Chapter 3
Vanessa screamed and fell backward, pulling me down with her into the pond.
“Splash!”
The cold water choked my lungs the moment I hit it. I fought through the pain, trying to swim to the surface.
But the more Vanessa struggled, the more I was dragged deeper into the water.
“Splash!”
Another splash, and the water’s surface suddenly exploded with light.
Vanessa immediately released the leg she had wrapped around my waist and vanished from my sight.
I desperately groped around, but there was nothing left.
In a daze, the scene of my death from the previous life replayed before my eyes.
I can’t die!
Digging my fingernails into the muddy pond wall, I struggled to climb up.
My broken fingernails peeled back, but the pain was nothing compared to my tattered heart.
Finally, someone pulled me up.
I pushed aside my soaking wet hair and coughed,趴吐ed at the edge of the pond, while Vanessa shivered, burrowing into Alex Sterling’s embrace.
“Alex… my sister pushed me… I’m scared!”
Alex Sterling took off his soaked suit jacket, grabbed a dry towel, and wrapped it tightly around her.
The worry in his eyes was the genuine concern I had always longed for.
And when he faced Vanessa, he was never insincere or dismissive.
Warm tears flowed down my face. I bit down hard on my lip, all my accusations choked in my throat.
Alex Sterling belatedly looked at me.
He subconsciously released Vanessa, his eyes darting away as he helped me up from the ground.
“Iris, you…”
“Do you still remember this place?”
I cut him off, forcing a bitter smile.
My mother had just passed away then; her body hadn’t even been fully recovered from the river.
My father, meanwhile, accompanied that mother and daughter on a trip.
In the vast Thorne mansion, only Alex Sterling had climbed over the wall and sat with me in the courtyard all night long.
“You said you’d protect me forever, that even if I fell into this pond, you’d jump in without hesitation to save me.”
They say children’s words mean nothing, but I had remembered them for eighteen years.
“Alex Sterling, when did you change?”
His fingers, which were helping me, trembled violently. His eyes were full of heartache.
Just as he was about to speak, Vanessa suddenly coughed violently.
“Be careful not to catch a cold.”
He instinctively warned Vanessa, yet his gaze remained fixed on my face.
“Iris, get inside first, it’s cold out here.”
Before I could even nod, my father roared, charging towards us.
“You disgraceful child!”
The brass buckle of his belt struck my kneecap directly. Alex Sterling let go, and I tumbled onto the pile of碎石.
Mrs. Thorne frantically brought a fur coat and draped it over Vanessa.
That was clearly my mother’s heirloom!
I took a deep breath, and with all my might, I screamed, “Don’t you dare touch my mother’s things!”
My father’s furious voice was my only answer:
“You deliberately pushed Vanessa into the pond! How could you be as malicious as that short-lived mother of yours!”
“These are all Thorne family belongings! What right do you, a daughter who’s marrying out in a few days, have to tell us what to do?”
Alex Sterling remained silent. Mrs. Thorne shrieked and cried,
“My Vanessa, wake up, don’t scare your mommy!”
She turned, her face contorted, glaring at me, her tear-filled eyes bloodshot:
“If anything happens to Vanessa, I’ll have your birth mother’s ashes dug out of the family grave!”
I laughed, exasperated, and coldly watched the performance of this theatrical family.
Vanessa, who had been lying there with her eyes closed, suddenly began to twitch.
“Alex, I’m so cold, save me.”
The sob in her voice completely unnerved Alex Sterling.
The guilt on his face was replaced by urgency. He quickly scooped the heavily wrapped woman into the living room.
The boy who had once saved me in my memories had now personally abandoned me.
He truly died the day Vanessa and her mother moved in.
“You’re to spend the entire night kneeling, and tomorrow you’ll be writing lines in the family study!”
My father finished, then slammed the front door shut.
The courtyard instantly fell silent.
All my strength was gone. My heart was like a stagnant pool, completely still.
This home had no room for me anymore.
I picked at the broken stones under my knees and suddenly smiled with a sense of release.
It felt so good to have no lingering attachment.
They didn’t know.
As long as I held out until noon tomorrow, this little sympathy play would be over.