Chapter 1

The slap turned my head to the side. A thin trickle of blood slipped from the corner of my mouth.

After being bullied by Quiana White and my brothers for so long, I instinctively did not fight back.

I lowered my head and bit my lip in silence. My reaction made Theo Langford’s raised hand freeze in midair.

“You… what’s wrong with you?”

His brows furrowed. A trace of surprise flashed across his eyes.

The Quiana he knew would always throw a fit and cry hysterically whenever she felt even the slightest bit wronged.

But at this moment, when he saw my lowered gaze and the dead silence around me, he seemed to see the younger sister they had personally driven to her death, Moon Langford.

“Theo, don’t waste time talking to her.”

My second-oldest brother, Hugo Langford, grabbed me by the collar. His eyes were filled with disgust as he shoved me hard toward the car.

“Moon has yet to be buried. Didn’t we tell you to stay vigil at her funeral for seven full days and repent?”

I stumbled and slammed into the cold car door before looking at them with an empty expression.

My third-oldest brother, Xander Langford, had been leaning against the car door the entire time. He stared at me without saying a word.

They roughly shoved me into the back seat. When Xander sat down right beside me, his entire body seemed to give off a chilling aura.

The atmosphere inside the car was so heavy that it was hard to breathe.

I found it strange. They had never treated Quiana this way before.

Quiana only ever needed to shed one tear for them to try and pluck the stars from the sky to comfort her.

After I became Quiana, they treated me as if I were their sworn enemy.

“When we get home, pack up your useless junk,” Theo, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, suddenly said in a cold voice.

I looked up at him in confusion.

“Move out of Moon’s old room.” His voice was ice-cold.

“You don’t deserve to stay there.”

I froze. The resentment I had buried deep inside me could no longer be held back.

When I woke up in Quiana’s body, I thought that I could finally win back their love and favoritism.

But why? Why did I still have to suffer such cruel treatment after becoming her?

“I won’t.”

I stared at Theo’s eyes through the rearview mirror.

The car instantly fell silent.

Screech!

Hugo slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched against the road.

“Say that again?”

Theo turned around. His eyes were so dark and terrifying that it looked like he wanted to tear me apart.

“I said, I’m not moving out!”

I raised my voice and shouted at him. My eyes were red with anger.

“Why should I? That room was supposed to be mine in the first place!”

Slap!

A much louder slap struck my left cheek.

This time, Xander, who was sitting beside me, was the one who had hit me.

“What do you think you are? How dare you yell at us here?”

Xander grabbed my neck and pressed me hard against the car window.

“If it weren’t for you, Moon wouldn’t have died!”

I could not breathe. I coughed again and again.

As I looked at the unbearable pain on his face, I suddenly found the whole thing ridiculous.

“Ha… hahaha…”

I forced a few laughs out of my throat.

“What are you laughing at?!” Hugo shouted furiously from the driver’s seat.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

I stared at every single one of their faces. Tears finally fell from my eyes.

“Now that she’s dead, aren’t you finally satisfied? Weren’t you all hoping that she would die from the very beginning?”

Silence filled the car again.

Xander’s hand around my neck suddenly trembled. Then, he slowly loosened his grip.

The three of them froze. A strange flicker of pain appeared in their eyes.

“Shut up!”

Theo was the first to snap back to reality. As soon as the car entered the villa’s gates, he pulled me out of it. I stumbled and fell several times as he pulled me along.

He dragged me all the way to the basement.

“Since you love talking back so much, stay here tonight and think about what you’ve done!”

The heavy iron door slammed shut with a loud bang. Darkness immediately filled the entire room.

Cold air seeped in from every direction. I curled up in the dusty corner and trembled uncontrollably.

I remembered that when Quiana came into this family, the first thing she asked for was my room.

Back then, I cried and made a scene. I refused to give up my room no matter what.

Theo had slapped me hard across the face just like he had done outside the crematorium. Then he had locked me in this wine cellar the very same way.

“Open the door… Let me out…”

I desperately pounded on the iron door.

Outside, Theo’s voice was colder than ice.

“No one is allowed to let her out without my permission!”