Chapter 1

Whitney Backman stood there looking all righteous, like some kind of guardian angel, as she shielded Nathan Larsson behind her.

"What are you even making a fuss about?" she snapped. "Grandpa fell on his own. Why are you still stirring up trouble?"

Her voice was sharp with anger and disgust. It was obvious she hated that I had taken Nathan to court.

No wonder she had kept Grandpa's condition from me all this time, brushing me off with claims that he was doing fine. No wonder she wouldn't let me see him. She was afraid I would rush back in a rage.

She was on Nathan's side all along—one of his people.

I swallowed the fury boiling in my chest and stared at her hard. "Grandpa is old. Why do you think he was out collecting trash? He just wanted to earn a little money to buy groceries so you wouldn't have to worry.

"After the state he's been beaten into, how could you still defend and side with Nathan? Grandpa treated you so well. How can you live with yourself?"

None of my words moved her. Instead, she rolled her eyes. "Do you have any idea what kind of family I come from? You think I need him to save me a few pennies? And by the way, this is a society ruled by law.

"I can't twist the truth just because he's your grandpa. Nathan only went over to help him up, and now he's being framed for something he didn't do. If that's how it goes, who would dare do a good deed ever again?"

Her tone was grand and unwavering as she declared, "I'm just standing up for justice—for this society, for the love in people's hearts."

With that, she lifted her burning gaze to the judge. "I'm willing to testify that Grandpa broke his leg by falling on his own, which led to his disability. Good people shouldn't be made to carry false allegations!"

The good people she kept talking about were, of course, Nathan, that utterly disgusting bastard.

Compared to her torrent of righteous words and moral outrage, all I could do was submit the video evidence I had fought so hard to obtain. A passerby had filmed it, and I had spent an enormous amount of time and effort tracking it down.

The footage clearly showed Nathan beating Grandpa. There was even a part where the person filming was warned to stop.

To my surprise, when the video started playing, it turned into a suggestive dance clip instead. The evidence had been swapped. My head buzzed.

Nathan smiled mockingly at me. "You seem to have quite a unique kink, Mr. Sharp. To think you'd bring something like this out to enjoy at a time and place like this."

I turned to look at Whitney, seated in the witness box for the defense. She was smirking and staring at me with naked triumph. Before this, only she had known about that piece of evidence.

The anger inside me finally boiled over. I shot to my feet and pointed straight at her across the room. "You actually switched the evidence and used something like this to smear me? Do you have any conscience left at all?"

Faced with my fury, Whitney showed no panic. Instead, she gave Nathan a reassuring look before standing up to confront me.

"I initially wanted to put an end to this quietly. I thought, as long as no trouble was caused, I was willing to let things rest," she said softly. "But you kept pushing and tried to accuse Nathan. I have no choice but to force the truth down your throat."

As she spoke, she handed another piece of video evidence. On the screen, Grandpa's expression looked harsh as he stared at Whitney.

"I don't care! He's compensating me one way or another! Who cares if he's some Internet celebrity or public figure? If he doesn't pay, I'm not letting this go!"

It was Grandpa's voice and face, yet the feeling was completely wrong. He had always been a serious man, rarely smiling but always upright and principled. I didn't believe he would ever say such things.

In the video recorded by a passerby that I acquired, Grandpa had only paused briefly to pick up an empty plastic bottle, momentarily blocking Nathan's way. Nathan reacted by kicking him hard in the stomach.

Grandpa already had old injuries. He couldn't withstand Nathan and the others' attacks. In just a few seconds, he was left severely injured and eventually became disabled. Even now, he hadn't woken up.

Looking wronged, Nathan turned to the jury. "I didn't want to say this, but your grandpa was clearly trying to extort me. He even grabbed my leg and wouldn't let me leave.

"If it weren't for the people with me pulling him off, I would've ended up trending online for sure. And if that had happened, my career would've been ruined!"

Whitney cast him a look of concern, then turned on me with eyes gone cold. "Harlan, you and your grandpa are absolutely shameless! Being crippled is what he deserves!"

With that, she produced even more so-called evidence to prove that Grandpa had been trying to blackmail them. She had already used her connections and money to smooth everything over.

The judge didn't care in the slightest whether the evidence was real or fake. Without much deliberation, he handed down the verdict.

I lost the case.

Overnight, Grandpa and I became public enemies, treated like pariahs. Online, we were turned into cautionary tales.

The trending topics were filled with talk about whether people should help strangers cross the road, or how to protect oneself from being scammed after doing a good deed.

I looked at their smug smiles, and the rage in my chest finally exploded.