Chapter 3

"I'm sorry... I can't accept." I lowered my head. "I don't want to leave home. If I go work on a research project, my mom will get mad."

David let out a quiet sigh.

A flicker of pain passed through Margaret's eyes. She gently stroked my hair.

My nose stung.

So that was what a mother's touch was supposed to feel like.

I hurriedly pulled out my old phone, the screen still spiderwebbed with cracks, and pressed the power button.

After a violent buzz, the screen lit up with dozens of missed calls and more than a dozen text messages.

[Where the hell did you run off to? Pick up the phone right now!]

[If you're not back in ten minutes, don't even think about coming home!]

My heart started pounding.

"See? I told you they love me!" I held up the shattered screen in front of Margaret. "Everything was so chaotic after the crash—they must not have realized what happened. Now they know I'm missing, and they've been desperately trying to find me! I have to go home right now!"

The pity in Margaret's eyes was almost unbearable. David clenched his fists in anger.

"Sweetheart... did they treat you bad at—"

"No! They're good to me!" I cut her off quickly, terrified that this hard-won "love" might be exposed for what it really was.

Half an hour later.

A black SUV pulled up outside the hospital. David and Margaret's son, Alex, was driving.

After hearing what his parents had told him, he gave me one cold look.

Eventually, the car stopped in front of my family's villa.

Before I even got out, I heard booming music and the sound of guests laughing and cheering inside.

I froze.

After knocking for what felt like forever, the front door was finally yanked open.

Richard stood there holding a glass of champagne, looking impatient as he rolled his eyes.

"For God's sake, where the hell have you been wandering around looking like that? If you're not dead, then get inside already!" he snapped. "Do you even realize today is Chloe's eighteenth birthday party? Your sister has been looking forward to having the whole family together, and instead you disappear and deliberately leave a stain on one of the biggest days of her life! You are unbelievably selfish!"

I felt like I'd been dropped into ice water. I stared at him blankly. "Birthday party... but I was in a car accident. I almost bled to death on the side of the road..."

"Oh, shut up," Richard barked. "Chloe hurt her knee, and do you have any idea how much effort it took to pull this party together and calm her down?"

His gaze swept over my dirty clothes with open disgust. "Look at you. You're filthy. Do you want to humiliate us in front of the guests? Go around to the backyard and come in through the side door. I don't want anyone seeing you looking this disgusting."

Bang!

The front door slammed in my face.

But the moment I pushed open my bedroom door, I went completely still.

The bed was covered with disposable paper plates. Sticky smears of cake frosting were everywhere.

The dress I had scrimped and saved for three whole years to buy secondhand had been thrown onto the carpet, trampled with dirty shoe prints.

So this was what they meant by worrying about me.

So this was what they meant by family being together.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Someone pounded violently on my bedroom door from the outside.

"Olivia, you stupid pig! How long does it take to change clothes in there? Get your ass out here and clean up the mess outside!"

At last, my tears broke free.

The very last shred of hope in my heart was gone.

"If you're planning to cry yourself an ocean, I'd recommend doing it somewhere else." A man's voice came from behind me.

I turned around and realized Margaret's family had followed me inside at some point.

Alex strode past me and lifted his leg as if he were about to kick open the door Susan was still pounding on from the other side.

"Alex!" David grabbed his son's arm. "Stop. We can't make this decision for her. It has to be hers."

Jaw tight, Alex forced himself to stop.

Margaret hurried over and pulled my shaking body into a tight embrace.

She wiped the tears from my face, her eyes steady and resolute as she asked, one word at a time:

"Olivia, now—will you join my research team?"