Chapter 4 We're Finished

All eyes in the room swiveled toward the man who'd suddenly stepped forward.

Logan—her boyfriend in name only.

He lifted Tina gently off the marble floor, handling her with the utmost care, yet his gaze when it fell on Serena brimmed with unmasked revulsion, as if she were some irredeemable monster.

In an instant, brutal memories of her past life crashed over her in a tidal wave. Logan had tricked her into a routine medical exam, only to strap her down to an operating table. "Don't be scared, Serena. This will all be over soon. Tina needs your spinal fluid—just help her out, won't you?"

Chris had stood before her in a crisp white coat, an operation consent form clutched in his hand.

She'd thrashed and fought with every ounce of strength, while Logan bore down on her, pinning her motionless.

The second the needle pierced her spine, agony swallowed her consciousness whole.

With that single syringe, he'd stolen her figure skating career, her pride, and every shred of the life she'd built.

"Serena? I'm talking to you." Logan's voice cut through her daze, laced with a patronizing, commanding tone.

He'd always been certain Serena was utterly head over heels for him—she'd liked him since high school, obeying every word he spoke without question.

Serena snapped back to the present, slowly lifting her gaze to lock onto his hand still wrapped around Tina's waist.

Before anyone could react, she raised her palm and struck Logan hard across the cheek.

Crack!

Logan's head whipped sharply to the side, a vivid red handprint blooming instantly on his skin.

He stared at her in stunned disbelief. "You… you hit me?"

"Serena!" Derek was the first to surge forward.

"This behavior is completely unacceptable." Edward's brows knotted tight with disapproval.

Fred planted himself squarely between Logan and Tina, blocking Serena's path. "Have you lost your mind, Serena? Do you have any idea what kind of formal gala this is?"

The label "crazy" had haunted her endlessly during her years locked in the psychiatric ward.

When Tina tormented her there, no brother ever came to rescue her—they'd only claimed her condition had worsened.

Her own six blood brothers, alongside her boyfriend, had personally condemned her to that living hell.

"You were right, Chris." Her fingertips trembled faintly. "I've gone mad."

Chris's heart lurched, all the harsh reprimands he'd been ready to hurl dying on his tongue.

"Haven't you all been dying to slap that label on me anyway? Now I admit it—are you not satisfied?" Serena let out a hollow laugh, her eyes blazing raw and red. "The six of you, plus Tina and Logan—what a perfect, complete little family. You're the ones who truly belong together."

Her sharp, unflinching words sliced straight through each of her brothers' hearts.

Logan drew a deep breath, softening his tone in a feeble attempt to placate her. "Serena, you're just jealous, aren't you? There's nothing going on between Tina and me—I only helped her up just now…"

He reached out, intending to grab her arm again.

"Keep your hands off me!"

Serena's eyes burned with unbridled disgust. "What right do you have to speak to me like this? Take a good look at who you were holding a moment ago."

Logan's hand froze mid-air.

"Logan, we're done. Starting this second, you can be whoever's boyfriend you please—it has nothing to do with me anymore."

Tina shrank behind Derek, glistening tears pooling in her eyes, putting on a picture of fragile helplessness.

But Serena caught the fleeting flash of triumph hidden deep within her gaze.

Without another word, Serena turned and headed for the staircase.

"Enjoy your little birthday celebration and the Seymour family's adoption announcement. I have no desire to crash this family gathering."

Tina's voice drifted out from behind her. "Albert, do you think Serena's still angry with me? Maybe I shouldn't accept being a Seymour daughter after all…"

"Don't speak nonsense." Albert's voice rumbled low and firm. "You will always be one of us. Nothing can ever change that."

"Serena's just throwing a childish tantrum." Brian let out a cold huff as he knelt to gather the scattered gifts off the floor. "We'll leave these with you for safekeeping. She'll come retrieve them once her anger fades."

"Logan, Serena's always listened to you above everyone else. Go talk her down once she's cooled off." Chris clapped a hand on Logan's shoulder.

Logan rubbed his stinging cheek, his eyes dark with simmering resentment.

Back inside her bedroom, Serena's entire body shook violently.

She curled her knees to her chest, a searing throbbing pounding through the gash on her scalp.

Her fingers brushed the gauze wrapped around her head, meeting warm, sticky fresh blood—the wound had split open and started bleeding again.

Two years of torture in that psychiatric ward had long since drained every last tear from her body; she couldn't even cry if she tried.

What good would crying do, anyway?

Serena pushed herself unsteadily off the floor, crossed to her desk, and flipped open her laptop.

Her original figure skating program concept, ready for official submission.

In her past life, she'd spent more than half a year refining every detail, only for Tina to secretly film her drafts and submit them first. This time, she would strike preemptively.

She drew a shaky breath and flew across the keyboard, revising every segment at breakneck speed.

Every tweak and improvement she'd agonized over for months after her idea was stolen was burned indelibly into her memory.

Two hours of meticulous polishing later, Serena clicked the send button.

She'd submitted her finished, refined draft a full week earlier than Tina planned to hand in her stolen rough outline.

Serena leaned back against her office chair, her fingers curling tight. Unfortunately, she could not leave this mansion yet.

The SAT exam was less than a month away—she would not escape until she held her university acceptance letter in her hands.

In this new life, she wanted nothing to do with any of these so-called family members.

Night deepened.

Serena lay rigid in her bed, burning up with a raging fever, trapped in a tangled web of haunting nightmares she could not break free from.

Once more she was trapped in the psychiatric ward, watching Tina's fingers wrap around a syringe.

Chris stood cold and unfeeling beside the operating table; Albert signed the papers severing all blood ties without hesitation.

Logan pulled Tina close against his side. "Serena, you brought all this on yourself with your unreasonable behavior."

The nightmare shifted abruptly to fragments of her childhood, when their parents were still alive.

Albert had taken her to the ice rink for her very first time. She'd wobbled unsteadily on brand-new skates, and Albert knelt at the rink's edge, stretching his arms wide for her.

"Don't be afraid, Serena. Come to me."

When she stumbled and fell, her brothers had rushed to her side, overcome with worry.

Back then, they had truly cherished her more than anything in the world.

She relived the car crash, being dragged bleeding and broken from the wreckage.

Through the fog of shock, she'd heard one of her brothers cry out, "Serena, you're alive—thank God."

Yet years later, their words had twisted into something cruel: "If Tina's parents hadn't sacrificed themselves to save you, you'd be dead. You owe her everything."

At two in the morning, the ground floor of the Seymour Villa remained blazing with light.

Tina's bedroom door hung slightly ajar.

Brian stepped inside carrying a mug of warm milk, while Derek pressed a warm damp towel to her scraped knee.

The injury was nothing more than a tiny superficial scrape, barely needing a single band-aid.

"Does your knee still hurt, Tina?" Brian asked in a soft, gentle tone.

Tina shook her head. "It's fine now, Brian. Serena's head was bleeding badly—should we go check on her upstairs?"

"Check on her?" Derek scoffed sharply. "She brought that injury on herself. The pain's well-deserved."

Brian's expression darkened as Tina bowed her head. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't said something to upset Serena…"

"This has nothing to do with you." Brian's voice turned stern. "She's been spoiled rotten her whole life, running wild with no regard for anyone. A little fall will teach her some much-needed discipline."

Laughter and quiet conversation drifted out of Tina's room as each of her six brothers took turns stopping by to comfort her.

Meanwhile, Serena lay feverish and delirious in her lonely bedroom, not a single soul bothering to knock on her door.