Chapter 3

Derek had a deep cut in his palm from the scalpel blade. The flesh was torn open, and it was a gory, bloody mess that would make anyone's scalp crawl. However, he still held on tightly and refused to let go.

Dominic saw what was happening, and his expression changed drastically. He rushed over to us and twisted my wrist violently. He used so much force that he nearly crushed my bones, forcing me to loosen my grip.

The scalpel hit the floor with a loud clatter. He then kicked it far away before shouting at me, "Are you done making a fuss?"

I felt weary and tired. I couldn't even end my own life that easily.

Daphne's face turned even paler when she saw Derek getting hurt because of me. She bit her lower lip hard as tears spilled down her face.

She fought to sit up in bed and held a hand to her heart, screaming at me, "Autumn! Just hurt me if you have to! Why did you have to hurt Derek instead? Don't hurt him!

"It's my fault for being switched at birth! It's my fault for stealing your true identity! Just take out your anger on me instead!

"But if you're still not happy, then I'll just kill myself right now!"

She then threw the blanket off, stumbled out of bed, and hurried toward the emergency stairwell outside the room.

"Daphne!"

Dominic's face fell as he frantically ran out after her. Derek also forgot about his bleeding hand and gritted his teeth through the pain to chase after her.

Soon, a dramatic situation began playing out at the stairwell.

Dominic grabbed Daphne from the back and hugged her while she spread her arms wide and cried so hard that she couldn't stop trembling.

"Let go, Dominic! Autumn will only stop making things hard for you all if I disappear from the face of this earth! I'll just jump down from here!"

The more she struggled, the harder Dominic hugged her. Meanwhile, Derek hovered around them, anxiously trying to deescalate the situation and pulling at them both.

It was a chaotic mess.

I slowly made my way over to the stairwell and looked down. We were at least a dozen floors up. I figured that it would be more than enough to complete my mission.

"Alright, alright. It's not like you're going to jump in 20 years anyway. Let me do the jumping instead."

With that, I flipped over the balustrade and jumped off the railing.

Derek seemed to have sensed something and looked in my direction just a split second before I jumped. He then quickly flew toward me like a madman.

"Autumn!"

He threw himself flat on the ground and managed to grab the very edge of the hem of my shirt. The veins on his right arm bulged hard as my body dangled midair, his blood dripping onto my face.

Dominic heard the commotion and turned around abruptly. He then stared at us in extreme shock and disbelief. He let go of Daphne like he'd just jolted awake and rushed over to us, getting down on the floor and helping Derek pull me back up.

I got anxious when I saw that I was about to be brought back to safety. I kept swinging my body in the air, flailing my arms about and trying to slip out of my shirt, but eventually, they were still able to drag me back up.

Derek fought to catch his breath as he stared at me. His eyes reflected a belated sense of fear in them.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed? You could have just told us what you wanted instead of trying to kill yourself like that!"

Dominic wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling. "All you wanted was to come home and be the true heiress of the Fletcher family, isn't it? We'll just go back and discuss things with Dustin! Stop torturing us like this!"

I was stunned.

I would have jumped for joy if they told me this days ago. But now, I just wanted to die in this world and be transported back to my real world.

The moment Daphne heard this, her face paled even more, and her reddened eyes welled with unshed tears. A fleeting look of jealousy and viciousness reflected in her eyes at that moment, but it disappeared almost immediately.

"I don't know how much longer my body can hold out anymore, Autumn. Please just wait for me. Once I'm dead, you…"

Before she could finish, she suddenly clutched at her chest, closed her eyes, and fell straight to the floor.

"Daphne!"