Chapter 4

Sophia had actually said the one thing I had spent years trying to bury.

When I was ten years old, my parents' enemies kidnapped me to blackmail them.

While I was being held captive, a group of depraved men sexually humiliated me. They exposed themselves and masturbated in front of me.

After that, I shut myself off from the world for three whole years.

Back then, my sister had been heartbroken for me. Seeing me in so much pain, she wished she could take it all upon herself.

For all these years, no one in the family had ever dared mention what happened.

"See? Doesn't hearing that make you feel much better? Steven isn't perfect, either. In my heart, you're the best!"

The moment those words came out, the dam broke. Tears streamed down my face as I sobbed. Every convulsion sent searing pain through my battered body.

Just to cheer Zachary up, she had publicly exposed the deepest scar I had buried in my heart. It was a wound that would never heal.

For a moment, I truly couldn't tell whether she was still my sister.

'Forget it. From the day Zachary entered our family, the sister I once knew had already died.'

The overwhelming grief made me cough up another mouthful of blood.

Right then, the entire yacht fell into a commotion.

It turned out Zachary had gotten seasick, so they were heading back to shore.

The cleaning lady's eyes lit up and she exclaimed happily, "Young man, you're saved! You're finally going to be saved! Ms. Sinclair really adores her younger brother. Otherwise, this yacht would never have returned to shore."

I said nothing and only forced a bitter smile.

The moment we docked, the cleaning lady hurriedly called an ambulance for me.

At the same time, Sophia urgently summoned a private air medical team for Zachary.

Unfortunately, the helicopter and the ambulance arrived at the same time.

Sophia carried Zachary straight onto the helicopter, where the medical team immediately began treating his seasickness.

In the process, they completely blocked the ambulance's path.

One of the emergency responders jumped out and shouted anxiously, "Ma'am! Could you please take off first and clear the way? There's a critically injured patient inside. Even a one-minute delay could cost him his life!"

Sophia ignored him at first, but the doctor refused to give up and kept pleading with her.

Growing impatient, she slid open the helicopter window and snapped, "My brother is seasick! He's been vomiting nonstop! No one is more important than him. As for whoever's in the yacht, if he dies, then he dies. That's just his fate!"

She muttered another curse before slamming the window shut.

The doctor was left helpless. He paced anxiously on the spot.

In the end, the medical team lifted a stretcher and squeezed through the narrow gap beside the helicopter to reach me.

At last, I was lifted onto the stretcher.

The moment the doctors saw me, every single one of them gasped. As they raced toward the ambulance with my stretcher, they couldn't stop lamenting the horrifying extent of my injuries.

As we passed Sophia's private medical helicopter again, one of her friends happened to open the window. The instant she caught a glimpse of the side of my face, she stumbled backward and fell to the floor in shock.

Stammering, she said to Sophia, "S-Sophia, I-I think that's Steven on the stretcher!"

The very next second, Sophia frowned and kicked her hard.

"Don't be ridiculous! How could he possibly be here? Besides, he's far too calculating to let himself end up in real danger!"

Hearing that, her friend swallowed the words she had been about to say.

She was the one who had brought me onto the yacht.

After all, she convinced herself that my injuries had all been self-inflicted as part of another scheme. There was no way someone like me would actually end up in an ambulance. She must have been mistaken.

Due to Zachary's seasickness, Sophia stayed by his side and cared for him day and night for three consecutive days.

By the time she had nearly forgotten about me, she received a call from our parents saying they would soon be returning home to celebrate my perfect scores.

Counting the days, she assumed my wounds had already healed after the hydrotherapy and that it was time to let me out.

Just as she was about to call the servants and tell them to release me, she received a phone call from our housekeeper, Brianna.

"The hospital has delivered the Mr. Steven's death certificate!"