Chapter 3

"I've said everything I should. Shouldn't you let us go now?" The voice of the leader with blond hair startled me. He gave an awkward smile, signaling for me to release him.

My hands clenched tightly. Given a second chance at life, I couldn't just look out for myself; I had to seek revenge.

I didn't know why Gemma had pushed me to the brink of death, but I absolutely couldn't let it slide!

Of course, I wasn't as malicious as her, but I wouldn't make it easy for her either! A wicked smile played at the corner of my lips. "How about this: you promise me one thing, and I'll let you go, deal?"

"You name it, we'll definitely help you out!" The leader's gaze was unwavering.

I told them to scare Gemma a little.

This group of people was hired by her to deal with me, and when she saw them again, she would surely be frightened. I gave them some money, and they gladly accepted the task, promising to handle it beautifully.

On a lazy weekend, I sat on the bed, excitedly playing with my laptop.

The leader and his crew were quite efficient. Not only did they scare Gemma as I instructed, but they also recorded a video for me. I watched as WhatsApp notifications kept popping up with videos. I opened them one by one.

Gemma was soaked from head to toe, looking like a drowned rat.

With red eyes, a helpless expression, and an angry demeanor, she kept yelling, but it was all in vain. The leader and his gang paid no attention. Watching her in such an embarrassing state was truly satisfying. Gemma, who had always lived a pampered life, had ended up like this today!

Before long, there was a serious roar from downstairs, "Harmony! Get down here!"

It was my dad's voice.

However, why did he suddenly shout like that?

I hurriedly went downstairs, completely forgetting to shut down my laptop. In the living room, I saw Gemma, drenched from head to toe, nestled in Tim's arms, with a look of fear in her eyes.

"Gemma, what happened to you? It's not raining outside, how did you end up soaking wet?" I pretended to be oblivious, genuinely concerned about my sister's condition.

Just as I was about to touch her, she instinctively moved closer to Tim's embrace.

"Harmony, how can you even have the audacity to ask?" Tim glared at me, visibly frustrated.

Why shouldn't I have the audacity?

"Gemma is like this because of you!" My dad's blood pressure skyrocketed, his face turning red with anger. He slammed the coffee table, startling me.

"Gemma, please tell us what happened. We're all here to support you," my mom said with a concerned expression, her heart full of sympathy.

Hold on, what was going on here?

Gemma's eyes suddenly welled up with tears. Before she could speak, she burst into tears, and Tim hugged her even tighter.

She sobbed while making an accusation, "Today, on my way back, a group of thugs cornered me. They harassed me with malicious intent.

"They claimed that Harmony hired them to assault me..."

Her voice trembled even more, and she ultimately gazed at me with a pretended look of disappointment, crying even louder, "Harmony, I'm sorry. I know I've upset you, but you can't treat me like this. I'm your own sister..."

I stood there in a daze, utterly dumbfounded. How did I never realize she was such a good actress? If my parents had sent her to pursue an acting career earlier, she might have won an Oscar by now!

Those people had merely frightened her a bit, and in the videos, they didn't do anything out of line. How did it become a story of me hiring thugs with malicious intent to ruin her innocence in her version?

Clearly, she was intentionally fabricating everything!

"It wasn't me, I didn't do it," I protested. If she had claimed someone had mistreated her and blamed me for it, I could have accepted it and faced some scolding. However, to pin such a ridiculous accusation on me? Only a fool would admit to that!

"Shut up!" Tim's gaze turned ice-cold, as if he were looking at a criminal, clearly disgusted. "If I hadn't said I'd pick up Gemma today and coincidentally stumbled upon this, who knows what Gemma would be like now! And yet, you still want to defend yourself!"

"Oh, Gemma! What kind of karma have you created to end up like this?" The nanny held a towel and took Gemma from Tim's arms, cradling her and wiping the water off her body. "Harmony, what's done is done, why won't you admit it? Poor Gemma, being bullied like this..."

The nanny's eyes were filled with sympathy as she held Gemma's cold little hand, trying to warm her up.

"I told you it wasn't me!" I desperately argued, wanting to explain the sequence of events properly.

I was about to speak, but Gemma spoke before me, "Harmony, I understand. You've always felt that I stole our parents' favor and resented me. But hiring someone to harm me, isn't that a bit too much..."

Tears fell softly, like gentle raindrops.

"Harmony, you're becoming more and more outrageous!" Tim's gaze was like a sharp blade, piercing my heart.

My mom and dad began to scold me as well, and the more pitiable Gemma looked, the more venomous their words became.

My breathing became shallow, and my chest felt increasingly suffocated.

This was how they were. No matter what I said, they refused to listen to my explanations.

"Enough!" I screamed hysterically, "Can you please let me finish speaking!"

I stared at them in a daze, and it was only then that they shifted their attention to me. However, there was no doubt that their expressions were serious, devoid of any concern for me, and even tinged with impatience.

"Mr. and Mrs. Xander, I've found evidence that Harmony framed Gemma!"

I don't know when, but the nanny hurriedly came upstairs. She had gone to my room.

Holding my laptop, she came down from upstairs, brimming with excitement, and stood in front of my parents.

My eyes dimmed, and my heart skipped a beat.

I hadn't closed the WhatsApp conversation on my laptop, and my chat history with the leader was still there.

Even if I hadn't done anything, they would surely think otherwise.

"Those people also recorded a video of Gemma, showing the entire process of them mistreating her," the nanny pointed at the screen and explained.

"Harmony, look at what you've done!" Tim scolded loudly.

"It wasn't me, I just had them scare my sister a bit, I didn't ask them to harm her. It was her own..." I explained with all my might, trying to clarify the situation.

Gemma, with red eyes and a hoarse voice, said, "Harmony, I thought they were just making empty threats, I didn't expect it was really you..."

She cut in before me, throwing herself into Tim's embrace and crying uncontrollably.

Then the nanny moved the mouse and switched to another chat page. "There's also this, Harmony scheduled a meeting with several internet celebrities, claiming she had explosive news to leak to them."