Chapter 3

Summer's birthday party lasted for the entire day.

The next morning, the guests who were leaving spotted me, the heiress of the Lewis family, passing out on the ground. I was completely drenched, and blooming bruises littered the skin of my arms and cheeks.

I finally stirred awake from the pain when I heard them insulting me. I maintained a calm demeanor when I crawled back up onto my feet. When I entered the villa, the man I was terrified of collided with me, causing the blood in my veins to freeze over.

"Winter, you're back. Why are you all wet?"

The old man with a wrinkled face grabbed my arm as he leered at me salaciously, giving me a once-over. He reached out his hand and touched my waist.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, so I came to see you."

He yanked at the buttons of my shirt and said obscenely, "Hurry and take off your clothes. You'll catch a cold if you don't."

A fear from my past consumed me ever since I laid eyes on him. I was so scared that I was paralyzed where I stood, unable to force myself to move.

The man was my adoptive father, Frank Kingston. He was also Summer's biological father.

I lived with him for a decade. He would constantly scold and hit me. His filthy hands had turned into a nightmare that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I was terrified of his touch and subconsciously retreated a few steps. "Don't touch me!" I hissed.

Summer was smiling when she walked over to us. "Mr. Kingston, Winter never liked other people touching her. She's not that easy of a person."

Autumn jeered coldly in response, "You don't have to speak on her behalf, Summer. Her bad luck is going to rub off on you.

"Everyone knows that she doesn't care who touches her and welcomes any and all men to place their hands on her. But she still wants to act reserved now. I feel disgusted just thinking about what she did in high school."

Everyone's expressions twisted when Autumn brought up the high school incident. They turned their attention to me, looking at me in disdain.

During my time in high school, a PE teacher had the tendency to touch me inappropriately. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and reported his misdeeds to the school.

But the teacher turned the situation around and accused me of seducing him and stripping my clothes in front of him. He even uploaded a few videos onto the school forum.

When the news spread among the student body, everyone turned against me and criticized me for my actions. I was innocent, but no one was willing to listen to my explanations. Some people even shared the incident around, and it eventually ended up being covered by the local news.

That was also when my identity as the heiress of the Lewises was exposed. The incident had caused the Lewis family to be ridiculed.

Kenneth and Autumn had forced me to my knees to grovel at the teacher's feet for forgiveness and bumped my head against the floor again and again. They didn't let me go until my forehead began to bleed. From that moment on, I turned into the school's laughingstock, and I was also seen as the black sheep by the Lewises.

The pain in my stomach was acting up again. I was still feeling dizzy as well, so I reached out a hand to support myself against the wall, doing my best to power through the pain. Frank strolled over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist before shooting a malicious smile at me.

"Winter's a grown woman now. It's normal for her to have such thoughts."

Everyone was looking at how Frank was caressing me. An expectant look flickered across Summer's face. Autumn frowned but did nothing to stop Frank while Kenneth averted his repulsed gaze away.

Meanwhile, a complicated emotion swirled in Andy's eyes.

"Let's go. I'll take you upstairs to change your clothes." Frank tried to drag me away.

I shook my head and mustered all the strength I had left to push him away. I lost my balance and staggered to the ground.

Frank tried to drag me away again, but I summoned the last of my strength to scream at him, "I told you not to touch me!"

Andy stepped forward and pulled Frank and me apart. He then helped me back onto my feet. "Are you mute? Why didn't you say that you have a fever?" he asked.

He then dragged me to the storeroom and threw me on the ground.

"So you still have your wits about you. I thought you were going to get involved with your so-called father and further stain the Lewis family's name," Andy said coldly as he closed the door.

I curled up on the floor and pressed a hand to my stomach. There was nothing else I could do but wait for this wave of pain to pass.

A long time passed before the pain receded. I got up and changed into a new set of clothes. I then packed my belongings into my luggage in preparation to leave this place.

I didn't want to die here. The storeroom was too cold when it stormed.

I wanted to find a warm place to quietly pass on. Besides, they would think that I was bringing misfortune upon the Lewis residence if I died here. They would probably be elated once they realized that I was dead.

I didn't have too many items that I could call my own—only four sets of clothes, a pair of shoes, and my medication. Those were all the belongings I owed. I pinched the family portrait that we had taken when I was first brought home between my fingers.

I remembered how they had happily stood around me when the photo was taken. But when the picture was printed out, none of them wanted this particular photo.

Later on, they took many other family portraits, but I no longer had a space in any of them.