Chapter 3

Every time I refused Helen, she used her life to pressure me.

Before, I always gave in because I felt sorry for her.

Now, it only made me sick.

"Helen, your health was already stable before I went to prison," I sneered.

"But my condition depends on Shaun's affection. What if his feelings drop, and I get sick again? I…"

She tried to play the victim again.

I cut her off. "That's enough. You hired those thugs to humiliate me. Was that to please Shaun, or to drive me out of the Fisher family so I wouldn't get a share of the inheritance? You know the answer."

I graduated from a top university. I wasn't stupid. I had just been trapped in family ties and love, which compelled me to step back again and again.

Helen's expression darkened at my words. She stood up, looking at me with disappointment.

"My health matters more than your reputation. You were never this unreasonable before. Prison really changed you."

I didn't bother arguing with someone pretending not to understand.

"If you've got time to lecture me, you should be planning your own funeral instead. I already activated the anti-system device. In four days, you'll be right back at terminal cancer."

I was telling the truth, but she didn't believe a word of it. Her face twisted with anger.

"I'm your sister, and you're wishing death on me? You're unbelievable! If you won't change, then don't blame me when I stop playing nice!"

She left in a fury.

Soon after, the internet was flooded with scandals about me.

Joan and Helen even held a press conference to clear Shaun's name.

They said I had crippled a rising actress and ended up in prison for it. They said I was promiscuous, that I slept with groups of men, that I was disgusting.

They said I constantly tried to harm Shaun and even attempted to steal his research.

In just four days, public opinion spiraled out of control.

On my way to the hospital, people pointed at me and whispered.

At the hotel, someone had a funeral arrangement sent to my room. My phone was already blowing up with messages, tearing me apart.

Shaun even came to find me, grinning.

"I told you a long time ago. You were never going to beat me."

I looked at him coldly. "A nobody living someone else's life really thinks a system can fix everything? Two more hours, and you'll all be right back where you started."

His face twisted with anger, and he raised his hand to shove me.

I stepped aside.

He lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs.

"Help! Helen, Joan, help me! Matt's jealous, and he tried to kill me! Help!"

Joan rushed over, grabbed my throat, and slammed me against the wall. "You brought this on yourself, and you still dare to hurt Shaun? If anything happens to him, you'll pay with your life!"

I struggled to breathe. "He tried to push me… He fell on his own…"

Helen helped Shaun up, his body covered in blood.

She looked at me with disappointment.

"Still lying? Joan and I have already been more than kind to you. We only had those men take photos. We didn't actually let them touch you or destroy your dignity. We were even willing to support you for the rest of your life. Why do you keep targeting Shaun?"

They had taken me from a respected heir with a bright future and turned me into a disgraced ex-con with a ruined reputation.

Yet, they still claimed they had been good to me.

At this point, whether they truly couldn't see through Shaun's lies or were choosing to protect him didn't matter to me anymore.

All I wanted was for those last two hours to pass, so I could watch their downfall with my own eyes.

My throat hurt too much to speak, and they had no intention of listening anyway.

Shaun had split his head open from the fall.

Joan and Helen dragged me to the hospital and forced me to give him a blood transfusion.

"I won't give him my blood. Let me go. Someone, help!" I yelled.

They hauled me inside by force while I shouted for help.

Joan looked at me with disgust. "This is my private hospital. What I say goes. You can scream all you want. No one's coming to help you."

I felt rage and despair twist together in my chest.

"I donated a kidney and spent three years in prison. I just got out, and now you've been putting me through all of this. I have pneumonia and a high fever. Are you trying to kill me by forcing me to give blood?"

Joan's voice turned cold. "This is the price for hurting Shaun."

Seeing how heartless she was, I turned to Helen. "Joan fell for someone else and keeps hurting me for Shaun, but we're siblings. Will you…"

Helen didn't even let me finish. "You shouldn't have laid a hand on Shaun."

I thought I had already given up on them.

But in that moment, my chest still ached like something sharp had been driven into it.

I stared at them, teeth clenched. "You two are heartless! The anti-system device is already running. I'll be here to watch you get what's coming…argh!"

Joan kicked me to the ground. "Stop trying to scare us."

I hit the floor hard.

Helen dragged me into the operating room. "There's no way you're stronger than the system…ugh!"

Before she could finish, a mouthful of blood burst from her lips, and she collapsed to the ground.

At the same time, Joan's phone started vibrating nonstop. On the other end, her assistant's voice shook with panic.

"Ms. West, something's wrong! The company is in serious trouble!"

Their reckoning had arrived.