Chapter 3

Leonard watched me get into the cab, only looking reassured once the door clicked shut.

He said to the driver, "Don't let her out until you reach the destination."

Then, he threw a final, biting warning at me. "Don't try any tricks, Maxine. Just go straight home."

I sat in the back seat, staring blankly ahead as if I hadn't heard a word.

It was laughable, really—the once-proud daughter of the prestigious Swanson family, reduced to taking a cheap cab.

But then the truth struck me again. I was no longer the Swanson family's daughter, and that house was no longer my home. My father and my older brother, Adam Swanson, had long since cut ties with me. My mother, Erica Walter, was dead.

In my eyes, the Swansons' residence was nothing more than a giant coffin.

When I entered the Swansons' residence, the first thing I saw was Mom's portrait; my eyes couldn't help but redden.

After wiping the frame clean, I murmured, "Sorry, Mom. I can't hold on any longer. If there's a next life, I want to be your real daughter."

I took a knife into my room. Then, I lay down in a bathtub filled with water and slit my wrist.

The blade cut deep. I was already quite practiced at this, after all.

As the water bloomed into a brilliant red, my mind drifted. I had the strange presence of mind to picture Evelyn at this exact moment. She was probably celebrating her new marriage surrounded by those three conquest targets fussing over her every whim.

A heavy wave of dizziness from the rapid blood loss crashed over me. My vision blurred into darkness, and I closed my eyes, letting myself sink.

In my final moments of consciousness, the bathroom door violently burst open. A distant, furious voice shouted through the haze, "Maxine, what madness is this?"

When I finally came to, the first thing I heard was the voice of the family doctor, Randall Merrill.

"Ms. Maxine has lost a dangerous amount of blood. She needs absolute rest. Make sure she takes proper iron supplements over the next few days to recover."

"Supplements for what?" another man interrupted, his voice dripping with absolute scorn. "She brought this on herself."

I forced my heavy eyelids open and saw Adam—the heir to the Swanson family, and my very first conquest target.

The system had told me that because we grew up together under the same roof, Adam was the target I was most likely to successfully conquer. And at first, he truly was a good big brother. We were an ordinary pair of siblings who got along well.

But Adam was cold and reserved by nature. As he grew older, he became what people would call a distant and untouchable heartthrob. To stay close to him, I played the role of the clingy, attentive little sister.

When he was 10, he desperately wanted to go to the amusement park, but Dad strictly forbade it. I threw a childish tantrum, screaming that I wanted to go, just so Adam could accompany me.

When he was 13, he came down with a terrifyingly high fever while our parents were away. I stayed by his bedside all night.

When he turned 16, I baked him a birthday cake and ran all over the city just to find him the perfect gift.

When he was 18, I emptied my entire life savings to track down a painting he had been searching for for years.

But then, Evelyn appeared.

When I proudly presented that painting, Evelyn had looked down, tears welling in her eyes as she whimpered, "I'm not as rich as Maxine, so I can't afford to give you something this expensive, Adam. Clearly, Maxine is the real heiress of this family."

In an instant, Adam had snatched the painting from my hands and thrown it straight into the trash, harshly scolding me for deliberately showing off to humiliate Evelyn.

Later, Evelyn entered the same piano competition as I did. Right before the opening round, she mysteriously injured her hand.

She had collapsed into Adam's arms, sobbing hysterically, "Adam, it was Maxine! She paid someone to break my hand! It hurts so much… I'll never be able to play the piano again. The piano is my life—if I can't play, I'd rather die!"

The moment Adam heard this, he panicked. He held her tightly, rocking her and whispering promises over and over. "Don't worry. I will avenge you."

Then, right in front of Evelyn, he ordered someone to smash my ten fingers until they were bloody and mangled.

18 years of living with him couldn't hold a candle to a few short months with Evelyn.

Just like now, he didn't care about the hideous scars covering my wrist. He only saw a scheming, manipulative monster.

"Can you just behave yourself for once? You knew exactly what time I'd be coming home, so you staged this little suicide show for me, didn't you? Is this another pathetic stunt to stall and ruin Evelyn's wedding, or just a pity act to make me feel guilty?

"If it weren't for Mom begging us to look after you on her deathbed, you would've been thrown out on the streets long ago!"

I looked at him numbly. "I didn't ask you to save me."

They wouldn't acknowledge me as family, yet they were the very ones who forced me to stay in this house. And now they had the nerve to complain?

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Adam went to answer it. Within moments, his icy tone completely melted, replaced by warmth and delight.

"Evelyn? What are you all doing here?"

"Can't I come home just because I missed you?" Evelyn cooed. "Don't tell me that just because I'm married now, you don't want me around anymore, Adam."

"Nonsense. You'll always be my precious little sister," Adam replied, his tone overflowing with affection.

I let out a weak, raspy cough, finding the entire display utterly grotesque.

Evelyn really was something else. She could make a cold, unyielding man like Adam speak to her like a doting fool.

"What happened to Maxine?" Evelyn gasped, as if just noticing me.

Adam's tone turned icy again. "It's nothing. She's just faking it to get attention. She's threatened to kill herself twice now, yet here she is, still alive and well."

William held Evelyn's hand tightly. He looked at me with deep, unadulterated disgust.

"Maxine, can you stop causing trouble? Ruining Evelyn's hands wasn't enough for you? You had to try and ruin our wedding too? Someone as malicious as you doesn't deserve to ever be loved!"

Evelyn, as if reminded of past hurts, welled up in tears.

"Maxine, I already forgave you for what you did to my hand. The punishment Adam gave you back then was merely a superficial wound. Why do you still hold such a vicious grudge? Why do you keep deliberately trying to hurt us?"

At those words, everyone glared at me with pure, murderous rage, while their eyes turned back to Evelyn with absolute tenderness and protective fury.

Sometimes, I truly wondered how Evelyn did it. How did she weave a spell so deep that these three became her mindless puppets? They never demanded proof, always believing in whatever she said. In fact, a single tear from Evelyn was all the confirmation they needed as evidence of her suffering.

She was always the kind and righteous one, while I was forever the lying, venomous villain.

My surroundings began to spin violently. The severe blood loss threw my senses into chaos, distorting their hateful words into an echo chamber of noise.

Clenching my jaw, I forced my eyes open and stared directly at them.

"You forgave me? I wasn't the one who injured your hands, so what did you mean by that? Adam, do you honestly believe my injuries were just superficial? All ten of my fingers were broken, and it was Evelyn who gave the order."