to lay a single finger on me. Yet here I was, beaten to a bloody pulp by her fiance, unable to even utter a word. Even her subordinate failed to recognize me.

"Noelle, it hurts so much!" I thought to myself. I began to weep silently, causing Blaine to knit his brows. "This kid's personality actually is quite similar to Mr. Brown's. He can't handle the slightest bit of mistreatment, and he's a crybaby. Maybe we should look into this a bit more. Boss spoils Mr. Brown rotten. If this kid turns out to be the real deal, we're going to be in deep shit!"

Faris nodded. "Fine. Let me make a quick call. If he's the real deal, I'll own up to it and take the blame. But if he's not…"

His expression instantly twisted into something hideous and cruel. "I'll make this little pretty boy regret ever being born into this world!"

He ordered his men to gag me before dialing Noelle's number. "Hello? Didn't you mention a few days ago that your brother's flying back for our engagement party? When will he be arriving, exactly? I wanted to pick out a nice welcome gift for him ahead of time, so I figured I'd ask."

Noelle's joyful voice came through the line. "That's so sweet of you! He told me he'll be landing tomorrow night."

My blood ran cold. "I'm done for," I cursed inwardly. Because I had wanted to give Noelle a surprise, I had deliberately changed my flight to today.

Faris's eyes narrowed, his gaze turning venomous as he stared down at me. If he hung up the phone now, I'd be a dead man.

I opened my mouth and bit down on the hand covering my mouth with all my might. The giant holding me down grunted and released his grip.

"Noelle, save me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, pouring every ounce of my remaining strength into it.

Faris' expression changed drastically. He rushed over, kicking me violently to the floor and slamming his boot down onto my bloody mouth.

Noelle sounded confused. "Did someone just shout for me to save them?"

Faris forced a smile before responding, "Oh, it's just the television in the background. Since your brother will be back tomorrow, I've got to run and get his welcome gift ready. I'll talk to you later!"

He hung up, leaving me in total, suffocating despair. Blinding pain exploded from my mouth as Faris dug his weight into his boot. "How dare you lie to my face, you little bastard? You almost had me fooled!"

Tears streamed down my face from the agonizing pressure of his boot, but it did nothing to cool his temper. Staring down at my tear-stained face, a dark, intense jealousy surged in Faris' eyes. "You wrapped Elle around your little finger with this face of yours, didn't you? She already agreed to get engaged to me, yet she still went out of her way to buy a massive villa for you!"

One of the giants behind him tried to reason with him. "To be fair, it's not all that surprising. Powerhouses like Boss always keep a side piece on the low. Since she's so fond of him, shouldn't we just let him go? You're the one she's actually marrying anyway. Why not just turn a blind eye and let it go?"

Blaine chimed in as well. "He's right. At the end of the day, you're the official spouse. He'll never be able to compete with you anyway."

Faris' gaze softened slightly as he fell into deep thought.

An overwhelming sense of grievance and indignation welled up from the bottom of my heart. I was Noelle's biological younger brother, but here I was, taking a savage beating because her men mistook me for her secret lover.

Noelle's taste in men was absolute garbage. The moment I set eyes on her, I would make damn sure she called off this entire engagement.

Faris noticed the resentment burning in my eyes, and any doubt he had just seconds ago was completely incinerated by a fresh wave of anger. "How dare you glare at me, you piece of trash? Even if I don't take your life today, I'm going to cripple you!"

After withdrawing his boot, he pulled out a knife from his breast pocket and brought the blade down on my face.

"Don't!" I screamed as the cold steel bit into my skin.

Faris, however, only sped up his movements. "Once you turn into an ugly freak, the person Elle loves most is bound to be me!"

Wave after wave of blinding pain tore through me, and I came incredibly close to blacking out. Noelle had spent a literal fortune hiring professional plastic surgeons, taking three grueling years of surgeries to perfect this face of mine.

Now, it was utterly ruined. Noelle would never, ever let him get away with this.

"You just wait… You're a dead man walking…" I gritted out.

Faris snapped, "You piece of shit, you're still running your mouth?"

He drove the blade across my lips. "Let's see you talk now! Come on, say that again!"

My lips went completely numb with a searing, white-hot pain. I couldn't form another syllable.

Faris raised his knife to continue his assault, but the sharp, echoing click of high heels on the floorboards made everyone freeze.

"Boss, what are you doing here?"

It was Noelle. Noelle was here! I thrashed around, desperately attempting to pull myself up, but a sickening crack resonated from the back of my knees. Faris had slammed his iron rod right into my hamstrings, causing my legs to instantly give out.

Blaine's face went completely pale. He urged Faris to hide me. "If Boss sees this, she's bound to lose her temper. Quick, hide him!"

Faris and two of his men hauled me across the floor and threw me into the kitchen. The sliding doors had just clicked shut when Noelle stepped into the room. "I thought I told you to get a move on with furnishing this place, Bee. What's the holdup?"

"I literally just got here, Boss. Everything's still in the car. I'll get the guys to haul everything in right now." Blaine led the remaining two men outside to unload the goods.

The rhythmic click of Noelle's high heels echoed outside as she inspected the layout. "The renovation's well done. He'll definitely be pleased with it. Is this the kitchen?" she asked the designer, raising her hand to slide the door open.

Watching her silhouette against the frosted glass door, my tears blurred my vision. "Noelle, please... just open the door and save me!" I prayed silently.

The door was slowly pushed open by Noelle. The moment she realized Faris was standing over me and my broken body on the floor, the color completely drained from her face.