جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 8

"Ugh! What a piece of trash! Do you really think you're one of the Holloways? You're nothing but a stray they keep outside. Getting to die in place of Ms. Kate is the kind of luck your miserable life could never earn, no matter how many lifetimes you live."Inside the cramped van, the bald, scar-faced man spat a thick glob of phlegm right next to my foot. The thugs behind him stared at me as if I were a dead man walking.I finally understood.It was no wonder that three days ago, the Holloways had gone all out with their search for their missing daughter.I thought I was loved. As it turned out, I was just being sold off. They were trading my life for Kate Holloway's. What a truly heart-stirring display of parental love."Let me go! Whatever the Holloways are paying you, I'll pay you ten times that!" I yelled."Ten times?" Scarface smacked my cheek with the flat of his knife. "With what? With these flea-market rags of yours? Or do you mean…"The lewd look in his eyes was unmista

That was when Scarface noticed the way I instinctively protected my hands."No! Don't!" I screamed.His boot came down hard on my fingers. The sharp, sickening crack of bones breaking rang out clearly, making my scalp crawl.He ground each finger under his heel, as if he were crushing ants."I was wrong… Please, I'm begging you… Let me go…"As a painter, my hands were everything to me."Too late," he said, sneering.He grabbed my hair and started dragging me toward the tires.Just as total despair swallowed me and I thought I was going to be crushed into pulp, a blinding set of headlights appeared behind us, followed by a sharp, urgent honking that cut through the silence.The person who stepped out of the car was none other than my "dear big brother", Callum Holloway. He was followed by Kate, who was smiling ever so sweetly.A big, fawning grin immediately appeared on Scarface's face.Kate snuggled into Callum's side and cooed sweetly, "Cal, what if Mr. Whitethorn thinks he

The next second, Callum crushed me beneath his shoe while he fawned shamelessly."You can do whatever you want to this chick. She's got nothing else going for her except this worthless life of hers. She can take whatever you throw at her."So about the Holloway family matter… Can we just call it even? Say the word, and we'll leave immediately.""Shut up! Who said you had the right to speak here?" Desmond roared, eager to show off in front of Joshua."Boss, how should we deal with this chick?"He grabbed my hair and yanked me upright, forcing me to kneel with my head thrown back in humiliation.He didn't notice Joshua's expression turning icy as he stalked closer."Who said you could touch her?" Joshua snarled.With a swift kick, Desmond was sent tumbling across the floor. He clutched his stomach and barely dared to breathe."Boss, I was just worried that the chick might offend you again…"Joshua didn't even glance at him. Instead, he walked straight up to me and stopped."Wh

"What? Didn't your nanny-for-a-mother and prison-bound father ever tell you? You're the real thief who's been occupying someone else's space," Dominic snarled.Kate froze, then let out a twisted scream. "No! How is that… That's impossible! You're lying to me! You're all lying to me! You're my father! My father!"What she would never know was that Dominic—the man who cherished and doted on me like his own life—was only my adoptive father.When I was six, Kate's mother, who worked as a nanny, had dumped me in an abandoned mine. That was where I found Dominic, barely clinging to life.The little me fed him water and screamed desperately for help.From that day on, Dominic took me back with him and raised me by his side. I became Rosalie Whitethorn—the daughter of the Whitethorn family.At first, Josh had only been my bodyguard. But through one meritorious deed after another, he eventually became the leader of the Blackscale Syndicate and Dominic's chosen successor, which also made h