It was my uncle, Cole, who had shown up. He quickly sized up the situation inside the room.

The veins on his neck bulged in an instant. Even the veins on his forehead were showing.

He charged right in and punched Robb square in the face.

Then, he hastily took off his suit jacket to cover me.

After that, he turned back to Robb and pinned him to the ground before unleashing a flurry of punches on him.

“You scumbag! You call yourself a man? She’s your daughter!

“I’m going to kill you right here. Don’t test me!”

Robb was beaten mercilessly. The only thing he could do was cover his head while begging for mercy.

“Stop! Stop! It’s a misunderstanding! It’s all a misunderstanding!”

Cole stopped at last. He pulled him up by the collar to interrogate him.

“What were you trying to do to your daughter?”

Robb spat out a mouthful of blood before scrambling for an explanation, “I wasn’t trying to do anything. I was just trying to scare her!”

Cole turned to me with a pained expression in his eyes.

“Isabel, you can tell your uncle the truth. Did he try to strip you?”

I shook my head and told him, “He didn’t do anything. I was the one who tied myself up for fun.”

“What?”

Cole looked at me in disbelief.

“He must have tied you up…”

I cut him off sharply, “I've told you I asked for it!”

He tilted his head and seemed even more baffled than before.

“Isabel, does he have some dirt on you somehow?

“You can tell me. I’m your uncle, and I promise you I will have your back no matter what!

“I’ll even put my life on the line and take him out right here!”

I shook my head and insisted again, “No.”

Robb got up from the ground. He wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled gloatingly.

“Listen to your niece, she said it herself!”

Cole glared at him, “Consider yourself lucky. I’ll make sure you get what’s coming later!”

Then, he squatted low in front of me and held me firmly by the shoulders, “They’re trying to save your mother’s life in the hospital now. You have to come with me to see her!”

I forcefully shrugged off his hand and cried out, “I’m not coming with you!

“Even if she dies, I won't see her!”

Cole’s brows were furrowed tightly. He was frozen with shock.

That was the moment he decided he was done bickering with me. Without a word, he carried me over his shoulder and strutted outside.

I squirmed fiercely, but it was no use.

“Let me go! I said I'm not going!”

Then, he forcibly shoved me into the car and sped towards the hospital where my mother was.

“Your mother is suffering from blood loss. They’re trying to resuscitate her now.

“The doctor says the knife was only a centimeter away from her heart.

“She was still murmuring your name moments before she lost consciousness. She was so worried you would be scared by what happened.”

His voice was choked up with tears by this point. I noticed he had an iron grip on the steering wheel.

The radio was playing a live talk show where viewers could call the station.

Soon, a caller called in. She sounded completely hysterical.

“What is that Isabel girl thinking? Her mother shielded her from a knife, and she didn't even bother to glance at her mother before leaving! How could she be so heartless?”

The host agreed, “That’s right, we’re trying to make sense of it too. How much bitterness must she feel toward a mother who has shown her nothing but profound love?”

That was right, my mother loved me more than anything else.

Her love was to the point of being unconditional.

I remember an episode when I made a remark about how ugly the school’s meal card looked.

She proceeded to deposit a hundred thousand dollars into the meal card and made it the best-looking meal card in the entire school.

I stared at the scenery rushing past outside the window. Without warning, I reached for the handle and pulled.

Then, I jumped out of the car while my uncle screamed in the background.

When I came to, I was in the hospital.

I caught a faint hint of the familiar scent of my mother’s perfume.

She was lying on the bed next to me. The gauze wrapped around her chest had turned a faint red from the blood seeping through her wound.

Her complexion was pale, and her lips were chapped.

When she noticed I was awake, she tried to get up.

“Isabel, you're awake! How are you feeling?

“The doctor says you’re just lightly concussed, don’t worry…”

I sat up and looked at her expressionlessly.

Then, I yanked the IV needle out of the back of my hand.

I pressed the tip of the needle against my neck.

“Get me out of here.”

Everyone inside the ward was stunned.

My uncle was incensed. “Isabel! Have you lost it?!

“Put that down!”

My grandmother cried out exasperatedly, “Isabel, you’re going to be the death of us all!”

Then, several reporters barged into the room. I was nearly blinded by a barrage of camera flashes.

“My god! She’s threatening her mother with her life!”

“What an ungrateful child!”

“Poor Mrs. Williams! She took a knife to the chest for her daughter, only to be threatened like this!”

“She’s much better off without a daughter like this!”

Despite all the chaos all around, my mother ignored the wound on her chest and shoved away everyone crowded around the bed.

“No pictures!

“Cole, get these reporters out of here!”

She clutched her hand to her chest while blood trickled from her lips.

Cassandra cried out agonizingly, “Stop badmouthing my daughter! She’s just going through a rebellious phase!”

She sounded drained. “All of you, let her leave!”

Then, she turned to me with a tender look in her eyes while tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Isabel, I beg you. Please stop hurting yourself.

“You can go wherever you want. I’ll give you whatever you want.”

With that, I kept the needle pressed against my neck while limping out of the hospital.

When I walked past an abandoned building, a pair of hands emerged from the darkness and pulled me inside.

Soon, I felt the cold touch of a knife against my neck.

It was Paige Bracker. The woman my father had beaten into miscarriage.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and her hair was disheveled.

After she took me to the rooftop, she ordered sharply, “Call Cassandra and tell her to bring me ten million dollars, or else I’ll throw you off the edge!”

I reached for my phone and smashed it on the ground.

“I’d rather die than call her!”

Paige was taken aback. Then, she laughed hysterically.

“Why? She was so good to you. What makes you hate her so much?”

That was when police sirens began blaring in every direction.

Countless police cars and reporters had rushed to the scene. They had the building surrounded in no time.

Even I was somewhat taken aback when I saw the commotion.

Paige started to panic. She demanded to know if I was behind this.

It did not seem like she had orchestrated this either. If there were no other witnesses, who could have contacted the police?

Now that she was cornered, she tightened her grip around the knife and held me hostage, “Don't come any closer! Bring that bastard Robb here right now! I want a hostage exchange!”

I cried out, “No! I refuse!”

Paige was baffled by my response.

“Aren't you afraid of dying?”

An officer used a loudspeaker to persuade me, “Isabel, please calm down!”

I ignored the officer’s pleas and cried out in a trembling voice, “I’d rather die than return to my mother’s side. Kill me right here if you want!”

Meanwhile, my mother had just arrived at the scene.

The gauze on her chest was completely soaked in blood by this point. Her bloodied footsteps tracked behind her with every step she took.

When Cassandra heard my protest, she nearly fainted on the spot.

She turned to me and cried out in a voice filled with anguish.

“Isabel, please tell me… Why do you hate me so much? Did I do something wrong? Please just talk to me, I promise I’ll change!”

Cole could not stay silent anymore. He roared angrily, “Isabel! Did you hear your mother? She risked her life for you! How could you be so heartless and do this to her?!”

The reporters and passersby erupted into frantic cries as well.

“What an evil daughter!”

“Poor Mrs. Williams! Hurry up and say something to your mother, you ungrateful child!”

“She must be the devil! Does she even have a heart?”

I looked at the crowd for a moment, then suddenly flashed a wicked smile.

I glanced at my watch. The timing was perfect.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m doing this.”

I jerked my head up and barely flinched from the knife grazing against my neck and drawing blood.

“Do you want to know why I chose to be with my father and leave my mother?

“I’ll tell you right now!”

I was about to reveal the dark secret I had kept for not just one, but two lifetimes.