Chapter 3

Lyra’s POV

I closed my eyes and waited for the worst.

But then Matteo was there.

Tires screeched violently behind me before strong hands grabbed my shoulders.

“Lyra? Lyra!” His voice sounded furious and panicked at the same time. “Are you fucking insane? You jumped out of the car!”

I forced my eyes open slowly.

Matteo was still Matteo. But for the first time in years, there was something in his eyes besides disgust.

Fear? Panic? Maybe even the slightest bit of concern.

The look was so unfamiliar that for a moment, it felt like he was staring at someone else instead of me.

When we were younger, I used to follow Matteo everywhere like his shadow. He would laugh and call me his little tail.

Even after Lily arrived, I still clung to him out of habit. Blood or not, we had grown up together. Loving him had once felt as natural as breathing.

But after Lily came home, everything changed. Whenever I approached Matteo, he no longer called me his little tail. He only told me to fuck off.

“I wish you’d die,” became the sentence I heard most from him.

At school, he encouraged everyone to isolate me. He proudly introduced Lily as the real Miss Kane while the others mocked me openly.

“So you’re the stray the Kane family picked up by mistake?”

“The fake daughter who stole someone else’s life?”

The bullying only got worse after that.

Girls locked me inside bathroom stalls and dumped cold water over my head while calling me disgusting names.

Matteo passed by once while it was happening. I knew he was outside because I heard his voice. I begged him to let me out.

But all he said was—“You deserve this.” Then he walked away.

I stayed locked inside that bathroom until the cleaning lady found me the next morning. Nobody came looking for me.

Not Matteo. Not Mama. Not Papa.

The feeling that no one in this world needed me, that no one loved me, haunted me for years after that night.

So why was Matteo looking at me with panic now? Why did he suddenly care whether I lived or died?

I wanted to ask him, but I barely had the strength to keep my eyes open.

“Stay awake,” Matteo said hoarsely, tightening his hold on me. “I’m taking you to the hospital first… Stay with me, just stay with me, Lyra.”

My vision slowly blurred as consciousness slipped away.

But even then, one thought remained painfully clear in my mind—I won’t go back to the Kane. And maybe… just maybe if I survived this, I could still find my real family someday. The kind of family that wouldn’t look at me like I was a monster.

….

I woke to the sound of arguing.

Matteo was yelling at someone outside the room.

“What the hell do you mean those bruises are old injuries?” His voice was sharp with anger. “And her wrists? Those cuts?”

“Mr. Kane, your sister’s condition is very concerning,” a doctor said carefully. “It appears she suffered long-term abuse. We also found several substances in her blood linked to heavy psychiatric medication. Most of them are prescriptions used for delusions and severe mental disorders.”

“She’s awake,” a nurse suddenly said.

She leaned over me gently. “Miss, can you hear me?”

The moment I opened my eyes, Matteo rushed to my bedside.

The cold, mocking brother from before was gone. His eyes were red, his expression shaken in a way I had never seen before.

“Lyra,” he said hoarsely, “What happened to you in there?”

I parted my lips, but no sound came out.

What happened to me? I almost wanted to laugh.

Wasn’t Matteo the one who knew best what happened to me in there? Weren’t the Kane the ones who sent me there in the first place? Weren’t they the ones who paid people to take “special care” of me so I would never be sane enough to speak the truth?

But then Matteo spoke again, the confusion in his voice made my thoughts freeze.

“I…I paid the doctors to look after you,” he muttered, staring at the bruises on my arms like he couldn’t believe they were real. “They were only supposed to let you stay there until we came to pick you up. Why are there so many injuries on your body? And those pills…”