Chapter 2

The next day, I went back to my usual spot on the street to perform. While I was breathing fire, the wind suddenly shifted. The flames accidentally brushed against the bangs of a passing boy.

The man beside him grabbed his bag and slammed it hard against my head.

“You filthy beggar! How dare you hurt my son?!”

A metal ornament on the bag cut open my forehead, and blood began streaming down my face. However, I only stared straight at Damian Quinn. He recognized me too, and his face was filled with disgust.

Phoebe heard the commotion and hurriedly pushed through the crowd to get to them. She gently asked him if he was hurt.

My mother stood behind her, glaring at me. Her voice was filled with displeasure and blame. “Apologize to them! Don’t make me angry!”

With blood covering my head, I let out a mocking laugh.

“Does it even matter whether I apologize or not? You’ll still do what you did three years ago, use my father to threaten me and force me to kneel down and apologize to them.”

Her expression changed, and a trace of guilt flashed across her face. I saw it clearly—she remembered it. She remembered what she had done to my father and me.

Back then, she had already fallen out with her family. To rebuild her life, she borrowed a huge amount of money from loan sharks. However, with her family suppressing her, her company eventually went bankrupt. The interest kept piling up. She came home less and less often.

My principal told her I had the potential to become the top scorer. My father wanted me to focus entirely on my studies, so he worked several jobs every day just to support me.

On the day I finished my exams, Dad bought a small cake to celebrate. When he heard someone knocking on the door, he opened it excitedly. Still, it was not Mom. It was wave after wave of debt collectors.

Dad had no choice but to go with them. When he finally returned, he was so thin that he was just skin and bones. His arms were covered with needle marks.

I did not know what he had endured. Still, he still forced himself to smile gently.

The next time I saw Mom was through a video someone posted online. She publicly announced that she was taking Damian’s son, Julian Quinn, as her biological son.

I looked at Dad. My eyes were red with tears as I asked, “Dad, does Mom not want me anymore?”

Dad suddenly snatched someone else’s phone and stared at the screen. Then, he took me and rushed to the Lane residence, where the family reunion banquet was being held.

The moment he entered, the entire room fell silent. Dad’s voice was hoarse as he questioned Mom, “Didn’t you say you would never go back to the Lane residence? Didn’t you say you had already cut ties with him? You accepted his child as your son? Then what about our son and me? What are we?”

I looked at Phoebe too, choking back tears. “Phoebe, I’m your real younger brother!”

Damian and his son instantly turned red-eyed. He turned around to leave, but Mom stopped him.

He sounded aggrieved, “Victoria, is what they said true?”

Mom held him and comforted him softly, “No. They’re the ones clinging to me.”

When Phoebe heard what Mom said, a mocking smile appeared at the corner of her eyes. “Did you hear that? Are you leaving on your own, or should I have someone throw you out?”

At that moment, my ears rang with noise. The laughter and ridicule around us felt like slaps across our faces. As we were dragged out, all we could hear were their cruel words.

“These two scammers are desperate to climb into a wealthy family!”

“Who doesn’t know how devoted Ms. Lane is to Mr. Quinn? She even stayed unmarried all these years waiting for him to divorce. Now that they’re finally going to be together, this man comes back to ruin everything. How shameless!”

Afterward, Mom lowered her head and kept apologizing to Dad. She said returning to the Lane family was something she had no choice but to do. She said accepting Damian’s son was only to repay him for saving her life. She claimed the people she loved most had always been us.

“Once I earn my grandma’s approval, I’ll bring you and our child back openly. From then on, we’ll never be separated again!”

Dad cried even harder. He was clearly so weak, yet he still used all his strength to push her away. “So you knew what I had to sacrifice to repay your debts… You knew how unfair you've been to our son!”

“Victoria, I hate you. I hate you so much that I could tear you apart and drink your blood! I want you to feel the pain we suffered!”

Mom did not know how terrified I was every time I saw Julian. Even when he tortured me at school until I nearly broke down, I never dared fight back.

Mom could not hide her guilt when she saw me wiping away my tears again and again.

However, Damian’s voice suddenly came from the doorway before she could say anything. His face was pale as he pointed at my father. “Victoria, who exactly is he to you?”

Mom immediately panicked. She shoved my father and me away, then turned around to comfort him. “Damian, listen to me. I only came to see them one last time because I felt sorry for them. He thinks I’m a replacement for his dead wife. He’s been harassing me this whole time!”

She looked back at my father, her gaze flickering.

“From now on, don’t bother us again. Otherwise, I’ll hit you every time I see you. This time, consider it a lesson.”

She instructed her bodyguards to force my father and me to kneel.

Julian saw everything clearly. After Mom left, he began brutally tormenting us.

With every strike of the whip, he smiled viciously. “You two better remember this for the rest of your lives. You tried to steal what belongs to me. I’ll destroy you.”

…

Three years have passed. They still had not changed.

In the end, I could not hold it in anymore. Tears streamed down my face as I screamed in a hoarse voice, “You have no right to speak of my father!”