Chapter 3

Seraphina marched straight to the console of the precision instrument.

"Mr.Simpson, it's been so long since the incident. Elara has undoubtedly buried the truth in the deepest recesses of her mind. Standard power levels won't breach her psychological defenses."

She announced this with feigned professionalism, though a cruel smirk played on her lips.

"We have to crank it up to the maximum threshold to force the extraction."

"It might be a little painful for her, but it won't kill her," she added. "For the sake of the truth, and to avenge Lily, it's our only option."

Kael's back stiffened slightly, but he didn't turn around, nor did he stop her.

Taking his silence as permission, Seraphina cast aside all restraint.

She slammed the dial all the way into the red zone!

"No—!"

My scream was torn to shreds by an even more violent agony before it could fully escape my throat.

Blood gushed frantically from my eyes, nose, ears, and even the corners of my mouth.

Yet, the blinded crowd below remained in a frenzy of righteous indignation.

They saw this as nothing more than karmic justice.

They splashed gasoline and paint onto the stage, their mouths spewing vicious curses at me.

"Stop faking it! This is what you owe Lily!"

"Let her die! How does someone like her have the nerve to keep living?"

Amidst the torrent of abuse, the massive holographic screen behind me finally lit up.

The static cleared, and clear memory visuals began to rewind, displayed before billions of people worldwide.

Everyone held their breath, waiting to see the ugly face of me squandering that massive hush money fee, living a life of debauchery.

Seraphina, acting like a commentator, couldn't wait to speak into the microphone:

"Look, everyone. This is what she did right after taking the money..."

However, the words caught in her throat.

What appeared on the big screen wasn't a luxury boutique or a sprawling mansion.

Instead, it was filled with swirling dust and a scorching construction site under the blazing sun.

In the footage, a younger version of me was dressed in tattered work clothes, carrying a load of red bricks heavier than my own body weight, struggling to move forward step by step.

My shoulders were ground into a bloody mess, leaving a bloody footprint with every step I took.

The scene shifted.

In a shady, illegal clinic late at night, I rolled up my sleeve to reveal an arm riddled with needle marks.

To exchange for a few hundred bucks, I drained my blood time and time again until I was pale as a ghost and passed out on the roadside, kicked out the door by the clinic owner like a piece of garbage.

A deathly silence fell over the entire venue.

This wasn't a wealthy woman living off hush money; this was a beggar living in hell!

I never spent a dime of that so-called "hush money." Instead, I donated it all directly to a charity foundation. That is why I had been so destitute for the past ten years.

To make ends meet, I took on every dirty, backbreaking job imaginable.

Years of exhaustion and erratic schedules eventually led to my cancer diagnosis. Life became even harder.

But right now, the excruciating pain made it impossible for me to open my mouth to explain.

"Th-this... how is this possible?"

Seraphina panicked for a second but immediately shrieked, "It's a sympathy ploy! She must have gambled all the money away, or maybe she was being chased by loan sharks! Yes, she's a degenerate gambler!"

The images continued to flow, rewinding to the third day after Lily's death.

That was the day everyone assumed I had taken the money and run.

On the screen, a dark alley in a torrential downpour appeared.

I wasn't counting money.

Instead, I was being dragged through the mud like a dead dog by several burly men in black suits and sunglasses.

"Sign it!"

The leader slammed a statement into my face, followed immediately by a barrage of punches and kicks.

"Someone has to take the fall for this!"

"Sign this non-disclosure agreement, and the money is yours. Otherwise, we'll make you disappear!"

In the footage, I was beaten black and blue, but I gritted my teeth and refused to yield.

"I didn't... I'm going to tell Kael the truth..."

"Still stubborn!"

A heavy punch from the man slammed into my abdomen. I curled up like a shrimp in agony, retching blood into the muddy water.

In reality, cold sweat broke out on Seraphina's forehead. She pointed at the screen and shouted her defense:

"See! This is definitely a deal gone wrong among thieves! They're fighting over the split!"

The next second, in the memory, the men stomped their heavy leather boots onto my hands to force my compliance.

The audience outside the screen could clearly hear the sickening *crack* of breaking bones.

Yet, I still didn't give in.

My hand bones were shattered; I would never play the piano again.

Seeing this, Kael felt a heart-wrenching pain that nearly knocked him off his feet.

He, too, had once reminisced about the melodies I used to play for him.

In the footage, the large man pulled something from his pocket.

It was a crumpled envelope—Kael's university acceptance letter.

"Elara, you don't want to see Kael give up on his dream school, do you?"

"Sign this statement, and we'll leave Kael alone. Otherwise, we'll ruin his entire life."

In the video, the look in my eyes changed instantly.

Staring at the paper that held Kael's dreams, I lunged forward like a madwoman to cradle it in my arms.

"Don't tear it! Please don't tear it!"

"I'll sign! I'll sign it! I'll do whatever you want."

"...I will absolutely never reveal the truth!"

In utter despair, I agreed to their demands and accepted the check.

Kael jerked his head up to look at me, bound to the chair and tortured to the brink of death. He stumbled.

"Stop... shut it down for a second!"

His voice trembled as he instinctively made a move to rush onto the stage.

"Kael! Get a grip!"

Seraphina grabbed his arm tightly, her shrill voice cutting through the air and halting his movement.

"Are you actually moved by this? Do you think she sacrificed herself for your future?"

"That's ridiculous! Think about who you were back then! You were a genius accepted into MIT! At nineteen, you wrote code worth a billion dollars. Apple, Microsoft, and ByteDance were all fighting to acquire your company."

"What university would reject you? How could your future possibly be in jeopardy?"

"This is nothing but a meaningless act of 'self-sacrifice' to make herself feel good!"

Seraphina's words were like poisonous vines, rapidly strangling Kael's wavering resolve.

"She knows your personality too well. That's why she staged this sob story—to make you feel indebted to her!"

"If she really cared about you, why didn't she just call the police? Why engage with those thugs?"

"Kael, don't forget Lily's death! Don't be fooled by this woman's acting!"

The step Kael had just taken froze in place.

He looked at the girl on the big screen fighting for him, but the pity in his eyes was gradually replaced by cold rationality.

It was true.

He was the chosen one; no one had ever truly been able to threaten his future.

In this moment, my sacrifice seemed to him not only stupid but reeked of calculation.

"You're right."

Kael took a deep breath, restoring his air of superior detachment, looking even more disgusted than before.

"I don't need this kind of worthless sacrifice."

"She really went to great lengths just to make me feel guilty."

He turned his back, refusing to look at me again, and spat out a single word:

"Proceed."

In that moment, amidst Kael's suspicion and the crowd's chatter, my heart went completely cold—colder than the freezing rain that soaked me to the bone.