Chapter 4
I meant it. This time, Josh and that so-called “best friend” of mine, those two despicable people, wouldn’t get away with anything. They had no right to stain my brother’s hands with their filth.
“Lila, didn’t I tell you to drug your brother yesterday?” Standing next to the convenience store, Josh shoved his hands into his pockets, his brows furrowed in frustration. In my previous life, I’d been so obsessed with him it was like I’d been cursed. He treated me like a puppet, always bossing me around because he knew I’d do whatever he asked. “If you don’t knock him out tonight, don’t expect me to help you run away.” In my past life, I’d listened to him. I’d slipped the drug into my brother’s drink. But for some reason, Liam had woken up halfway through. He’d fought through the haze, stumbling after me despite barely being able to stand. I could still remember the sound of his body tumbling down the stairs, the sickening crack of his leg breaking. His eyes had been so red that day, as if they were bleeding. Even lying on the ground, he’d reached out for me, still trying to stop me from leaving. “Don’t go! Come back! They’re bad people!” His voice, already ruined, had been raw and broken as he begged me: “Trust me. Your brother will never lie to you.” “Not even if it kills me.” But back then, I’d thought he was just a lunatic trying to trap me in his twisted little world.
Josh probably thought his threat would send me into a panic. But I didn’t even blink. Instead, I glanced at him with calm indifference and asked, “This drug… it won’t kill him, right?” Before Josh could answer, my “best friend” Danielle conveniently appeared, sauntering over with a popsicle in hand. “Oh, Lila, don’t overthink it. Just use enough to knock him out. That’s all.” She smiled sweetly, but her words dripped with venom. “Besides, your brother’s a total scumbag. He deserves it.” A scumbag? A “scumbag” who, in my last life, hunted you two down across continents to avenge me? A “scumbag” who dragged his broken body to make sure justice was served for the sister who never even trusted him? You think I don’t know my own brother? I looked up at them, my heart burning with hatred so deep I could barely contain it. I wanted nothing more than to tear them apart right there and then. But not yet. I glanced down at the bag of powder in my hand, my mind already working out a plan. Patience, I told myself. Not yet.