Feverish and dazed, I slipped into a haze, lost in dreams of the past.

When I was a child, I was kidnapped by the Johnson family's enemies and thrown into a drainage ditch. An intellectually challenged old man took me in and raised me like one of his own.

He passed away when I was three. After that, it was Frederick's and Lennon's families who helped me get by. The three of us grew up together.

One became the boyfriend I adored, while the other was like the brother I never had.

When I turned 18, my birth parents finally found me. They were overjoyed, telling me that I was their long-lost daughter, the true heiress of the Johnson family. They even begged me to come home.

I had always longed for family. So, I planned to go back with them.

However, Frederick's eyes turned red. He said he couldn't bear to be apart from me.

Lennon, always impulsive, went even further. He slit his wrists and ended up in the emergency room. Their actions terrified me. After that, I never dared to bring it up again.

The three of us had grown up together. So, naturally, I didn't want to hurt them. I thought we would stay happy that way forever.

Then, out of nowhere, Florence said she wanted to build a relationship with me and showed up with her suitcase in hand.

At first, both Frederick and Lennon were distant toward her. But not long after, the four of us took a trip together and were caught in a flash flood.

I dragged Frederick and Lennon, who were both unconscious, out of danger and left Florence to watch over them while I rushed to a hospital nearly 60 miles away with a severe infection.

Later, she told them that she had risked her life to save them. She even said that I had abandoned them to run for my own life. Their attitude toward me and Florence shifted instantly.

A loud bang and a sharp, violent kick at the door snapped me awake.

I opened my eyes to see Lennon storming in, his face twisted in rage. "Florrie said that you pushed her into the pool! She's been crying nonstop. Do you think faking an illness is going to get you out of this? Get up and go apologize!"

"I'm not faking it… I almost drowned. I've got a fever and pneumonia," I explained.

After what he did today, nearly killing me, there was nothing left but hatred. His feelings meant nothing to me anymore.

Still, I forced myself to speak, because I didn't know what he might do in his rage.

However, Lennon didn't believe a single word I said. "You've learned how to swim at six. And that pool's barely deep enough to drown you. Stop pretending to be the victim, Elizabeth. What, did you miss your calling as an actress? Get up and apologize to Florrie!"

His words made my blood boil. After my near-death experience after having dragged him and Frederick out of the flood, I never went near water again. The trauma of that incident left me fearful of water. However, no matter how many times I said it, they never believed me.

I swallowed my anger and rasped out, "Fine. I'll go after this IV drip finishes. Happy?"

Three years of this had taught me when to shut up and fold. So, I thought that it would be enough to satisfy him.

However, he ripped the needle from the back of my hand and yanked me off the hospital bed.

The skin tore with his harsh movement, peeling away to expose raw flesh beneath. Blood sprayed down my wrist, the sting making me hiss in pain. However, Lennon didn't flinch and simply dragged me out the door like he couldn't even see it.

Even though we were not related by blood, he used to say that we were siblings by heart. He even said that if anyone ever hurt me, he would be the first to make them pay. I was a fool to ever believe him.

I pressed my hand to my bleeding wound as he hauled me into Florence's ward.

The moment I stepped in, I saw her sitting on the bed as Frederick held her and comforted her gently. "It's okay, Florrie. I'm here. Don't be scared."

He used to set clear boundaries with other women for fear that I would get upset. Yet, there he was, holding another woman in his arms, even with me standing right before him.

Even with the blood from my hand dripping steadily to the floor, all he cared about was her. Looking at my injury, he remarked, "That must hurt. But crying about it won't help. You hurt Florrie, so you owe her an apology!"

"Fine. I'm sorry. Is that good enough?" I didn't care anymore. I just wanted it to be over so I could get back and finish my IV drip.

Florence heard me but chose to ignore me. Instead, she curled into Frederick's arms and continued to cry.

His heart ached at that sight. He snapped, "You pushed her into the pool in the middle of winter. One little apology isn't enough."

I almost died, and that still wasn't enough for them.

Tears welled in my eyes, but I held them back. I asked, "What do you want then?"

Frederick hesitated. He looked as if he didn't know how to put it into words.

"Frederick, you promised me," Florence said as she looked at him with pitiful puppy eyes.

He let out a sigh and turned to me. "Florrie had always wanted to enter the International Gemstone Design Competition, but she never had a strong enough piece. The collection you've been working on is good. I told her that she could use it."

"No. Absolutely not!" That collection was my heart and soul. I had poured five years of inspiration and countless sleepless nights into those designs. They were important to me!

Frederick had asked me to show it to him, saying that they looked good. That was the only reason I let him see them. Who gave him the right to give them away?

However, Frederick didn't care about my feelings. "It doesn't matter if you agree or not. I'm submitting the designs under Florrie's name."

I was livid. "If you do that, I'll report her for plagiarism!"

"The originals are with me. You deleted the photo backups, didn't you? What proof do you have? Listen, Lizzy. You wronged her. Think of this as a way to make up for it," he calmly said.

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water had been poured all over me. My body went cold.

All this time, I thought that Florence may have manipulated him. Even at his worst, all I ever felt was disappointment.

But at that moment, I loathed him. He had asked me for the originals. He even told me to delete the backups, and I did. I never would have imagined that he had been planning this all along.

However, what he didn't know was that I had signed every single one of those design sheets with invisible ink. My name was on every single page.

Was he trying to build Florence up as some design prodigy using my work? Dream on.

The day the awards were announced would also be the day her theft came to light.

I bit back the fury and bitterness and said coldly, "It seems like you've already made up your mind, Mr. Kirby. Why even bother asking me? But remember, this is it. We're done. I don't owe you anything anymore."

I had never addressed him that way. All this time, I had always called him Freddy.

His brows furrowed, and he looked like he wanted to respond.

However, Florence whined that she wasn't feeling well, and all his attention snapped right back to her. He and Lennon both rushed to comfort her like two idiots competing to see who could coddle her more.

There was a time when I would have felt crushed seeing that. But now, it just made me sick. An emotionally unfaithful boyfriend, and a childhood friend who nearly got me killed over a two-faced snake. Both of them made me sick to the core!

I pushed past the discomfort and walked out of the room.

The second I stepped out, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I doubled over, clutched my chest, and threw up so hard that it felt like I was being torn apart.

How could I have even considered staying here for people like them?

That night, my mom sent over the wedding schedule and asked, "How does it look, sweetie?"

"It looks fine." I didn't care how the wedding went as long as it helped my family and got me out of Hemdeen.

I stayed in the hospital for a week while Frederick and Lennon were just next door, doting on Florence the entire time. We were barely a few feet away, yet they never came to check on me once.

However, I no longer cared.

The moment I was discharged, I went straight home and started packing my belongings. All I wanted was to leave this place behind for good.

I put every gift Frederick and Lennon had ever given me up for sale on a secondhand site, then made plans to have one last meal with my best friend.

"What? You're going back to Bimern to get married and never coming back? Do Frederick and Lennon know? Would they even allow it?" At the restaurant, Jennifer Goulding was so shocked that she dropped her piece of meat.

I couldn't blame her. Anyone who knew me well knew that Frederick and Lennon had always been the two most important people in my life.

I served her some more lamb. "They don't know. And I don't plan on telling them."

Jennifer poked at her food, stunned at first. However, her expression shifted to delight. "After everything they did for that witch? Hurting you over and over like that? Good! Leaving them is the best thing you've ever done.

"And you're right not to say anything. Don't give those scumbags a chance to ruin it. When's the wedding?"

"Five days from now. My mom just sent over a few wedding dress options. Could you help me—"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence when Frederick stormed over, panic written all over his face. He questioned, "What wedding dress? Who's getting married?"

Florence trailed behind him, biting her lip. "Maybe she's trying to force your hand because you never proposed."

Frederick frowned and said, "Lizzy, we're still young. I wasn't planning to get married this early."

It was almost comical, the way he backed away so quickly. After all, he used to be the one who couldn't stop talking about getting married the second we were old enough, worried that I would fall in love with somebody else.

Now, he was acting as though the idea of marrying me was something to avoid at all costs.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and forced a neutral tone as I said, "It's for a friend. Not me."

He let out a breath of relief, then walked off with Florence.

"Ugh. Scumbag. I think he still cares about you, but I hope he finds out that you're marrying someone else and regrets it for the rest of his life!" Jennifer snapped.

I held up my phone and enlarged the photos of the wedding dresses. "Forget about him. Which dress and bridesmaid gown do you think looks better?"

After meeting with Jennifer, I planned to pack and head back to Bimern for the wedding. With just a few more days to go, I thought I could at least get through them in peace.

However, soon after Frederick and Florence left the restaurant, footage of the two of them entering a hotel room with Lennon started circulating online. Lennon was a B-list actor with a decent following, so it didn't take long for the topic to trend online.

Jennifer and I had just picked out the dresses when the news alert popped up on my screen. "Frederick hasn't even broken up with you, and he's already doing this? What is wrong with him?

"Lizzy, are you okay? Please, don't bottle it up. It's not worth getting sick over." She was worried about me.

I exited the alert and simply said, "It used to hurt, but not anymore." If I still cared about Frederick, I would've lost my mind a long time ago.

At this point, whether he or Lennon wanted Florence no longer mattered to me. Even if the three of them ended up tangled together, it had nothing to do with me.

However, on my way home, I began to notice people staring and whispering. A few men looked at me in a way that made my skin crawl, as if they were mentally undressing me.

I had no idea what was going on until a news push notification popped up. Photos of me, Frederick, and Lennon from over the years were plastered online, with headlines claiming I was the real third in their alleged throuple, not Florence.

They were the only ones with those photos besides me. It seemed that they had thrown me under the bus.

Then Florence posted a carefully worded message on her social media account, not naming names, but heavily implying that I was a promiscuous woman who couldn't keep my hands off other men.

Now, everyone thought I was the main character of some messed-up three-way relationship.