I thought Joan was scared, that she regretted it.

Instead, she laughed right in my face.

"You really will say anything! Do you think you're capable of that? You can forget about calling the cops and ruining my wedding with Shaun. Stay here and think about what you've done."

She ignored my struggling and shouting, picked up my phone, and walked out.

The doors and windows were locked.

My phone was gone.

This place was out in the suburbs. I could scream all I wanted, and no one would hear me.

For three full days, I survived by swallowing toilet paper when I was starving. I even drank water straight from the bathroom sink.

Right when I thought I might actually die in there, Joan came back with Shaun.

"Matt, ever since you came back, you've been trying to take everything from me. Our parents, our sister, and now even the person I love. I put up with all of it. Why won't you just leave me alone?"

Shaun grabbed my hair, his eyes red, and drove his fist into me.

I didn't even understand what was happening before I was slammed to the ground. The taste of blood filled my mouth.

Joan, who once swore she would only ever love me, just kept blaming me.

"Who told you to put your name in that AI paper? Do you even know that after Shaun published it, people are already accusing him of plagiarism?"

I froze for a second, then rage surged through me. "That was my paper! What right did you have to give it to him?"

Joan frowned. "You've been in prison. Your reputation and future are already ruined. What difference does it make if he uses your paper? Go record a video and say you altered his work."

"In your dreams!" I spat.

They wanted to take my work for free, but couldn't even be bothered to read it carefully.

Now that their sloppy mistake had backfired and people were questioning it, they wanted me to take the blame.

How could they even say that out loud?

"If Shaun succeeds, the West family succeeds," Joan snapped, her voice rising. "And if the West family makes it, you benefit, too. How do you not get that?"

I looked at her, my voice flat. "The only one benefiting is you."

"Matt, if you don't cooperate, you're going to regret it!"

"You're the one who's going to regret it. In four days, you and the West family will be dragged back to where you belong. That's what you deserve!"

Joan was furious. She let out a cold laugh and left with Shaun.

The door shut, cutting off the last bit of sunlight.

At that moment, the woman I once remembered as proud but kind died completely in my mind.

Half an hour later, Helen showed up.

"Didn't Joan even give you food or water? How did you end up like this? This is too much."

She looked at me with concern, took me to the hospital for a checkup, then brought me back to her place. She treated me with the same gentle care she showed Shaun, as if she had finally accepted me as her brother.

However, that hope didn't last long.

The moment we arrived at her place, she spoke before I could even sit down.

"Matt, your reputation and future are already ruined. One more accusation of plagiarism won't make a difference. Can you clear things up for Shaun about the paper?"

"No."

"Are you worried about being criticized? It's fine. Just don't read the comments."

Crash!

I slammed the glass in my hand onto the floor and glared at her, my teeth clenched.

"I already gave him my family, my fiancée, a kidney, and three years of my life in prison! Isn't that enough?!"

"Matt, I know you've suffered, but I was dying. I had no choice. I just wanted to live."

Helen groveled before me, her eyes red as she looked up.

"Please. I'm begging you. Just this once, okay?"

Every time I refused Helen, she used her life to pressure me.

Before, I always gave in because I felt sorry for her.

Now, it only made me sick.

"Helen, your health was already stable before I went to prison," I sneered.

"But my condition depends on Shaun's affection. What if his feelings drop, and I get sick again? I…"

She tried to play the victim again.

I cut her off. "That's enough. You hired those thugs to humiliate me. Was that to please Shaun, or to drive me out of the Fisher family so I wouldn't get a share of the inheritance? You know the answer."

I graduated from a top university. I wasn't stupid. I had just been trapped in family ties and love, which compelled me to step back again and again.

Helen's expression darkened at my words. She stood up, looking at me with disappointment.

"My health matters more than your reputation. You were never this unreasonable before. Prison really changed you."

I didn't bother arguing with someone pretending not to understand.

"If you've got time to lecture me, you should be planning your own funeral instead. I already activated the anti-system device. In four days, you'll be right back at terminal cancer."

I was telling the truth, but she didn't believe a word of it. Her face twisted with anger.

"I'm your sister, and you're wishing death on me? You're unbelievable! If you won't change, then don't blame me when I stop playing nice!"

She left in a fury.

Soon after, the internet was flooded with scandals about me.

Joan and Helen even held a press conference to clear Shaun's name.

They said I had crippled a rising actress and ended up in prison for it. They said I was promiscuous, that I slept with groups of men, that I was disgusting.

They said I constantly tried to harm Shaun and even attempted to steal his research.

In just four days, public opinion spiraled out of control.

On my way to the hospital, people pointed at me and whispered.

At the hotel, someone had a funeral arrangement sent to my room. My phone was already blowing up with messages, tearing me apart.

Shaun even came to find me, grinning.

"I told you a long time ago. You were never going to beat me."

I looked at him coldly. "A nobody living someone else's life really thinks a system can fix everything? Two more hours, and you'll all be right back where you started."

His face twisted with anger, and he raised his hand to shove me.

I stepped aside.

He lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs.

"Help! Helen, Joan, help me! Matt's jealous, and he tried to kill me! Help!"

Joan rushed over, grabbed my throat, and slammed me against the wall. "You brought this on yourself, and you still dare to hurt Shaun? If anything happens to him, you'll pay with your life!"

I struggled to breathe. "He tried to push me… He fell on his own…"

Helen helped Shaun up, his body covered in blood.

She looked at me with disappointment.

"Still lying? Joan and I have already been more than kind to you. We only had those men take photos. We didn't actually let them touch you or destroy your dignity. We were even willing to support you for the rest of your life. Why do you keep targeting Shaun?"

They had taken me from a respected heir with a bright future and turned me into a disgraced ex-con with a ruined reputation.

Yet, they still claimed they had been good to me.

At this point, whether they truly couldn't see through Shaun's lies or were choosing to protect him didn't matter to me anymore.

All I wanted was for those last two hours to pass, so I could watch their downfall with my own eyes.

My throat hurt too much to speak, and they had no intention of listening anyway.

Shaun had split his head open from the fall.

Joan and Helen dragged me to the hospital and forced me to give him a blood transfusion.

"I won't give him my blood. Let me go. Someone, help!" I yelled.

They hauled me inside by force while I shouted for help.

Joan looked at me with disgust. "This is my private hospital. What I say goes. You can scream all you want. No one's coming to help you."

I felt rage and despair twist together in my chest.

"I donated a kidney and spent three years in prison. I just got out, and now you've been putting me through all of this. I have pneumonia and a high fever. Are you trying to kill me by forcing me to give blood?"

Joan's voice turned cold. "This is the price for hurting Shaun."

Seeing how heartless she was, I turned to Helen. "Joan fell for someone else and keeps hurting me for Shaun, but we're siblings. Will you…"

Helen didn't even let me finish. "You shouldn't have laid a hand on Shaun."

I thought I had already given up on them.

But in that moment, my chest still ached like something sharp had been driven into it.

I stared at them, teeth clenched. "You two are heartless! The anti-system device is already running. I'll be here to watch you get what's coming…argh!"

Joan kicked me to the ground. "Stop trying to scare us."

I hit the floor hard.

Helen dragged me into the operating room. "There's no way you're stronger than the system…ugh!"

Before she could finish, a mouthful of blood burst from her lips, and she collapsed to the ground.

At the same time, Joan's phone started vibrating nonstop. On the other end, her assistant's voice shook with panic.

"Ms. West, something's wrong! The company is in serious trouble!"

Their reckoning had arrived.