Chapter 4

Before I could get a word out, Laura drove her stiletto into my stomach.

I crumpled to the ground. As I curled into a ball, I coughed up blood that splattered all over her shoe.

She then kicked me again and again, smearing the blood onto my clothes.

"I swore I'd make anyone who bullied Dan pay! I never imagined you'd be the one behind it all! After everything Mom taught you, this is what you've become?

"How can you possibly face her spirit like this? Do you really think you're worthy of carrying on her legacy?"

My breathing was ragged. I lay weakly on the floor, gasping through clenched teeth. "I… didn't!"

Laura's eyes were already red with fury. She whipped around and shouted at the bodyguards, "What are you standing around for? Prove your loyalty!"

These bodyguards had been around the rich long enough to know how things worked. Now that they'd just turned their backs on me, they knew they had to prove themselves to their new boss.

So they rushed forward, kicking me in the stomach and all over my body with everything they had.

They tore at the shirt in my hands. All I could do was curl up and clutch it tightly, watching helplessly as they ripped half of it away.

In desperation, I screamed, "Stop! Don't touch the shirt my mom gave me!"

Tears and blood pooled beneath me. As the fabric shredded, I looked desperately toward Laura for help.

She knitted her brows a little. "Now you know what it feels like to suffer. This is nothing more than giving you a taste of what you did to Dan. Trust me—this isn't even a fraction of what you put him through."

I clenched my teeth so hard it felt like they might shatter. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth as I squeezed out, "I didn't!"

Grace cast me a condescending look, then raised a hand to stop the lead bodyguard. "Ms. Erickson, that's enough."

Laura shot her a look. "Is that so? Are you going to just watch him continue to cry then?"

Grace froze. She turned, and Daniel's tear-filled eyes immediately caught her attention.

Seeing Daniel grit his teeth and hold back tears made Grace's heart ache. In the end, she let go of the bodyguard she had grabbed.

Daniel started to sniffle hard. "Laura, you're the best. Back then, they didn't just beat me up. They also stripped me naked and dumped me on the street…"

"You're lying—ouch!"

Laura kicked me hard in the chest, then eyed the bodyguards coldly. "Drag him into the car. We're taking him with us!"

"What do you think you're doing? Let go of me!"

I struggled as hard as I could, but as the bodyguards were determined to prove themselves, they manhandled me into the car.

It was already dark when Grace stopped the car on an empty street.

Laura sneered as she said, "You're getting off easy. There's barely anyone around. We can start with a little punishment here."

"No!"

My clothes were ripped apart without mercy. I desperately grabbed Grace's arm. "Grace, if you haven't forgotten all the times I helped you in the past, then please help me just this once!"

Grace furrowed her brows. Through all those lonely nights, we had once sworn that we would be each other's one and only for the rest of our lives. But then Daniel started getting teary-eyed again.

She looked over her shoulder, completely ignoring my frantic headshakes as she pried my fingers off her. "This is what you owe him."

I was shoved out of the car completely naked.

Before I could even get to my feet, the car peeled off into the night. A rustling came from the dumpsters nearby.

Several homeless people looked over, their eyes lighting up. "Oh, fresh meat? Dang, he's got a nice body."

"Get away from me."

I slapped away one of the homeless man's rough, filthy hands, only to get hit across the face.

"You come out here looking like this in the middle of the night, then play hard to get with me?"

I toppled onto a filthy, reeking pile of garbage.