Chapter 4
The fluorescent lights of the hospital ceiling were painfully bright.
Olivia lay in the hospital bed, her entire body wrapped in bandages. The burns from the industrial
oven still marked her skin.
The door creaked open.
Ethan and Sebastian walked in.
“Have you learned your lesson?” Ethan stood at her bedside, looking down at her, voice as cold as
ice. “This was just a small punishment. Next time you destroy anything of Lillian’s, the
consequences won’t be so simple.”
Olivia stared blankly at the ceiling. She didn’t say a word.
She no longer had the strength to argue.
Just then, the door opened again. Vivian stepped inside, carrying some soup, her smile as sweet as
ever.
“Miss Sinclair, are you in pain? I made this broth just for you… to help you recover.”
As she spoke, her fingers discreetly pressed into the raw wound on Olivia’s arm.
“Ah—!” Olivia gasped, instinctively pushing her away, but Vivian stumbled backward, collapsing
onto the floor with a pitiful cry, tears immediately streaming down her cheeks.
“Miss Sinclair, I was just trying to be nice! If you won’t accept it, fine, but why push me away?”
“Olivia!” Sebastian grabbed her wrist, furious.
“How long are you going to keep being this ungrateful?”
Ethan’s expression turned frigid.
“Take away her painkillers and IV. Let her reflect in silence.”
The nurse, trembling, disconnected the tubes.
olid curled into hawaalf form th
The day she was discharged happened to be the anniversary of the so–called “death” of her
parents and Lillian.
As usual, Ethan and Sebastian brought her to the cemetery for a memorial.
Every year, they made her suffer.
This time, their idea of punishment was even crueler.
They forced her to crawl barefoot up the cemetery steps, each one scattered with shards of broken glass and rusted nails.
Had it been any other year, Olivia might have resisted.
But not this time. This year, she felt nothing at all.
Expressionless, she got down on all fours.
The glass cut into her palms, the nails ripped into her knees, but she didn’t cry out.
Blood dripped from her legs, trailing behind her, staining each step as she dragged herself upward with head bowing low, her body folding in pain and submission, rising, crawling, collapsing again, like some broken puppet reenacting a ritual she no longer understood.
Ethan and Sebastian stood at the side, watching with satisfaction.
“She’s finally learning,” one of them said.
By the time she reached the gravesite, her legs were shredded, bleeding freely.
Her knees trembled, her hands shook, and her skin clung to the jagged metal still embedded in
her flesh.
“Apologize to Mom, Dad, and Lillian,” Sebastian ordered coldly.
Olivia knelt before the tombstones, her voice hoarse.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Louder,” Ethan snapped, frowning.
“I’m sorry.”
64.29%
Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: My Maternity Records Belong to Another Woman