FOUR

Chapter 4

“What difference does it make?” Sienna shrugged lazily. “As long as you can’t control your brothers or your father, you’re no better than a servant. So you’d better learn your place. Oktavia is going to be the next queen of this household.”

And apparently, Tatiana’s suffering didn’t end there.

Later that night, after the party was over, Tatiana was once again subjected to Oliver’s fury. He berated her mercilessly simply because Oktavia had been injured.

“I know you don’t like having Oktavia here, but she’s your sister too, Tiana! Can’t you just treat her nicely for once?!” Oliver shouted.

“I didn’t do anything! I—”

“Enough!” Oliver cut her off harshly.

Beside him, Clarisse wrapped her arms around Oliver’s as though trying to calm him down.

“Let it go, Oliver. They’re still young. Every little argument will only bring them closer in the end,” Clarisse said in a falsely gentle voice.

“But she almost ruined Oktavia’s body!” Dylan protested angrily. “If the injury on her leg doesn’t heal in time, she might not be able to compete in that modeling competition!”

Clarisse let out a dramatic sigh.

“If she can’t compete, then perhaps that’s simply her fate. Oktavia will have other opportunities. Won’t she, sweetheart?”

Clarisse walked over to her daughter, who was sitting on the sofa, and gently put an arm around her shoulders.

“Yes, Dylan. Modeling competitions happen every year. Unlike Tatiana’s ballet competition,” 

Oktavia said, wiping at the tears streaming down her face—tears that were nothing more than an act.

The moment they heard that, Ethan and Dylan turned toward Tatiana, their eyes narrowing.

“You’re entering a competition? What competition?!”

For a brief moment, Tatiana thought her brothers would be proud of her academic and artistic achievements.

She was terribly mistaken.

“I... I’m entering a ballet competition,” Tatiana replied, unable to hide the excitement sparkling in her eyes.

But instead of praising her, Ethan and Dylan looked at her with undisguised hatred.

“If Oktavia can’t participate in her competition this year because of what you did, shouldn’t you do the same?” Dylan asked coldly.

“W-What do you mean?”

Fear suddenly gripped Tatiana when she saw the fury burning in both her brothers’ eyes.

Without warning, Ethan and Dylan seized Tatiana by both arms, one on each side, and forcibly dragged her toward the staircase.

“You made Oktavia fall because you didn’t want her to qualify for the competition, didn’t you? Then we’ll make sure your competition is ruined too!”

“No! Dylan, Ethan, what are you going to do?!”

Tatiana screamed in panic. She cast a pleading look toward her father, but Oliver deliberately turned his face away.

In the distance, Oktavia and her mother exchanged faint, satisfied smiles while clinging to Oliver’s arms.

Without warning, Dylan and Ethan shoved Tatiana from the top of the staircase.

Tatiana let out a bloodcurdling scream as fear and excruciating pain consumed her. Her body tumbled down the stairs, striking one step after another before finally crashing hard onto the floor below.

From the top of the staircase, her two brothers simply watched.

Not a trace of pity crossed their faces.

Lying on the ground, Tatiana felt an unbearable pain explode through her right leg. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but no one came rushing to help her.

“You shouldn’t have misbehaved, Tiana. Our mother never raised you to be such a spiteful child,” Ethan said coldly from the top of the stairs.

Mother? At a time like this, you dare bring up Mom?

Tatiana sobbed silently inside.

Her leg throbbed violently, but the pain in her heart was far worse as she stared at the cruelty of her own brothers.

Mom never taught you to hurt a woman... especially not your own sister!

“Dylan! Ethan! What have you done?!”

Clarisse’s shocked scream made both brothers freeze.

They hurried down the stairs toward Tatiana, who struggled to sit upright despite the pain shooting from the tips of her right foot all the way up to her waist.

Even then, not a single hand reached out to help her stand.

Tatiana whimpered as Clarisse pretended to be concerned and roughly grabbed her arm. Her stepmother squeezed so hard that her sharp fingernails dug deep into Tatiana’s skin.

“This is what you get for daring to hurt my daughter,” Clarisse whispered threateningly into Tatiana’s ear.

“You really think your brothers and your father will take your side? No, sweetheart. They love Oktavia completely, and they always will.”

Her grip tightened.

“So stop trying to get their attention. Then maybe you can live in peace.”

Tatiana had briefly hoped that her father would take her to the hospital.

Instead, Oliver locked her inside the cold, dusty storage room at the back of the estate, telling her to “reflect on her mistake.”

That night, Tatiana developed a high fever.

When a servant finally opened the storage room door the following morning, Tatiana’s right leg was severely swollen and completely immobile.

When the servant reported what had happened, Oliver and her two brothers dismissed it as another one of Tatiana’s acts.

They thought she was pretending.

Unable to bear watching her suffer, the servants pooled their own money and took Tatiana to a doctor.

The doctor’s diagnosis struck like a bolt of lightning.

Tatiana had suffered severe ligament damage and a torn thigh muscle from the impact, along with complications caused by the swelling being left untreated.

The doctor told her she would need intensive treatment followed by a long period of rehabilitation.

Her ballet competition that year was over before it had even begun.

But instead of giving Tatiana the care or comfort she desperately needed, her family called her suffering a punishment she deserved.

They never knew—and never cared to know—that because her father refused to pay for proper medical treatment and rehabilitation, Tatiana would never be able to dance ballet again for the rest of her life.

But...

That was all in the past.

Although Tatiana could never forget, let alone forgive, the cruelty of her father and brothers, she had learned to accept the hand fate had dealt her.

And now, after all these years, they had suddenly summoned her back home...

Only to use her as a sacrifice and exploit her once again.

Wasn’t the world simply too cruel to her?