“Honey, I promised that I’d be with you on Valentine’s Day.”

While walking home from school, I saw my brother’s fiancee, Erika Gibson, holding hands with a strange man and entering a hotel.

“Babe, I’ve missed you so much these past three days.”

I was in shock. I wanted to speak out, but I could not make a sound because I had autism.

I was born while my parents were traveling with my brother, Nathan Clinton.

That day, my mom’s water unexpectedly broke on the highway. So, my dad hit the gas pedal in a rush to the hospital.

Unfortunately, they got into a car accident on the way, and my dad died instantly.

My mom held on long enough to give birth to me.

However, after she learned of my dad’s death, she had trouble coping and died from severe bleeding.

Nathan was the only family I had left, but he hated me.

I hated myself too.

If I had not been born at such a bad time, maybe my parents would not have died.

Additionally, Nathan would not have had to take over the family business so soon.

Yes, I became a burden to him, so he only got engaged last year. But Erika always took such good care of Nathan, so I never expected her to cheat on him.

She and her lover were talking about getting Nathan’s money.

I knew that I could not expose them myself, so I rushed home to tell Nathan everything.

When I walked in, Nathan was holding the phone with a sad expression. “Erika, it’s Valentine’s Day and our first anniversary. Are you really not coming back?”

I could hear Erika on the other end say, “It’s my best friend’s birthday. Stop bothering me.”

Then, she hung up.

Nathan glanced at me, but he did not say anything.

He never liked talking to me.

To him, I was just a mute.

I quickly approached him and took out a piece of paper and a pen. Then, I wrote down what I had seen. [Nathan, I just saw Erika going into a hotel!]

Nathan stared at the note for a moment before anger filled his face.

The next second, he slapped me.

My left cheek burned with pain.

“Moon, what’s wrong with you?! Do you hate to see me happy?! Are you trying to stir up trouble after hearing my phone call?!” Nathan shouted angrily.

I was so desperate that I felt like crying. I tried to keep writing on the paper.

However, Nathan flipped the table over. “Stop writing! I know you don’t like Erika, but she’s going to be your sister-in-law! I’m done raising you! Do you want me to stay single forever because of you? Enough with your schemes, Moon! If I could choose, I wouldn’t even want to be your brother!”

When I heard those last words, I froze in shock, and tears started rolling down my face.

I never thought Nathan could hate me so much.

Even though he had always been distant, I believed that he still cared about me since we were family.

It was only at this moment that I realized I had been a mistake since the day I was born.

“Crying again? What’s wrong with you?” Nathan exploded with anger once more. “Do you think I owe you something? Moon, do you just love playing the victim? Apologize now! Say you shouldn’t have tried to ruin my relationship!”

I did not want to cry, but it was hard for me to speak. Tears were the only way I could show how I felt.

I shook my head to indicate that it was not what it looked like, but Nathan misunderstood me.

“Is it really that hard to say you’re sorry? If it is, get out!” Nathan pushed me out the door and sternly said, “Apart from Mom, Erika’s the most important woman in my life. If you keep antagonizing her, forget about ever coming back!”

I stood outside the door, frozen, as Nathan slammed the door shut.

He kicked me out because of Erika, but I did not know where to go.

The lights from the houses behind me were all shining brightly. Sadly, not a single one was meant for me.

My autism manifested when I was a kid due to Nathan’s cold attitude.

Even after I started elementary school, I still could not speak.

The teacher told Nathan to get me checked, and the doctor said that I was born with autism.

Nathan sneered. “Autism? She’s just faking it for attention. I’m not going to pay her any attention. Let’s see how long she can keep up the act!”

After that, he never got me any therapy or moved me to a special school.

By the third grade, my classmates realized I never talked and always kept to myself. So, they began treating me like a weirdo.

That was when the bullying in school started.

I told Nathan about it, but he did not care. He said that I deserved it. “Think about it. People don’t bully for no reason. Why are they only picking on you and not others?”

Remembering all this made me feel even worse. I sat outside the door and sobbed.

After a long time, Erika came back looking disheveled.

She saw me and wore a brief look of disgust, but she pretended to care. “Moon, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you inside?”

Just then, Nathan opened the door and spoke coldly. “Erika, you’re being too nice. Don’t worry about her. She knows exactly what she did.”

Erika seemed confused. “What did she do?”

Nathan handed her the paper I had written on and said, “Take a look. I’ve known for a while that she’s been up to no good. She’s so young, but she’s already trying to come between us. I gave her a chance to make things right. All she had to do was apologize to come inside, but she wouldn’t do it. She made her choice.”

Erika’s face turned pale.

Her expression changed, and she sternly said, “Moon, how could you accuse me of something like this? Haven’t I been good to you? You…”

Nathan pulled her into his arms and softly said, “Don’t bother with her. Let her stay outside. This will be a lesson for her.”

As they shut the door again, I saw Erika glaring at me with hate through the gap.

I instinctively shuddered.

It was getting really late at night, but Nathan still refused to let me in.

Feeling sleepy, I whispered, “Nathan, why won’t you believe me…”

Suddenly, a rough, smelly sack was thrown over my head.

Before I could react, someone pushed me into a car.

When I woke up, I found myself in a strange club.

My hands were tied, and I could not move.

The first person I saw was Erika’s lover.

I heard others call him Harry Lewis.

When Harry noticed that I was awake, he took the sack off my head and smiled creepily at me. “Hey, little girl. I heard that you’re pretty brave. You told your brother about us?”

I was terrified, and I shrank back into a corner.

Memories of what happened before I fainted soon returned.

I only remembered seeing a pair of shoes in front of me, followed by the sack that went over my head.

Right then, it finally dawned on me that I had been kidnapped.

Harry stepped closer to me with a furious look. “Aren’t you supposed to be mute? Why couldn’t you keep quiet? Since you blabbed, I’ll take care of you for Erika!”

I realized that Erika was the reason I was here.

Harry gave me a hard slap, and blood dripped from my mouth.

He started punching and kicking me like a crazy person.

For a moment, I thought that he might actually kill me.

Fortunately, one of the men behind him spoke up. “Harry, why are you hitting a little girl? If people find out, it won’t make us look good. Why don’t we make a bet for five hundred thousand?”

Harry seemed interested. “Sounds fun. What’s the bet?”

The man smiled meaningfully and replied, “It’s Valentine’s Day. Let’s see if she can sell 200 roses at the night market.”

Everyone laughed in response.

“Someone who can’t even talk selling flowers? Are you serious?”

“Come on, man. You’re not planning on letting her go, are you?”

I thought that I would be rescued, but I ended up in a worse situation instead.

When Harry saw how hopeless I looked, he quickly agreed to the bet.

They soon put hidden cameras on me and arranged for a driver to take me to the night market.

My head pounded as I stood in the busy night market.

The weird stares from the people around me made me feel uncomfortable.

In my earpiece, I heard Harry’s annoyed voice. “Hurry up, you little brat! If you don’t, I’ll send out your juicy photos right now and ruin the Clinton family’s name!”

A chill ran down my spine.

I could not believe how low Harry would stoop. He had taken juicy photos of me while I was unconscious.

I avoided the camera and carefully took out my phone to text Nathan. [Nathan, I’m at the Glowing Night Market. Can you come get me? I’ve been kidnapped.]

After I waited for a long time, Nathan finally replied. [Moon, I can’t believe you’d lie about something like this. If you’re brave enough to wander around, you shouldn’t worry about getting home! You know it’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m at home with Erika, so you must be trying to annoy me, right?]

Tears filled my eyes.

It looked like he was not coming to save me.

Harry’s impatient voice rang out again. “Are you going to sell those flowers or not? If I lose money because of you, I’ll leak your photos!”

I was so scared that I almost cried, but I managed to say, “Don’t…”

When they heard my voice, everyone burst out laughing in my earpiece.

“No wonder she doesn’t like to talk. She sounds like a duck!”

I slowly walked forward and saw a kind-looking woman. I showed her the flower basket, but I was too nervous to say anything.

“Shoo. Take your things and leave. What year is it? You’re still out here forcing people to buy from you?!” the woman said impatiently.

She shoved me, and I stumbled. As a result, the flowers dropped to the ground.

I started to cry in silence.

However, the woman got upset. “Hey, what are you doing? Is this some kind of emotional blackmail? My husband’s in the hospital! If you try to scam me, I’ll fight back!”

I shook my head quickly.

People gathered around to watch and pointed at me.

“Whose kid is this? Why is she doing such a horrible thing?”

“Yeah, she looks fancy, but she’s up to no good.”

…

The angry woman stomped on my flowers a few times and quickly walked away.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in the crowd.

“Hey, Moon, is that you? What are you doing selling flowers?”

I looked up and started to shake with fear.

It was Nicole Carter, the girl who had been bullying me for a long time at school.

She grabbed my face and mocked me, “Moon, didn’t you say your brother’s the president of Clinton Corporation? If you really are the Clinton family’s heiress, why are you working part-time at a night market?”