Chapter 1

As soon as I finished speaking, Shane Garner, the handsome teenager in front of me, knitted his brows even more tightly.

In my previous life, he was my adopted older brother.

He was not only the knight in shining armor who had rescued me from the human traffickers, but also the executioner who had shipped me off to a psychiatric hospital many years later.

He'd stood there and watched as those people repeatedly tortured me with electric shocks and forced drugs down my throat for five long years.

He was responsible for the suffering that had ultimately driven me to jump off a building.

Shane pressed his lips together and stepped forward, reaching out to pull me toward him.

"Don't be scared. I'm here to help you."

The moment I saw his hand, I instinctively shrank back.

In my previous life, on my 18th birthday, I had made a cake myself and waited for Shane to come home. However, two medical attendants in white uniforms showed up with him. He stood beneath the crystal chandelier in the living room, holding a cigarette and eyeing me coldly.

"If you hadn't told Mom and Dad that Cassie lashed out at you, they wouldn't have scolded her, and she wouldn't have run out of the house! You're going to spend the rest of your life in the psychiatric facility to atone for her death."

For the next five years, I was either chained to a cold bed and forced to consume pills that left me delirious and barely conscious most of the time, or strapped to a chair and subjected to wave after wave of electric shocks until I wet myself from the excruciating agony.

Every time Shane "visited" me, he would stand outside the glass window and watch me with cold indifference. It was always clear from his expression that he thought I deserved every bit of the torture.

All at once, the loathing and despair washed over me, threatening to consume me whole.

I clenched my fingers tightly around the trafficker's rough hand, my knuckles turning white and my nails digging into my palm.

The man was caught off guard by the sudden force. He turned his head and looked at me in surprise.

But he was quick to catch on and immediately played along. After patting me on the head, he flashed Shane a pleasant smile and said, "You have no idea what kids are like these days! My niece is just throwing a tantrum.

"We had a little argument just now, so she started blabbering all that nonsense. Don't worry about it, young man. We'll be taking her home now."

With that, the two men each grabbed one of my arms and hurried toward the roadside, afraid Shane might keep pressing them.

The farther we walked, the more desolate the surroundings became. Only after we reached an isolated area with no one around did the two men let go of me and lean against a nearby tree trunk to catch their breath.

The shorter, stockier of the two human traffickers said in a low, impatient tone, "That little kid was acting rather strange just now. Do you think she's been scared witless? Has she gone mad?"

The taller, lankier man snorted before squeezing my arm.

"Who cares if she's gone mad or not? We've already arranged the handoff for today. Once we sell her off, we'll leave with the money, and it won't be any of our business whether she's right in the head."

Keeping my eyes down, I listened to their exchange in silence. A cold sense of dread filled my heart.

Obviously, I knew these people wanted to sell me off. However, I didn't want to reunite with the Garners, even though they were my biological family.

I didn't want to have anything to do with them, and I certainly didn't want to cross paths with my so-called brother who'd made my life a living hell.

Nevertheless, I knew I'd only be jumping out of the pan and into the fire if I got sold.