Chapter 3

All the color drained from the principal's face.

He hastily took out his phone, almost like he was in a hurry to contact someone.

Soon after, the police arrived. Right on their heels were Dad and Peter, both sweating profusely and with anxious expressions.

Dad immediately reached out to grab my arm. "Christy, stop this nonsense. Let's talk it over after we go back home."

With a turn of my body, I avoided his hand and looked toward the police officers. In a clear, calm voice, I said, "Officers, my family has been abusing me for the past three years by giving me only ten dollars for my monthly allowance. Now, they've even gone behind my back and offered up my scholarship to someone else."

The police officers' faces darkened before they turned to look at Dad and Peter.

"You're her family members? Is what she said true?"

Peter immediately tried to explain, but I purposely spoke up first, not giving him that chance. "Officers, please don't misunderstand. My father and brother said that the one who insisted on this decision being carried out was my mother."

The team leader instantly ordered his colleague, "Contact the child's mother immediately and verify if this is true."

Dad and Peter paled further at those words before Dad shot the principal a pointed look.

The principal swiftly stepped forward with an ingratiating smile. "Officers, we must have made a mistake. We'll immediately return the scholarship to Christina and announce it officially! This is all just a small misunderstanding!"

Peter took my hand in his, saying gently, "Christy, Mom's education methods were indeed a little extreme, but at the end of the day, we're family. If you have any problems, we should just settle it in private."

Dad wasted no time agreeing. "That's right! I promise that your monthly allowance will go back to being normal from now on."

With that, he transferred me 500 dollars on the spot, his hands shaking the whole time.

Only then did the police officers' tense demeanor ease up. Nonetheless, they berated Dad and Peter for their actions, then reminded them not to abuse me before they left.

On the ride home, a deathly silence suffused the car.

Dad had a grim scowl on his face as he kept quiet the entire journey.

However, the moment we were in our neighborhood, he slammed his foot down on the brakes before whipping his head around to stare at me, a dark look I had never seen before in his eyes.

"You already know everything."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

With a scoff, Peter took out a stack of papers from his bag and tossed it at me.

Upon getting a closer look at the contents, I curled my fingers into tight fists.

It was the stack of bank transaction records I had hidden away.

Peter sneered at me, the gentle adoration that used to be in his eyes nowhere to be seen.

"Christina Warren, did you think that you were being real sneaky and that nobody would realize what you were doing?"

Gritting my teeth, I remained silent, though my slightly pale face gave me away.

Despite the truth being exposed, they didn't show the panic or helplessness that I had expected.

On the contrary, Dad even lit up a cigarette before saying disdainfully, "It's true that the money your mother sends you each month is way more than this, but we were just worried that you would spend it all on unnecessary things due to your young age. That's why we decided to hold on to it for you for now.

"Besides, she's all the way overseas and clearly doesn't care about you. All these years, only your brother and I have been willing to treat you like family."

Peter leaned back in the side passenger seat, his eyes gleaming with smug confidence. "If you really think that we aren't treating you well, you can always go to Mom."

A crushing sense of absurdity and bitter irony washed over me, stinging my eyes till they burned with unshed tears.

My future self had already told me about how they had slowly cut off contact between Mom and me years ago.

Swallowing my resentment, I said in a soft, shaky voice, "I'm sorry, Dad, Peter. I was wrong."

Their harsh demeanor eased a little at my submissive response.

The first thing I did after returning home was to lock myself in my bedroom.

I felt around under my bed, pulling out a cracked wooden bracelet from the deepest corner. This was the one and only thing Mom had gifted me before she had gone overseas.

My future self had reminded me that there was a hidden alarm in the bracelet. The instant it was damaged, it would send a distress signal to Mom.

I had chosen to break the bracelet the same day I had gotten that phone call from my future self.

Now, a green light was blinking, signifying that Mom had received my distress signal.