登入Until one session, when Cassandra lost control again. She grabbed my wrist, sobbing, begging, "Doctor, please! Help me! I need to find her—I need to tell her I'm sorry to her face!"Her touch burned against my skin like a branding iron.My whole body went rigid. I yanked my hand back on instinct.The movement pulled up my sleeve—just enough to reveal a patch of my arm. It was covered, thick and dense, with faded white scars—old needle marks.Eighteen years' worth. Four hundred milliliters at a time. Permanent, indelible scars.Cassandra's sobbing stopped dead. Her gaze locked onto my arm like it was the only thing in the world.The consultation room went so quiet I could almost hear the sound of a heart shattering.Slowly—so slowly—she lifted her head and looked at my left eye, the one not hidden by the eyepatch.Her pupils contracted violently."I... Iris...?"…She was trembling, realization dawning like a tidal wave. Tears poured down her face like a broken dam.The next
"Look closely! You're the rapist's spawn! You took everything that should have been Iris's—her mother's love, her family, her eye! Now get out of here and go where you belong."Cassandra pointed at the door, her voice utterly devoid of warmth.When it was all over, the entire villa fell into dead silence.She sat alone in the dark, consumed by a crushing wave of regret and anguish.She began searching for me like a woman possessed.She poured nearly everything she had into the hunt—but every lead came up empty.She set up a foundation in my name to help children who'd been hurt. She went on television, over and over, weeping and begging for forgiveness.But back then, I had no idea any of it was happening.…I survived in a strange city far away.That kind head nurse had connected me with a psychologist—a gentle, warm woman who helped me claw my way out of that dark abyss. It took me two full years.My right eye was completely blind. I wore a dark medical eyepatch over it.
"Tell me what this is."My mother's voice was eerily calm.George saw the report, and the color drained from his face instantly. He took an involuntary step back."Cassandra, let me explain—there must be some misunderstanding here…""Misunderstanding?"Cassandra let out a cold laugh. She pushed herself up against the wall, swaying unsteadily as she rose to her feet, and stepped toward him one slow pace at a time."Eighteen years! George! You made me hate my own flesh and blood for eighteen years!"You made me treat a rapist's spawn like a treasure—dote on her, cherish her for eighteen years!"She raised her hand and hurled both reports right in his face."Tell me! Why?!"The papers fluttered to the floor. George looked into the raging hatred in her eyes and knew there was no hiding it anymore. The panic and pretense on his face slowly melted away."Why?"He let out a mocking laugh and smoothed down his collar."Because I love you, Cassandra. That's why."Back when I was p
My mother started having nightmares—night after night, without end.In her dreams, it was always me as a child.That frail little girl, always trailing timidly behind her, hoping she'd turn around and spare her just one glance.In the dreams, those clear, innocent eyes stared back at her in silence.And those eyes looked more and more like her own—when she was young, a girl on the brink of womanhood."Mom? Another nightmare?"Alice walked in carrying a glass of milk, her face painted with concern.My mother clutched her chest, gasping for air, her complexion deathly pale.Alice sat down on the edge of the bed and casually remarked, "Mom, don't think about it anymore. Iris must hate us—that's why she left the way she did. And that eye of hers… it was so terrifying…"Her words struck my mother right where she was most vulnerable.My mother's body went rigid. The terror she'd barely managed to suppress came flooding back into her eyes.Alice lowered her gaze, hiding the smugnes
My mother's bloodshot eyes were locked onto that lab report, unblinking."Impossible! How could Alice be type O? Your hospital made a mistake—it has to be a mistake!"She shrieked like a madwoman, grabbing the doctor's white coat, her nails digging in so hard they nearly broke the skin.The doctor wobbled under her shaking, but still managed to explain, "Mrs. Ballmer, genetics doesn't lie."My father, George, went pale as a sheet in an instant.My mother released the doctor and turned her head, inch by stiff inch, to stare at him.In my dazed state, I thought my father might finally speak up for me. But instead, he waved the doctor away and said to my mother, "You misheard. Alice is type A."My mother's mind had been so fragile all these years that she actually believed him.I let out a bitter laugh, feeling the last of my illusions crumble to dust.Her gaze drifted over to me—to my right eye, now a bloody, ruined mess beyond repair.For the first time in eighteen years, I sa
I curled up on the floor, writhing in agony, the pain so unbearable I could barely think.Blood poured through my fingers in a hot rush, staining the floor a deep, vivid red."Iris!""Oh my God—what did she do?!"My father and the doctors were frozen in shock for a moment, then swarmed around me."Her eye! Someone look at her eye!"A nurse screamed.The pain was so intense I was on the verge of passing out, but I bit down hard on my lip and forced myself not to scream again.Through the blurry haze of my left eye, I saw my mother's face—pale, stunned, frozen.I trembled, mustering every last shred of strength to push out the words, "Mom… now… you won't have to see my eyes anymore…"A pool of blood spread across the floor beneath me.For just a split second, something flickered in my mother's eyes—something almost like shock.But the very next moment, her gaze landed on Alice lying in the hospital bed, and her expression went cold again."Doctor! Take Iris's blood first! Sh







