My older brother, Carl Jackson, killed eight members of the Parker family in a car accident. The only survivor, Victor Parker, canceled his engagement to me that very day in revenge, drove my family's company into bankruptcy within a week, and left us facing compensation claims totaling 900 million. My brother was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Unable to withstand the pressure, my parents jumped from the company building and died instantly. Yet on the day of their funeral, Victor forcibly married my sister-in-law, Anna Smith. "You guys owe me this! You Jacksons will never be able to repay this—ever." I was sold off to settle the debts. Over those six years, I was forced to undergo countless abortions. I was treated as less than human, summoned and discarded whenever they pleased. Six years later, after I finally paid off all the debts and came to the Parker residence, hoping Victor would show mercy and give Anna her freedom. At the office door, I overheard a phone call between Victor and his friend. "Back then, you tampered with Carl's car and made him kill your entire family for you." "You became the head of the Parker family, and married Anna you'd long dreamed of. You've gotten everything you wanted. Why won't you let Iris go?" "You grew up together, after all. Do you really have to be this heartless?" Victor's voice was cold as ice. "If it weren't for her, Anna and I would've married long ago." "She went to every possible length, using every dirty trick just to be with me. Everything she's suffering now is nothing but the consequences of her own actions!" My breath caught, and I barely managed to pull back my hand from the door. Tears fell in heavy drops as I was about to turn and leave, when a sharp, wary voice called out from inside the room. "Who's there?" The door flew open. Victor scanned the surroundings with a guarded gaze. Only after confirming no one was there did he slam the door shut. Crouched behind the wall, I covered my mouth, barely daring to breathe. Victor and I grew up together. Since childhood, he took care of me even more than my own brother did. I spent every birthday with him, and every birthday gift from him was exactly what I wanted most. If I hadn't heard the truth with my own ears, I would never have believed that the gentle, considerate childhood friend in my memories was the mastermind behind that accident. It was all for revenge against me, all for the position of heir. So many lives were destroyed by him! And I endured all the humiliation just to stay alive and atone for this devil! My nails dug into my flesh. I held back my tears in case they heard me. Only by summoning all my strength did I manage to stay on my feet and leave. When I reached the company entrance, I was stopped by a familiar, gentle voice. "Iris? Is it you?" My sister-in-law, Anna, was dressed in elegant designer clothes. Years had passed, yet time had left no trace on her beautiful face. Her gaze was pure, but when she took my hand, a flash of disdain flickered past. "You finally come back. Why didn't you even tell me? Victor said you were sick and recovering abroad all this time. Are you feeling better now?" Hearing that, my heart clenched painfully. For six years, I had been treated as a sex slave, living with no dignity at all. But he told Anna I was recovering from illness abroad? "These past years must have been hard for you, right?" "After what happened back then, Victor said he would only let the Jackson family go if I agreed to marry him. I really had no choice." "You… still blame me?" Anna seemed pretty sincere. I wavered. She's completely powerless. Even if she found out the truth, what could she do? I was just about to speak, to tell her I had indeed been recovering abroad. But from behind me came a voice, icy to the bone. "Who allowed you to come here?"
Victor stood in front of Anna protectively, his face full of vigilance. When he looked at me, his disgust was undisguised. "I'll leave right away." Fear overwhelmed the hatred in my heart. I didn't even dare meet his eyes. Instinctively, I wanted to escape. "Stop." "Why does Anna look so unwell? What did you just say to her?" Anna's face had been rosy just moments ago, but now she frowned a little. She faked an uncomfortable look. Then she shook her head, as if to cover something up. "Victor, it has nothing to do with her. Seeing her just reminded me of those painful things from back then, and I feel the baby just kicked me." I looked at her belly and was totally stunned. Victor shot me a vicious glare. "Iris! Your brother killed almost my entire family. If you had any sense, you'd stay far away. Why come here to provoke Anna?" "Don't tell me you still wanna marry me. Let me tell you, it's impossible in this lifetime!" Victor's ferocious look and words stabbed into my heart like a long thorn. Fortunately, my heart was already numb with pain. "I didn't." I rushed to deny it. But he pressed closer step by step. "Then why are you here?" "I'm warning you. Don't ever appear in front of Anna again. If anything happens to the child in her belly, I'll make you pay with your life!" After saying that, Victor anxiously took Anna to the hospital for a checkup. I watched the man who once held me like I was fragile treasure now leave, Anna at his side, not so much as a backward glance. Suddenly, I felt like crying. If only I hadn't clung so desperately back then, insisting on marrying Victor... If only I had realized sooner that he was just treating me as his sister, and that the one he truly loved was Anna... Perhaps none of this tragedy would have happened. I would still have parents who loved me, and a brother who cherished me. But no matter how much I regretted it, there was no chance to start over. Like a walking corpse, I returned to my tiny rented room. Blood from my nose soaked the crumpled, late-stage cancer diagnosis I was holding. Originally, this was meant to be my moral bargaining chip to save Anna. Now, it was no longer needed. Large tears rolled down. I was someone who had endured being violated by more than a dozen people on this bed without shedding a single tear. Now I was crying so hard that I could barely breathe. Believing I was about to die, I hurriedly wiped away the blood and tears, trembling fingers to call my brother in prison. After a series of transfers, I finally heard a beep. "Carl, I won't be able to wait for the day you're released." "I saved up some money for you. It's not much. After you get out, use it to rent a place, find a job, and live well." "And, Mom and Dad's deaths aren't your fault. I'm so sorry." I didn't dare hear Carl's voice. After finishing, I hurriedly hung up. In that instant, the phone slipped from my hand. I lost consciousness as soon as the phone hit the ground.
When I opened my eyes, I was already lying in a hospital ward. Hearing that I had woken up, the doctor hurried over and scolded me. "You're not taking care of yourself at all! Refusing chemotherapy—and not even taking your medication?" "Life is so precious, yet you treat yourself like this? What about everyone who loves you—your family, your friends?" I forced a smile. But it looked worse than crying. "Doc..." Before I could say anything, my phone suddenly rang. It was from the prison. Seeing more than thirty missed calls, a strong sense of unease surged in my chest. "Iris Jackson, your brother Carl hanged himself with bedsheets in a blind spot of the surveillance camera in the cell restroom. Despite emergency medical treatment, he was pronounced dead at 10:03 a.m. today." I didn't hear the rest clearly. It felt as if I were being sunk into the deep sea, everything muffled and distant. Ignoring the doctor's well-meaning advice, I dragged my unsteady body to the funeral home. I stared at the black-and-white photo made from a screenshot of my brother's wedding picture taken years ago. I cried until I completely lost control. News of Carl's death spread quickly, and some relatives who had long cut off contact also came to pay their respects. Anna came as well. She walked in holding a wreath, dressed in mourning clothes. The relatives all praised her for being affectionate and loyal, saying that even after so many years of divorce, she still came to see my brother. But I looked at her coldly, my eyes red. "Please leave." Anna staggered back a few steps in disbelief. Then her tears poured out. "Iris! How dare you talk to Anna like that? You better apologize to her now!" My uncle Aaron Jackson slammed his cane hard against the floor. The others also looked at me angrily. "Yeah, Iris. How can you be so ungrateful? Your brother committed such a grave mistake back then, and Anna was the one who handled your parents' funerals and all the mess alone!" "And you? You just disappeared back then. Now you come back pretending to be a good sister?" "I heard you took the money and ran off overseas to live it up. Why are you back at this moment? You wanna take advantage of Anna cuz she's living a good life now?" "Absolutely outrageous!" "I think the one who should get out is you!" My heart hurt so much as if it had been stabbed. "That's not true, I didn't!" I was sold by Victor to creditors to pay off debts. For these past years, I repaid the company's debts by serving them as a slave! I wasn't ungrateful at all. "It was Victor! He lied to all of you!" "I never went abroad. I'm not like that!" Aunt Zara rolled her eyes at me. Just as she was about to scold me, Anna stopped her. "Please, uncles and aunts, don't say any more. Iris is Carl's sister. I did fail to take good care of her." "She went abroad because she was sick. On a day like today, she must be heartbroken. So I totally understand why she doesn't wanna see me." Anna's sensible, pitiful demeanor only made the surrounding relatives feel more indignant on her behalf. "Sick? I think that's just an excuse she made up." "Something happens to the family and she gets sick? How could there be such a coincidence?" "Anna, don't speak up for this ungrateful wretch. Her parents and brother treated her so well when they were alive, but look at what she did. I still can't believe she actually ran away at that time!" I laughed. When my family fell apart and my parents were scrambling everywhere to borrow money, they shut their doors and refused to see us. Now, each and every one of them had become deeply affectionate, righteous people. "Uncle Aaron, you don't get to condemn me. When your factory ran into trouble, my parents paid the twenty million of breach-of-contract fees without hesitation. But when my family had problems, why wouldn't you even lend us one million?" "And Aunt Zara, when you were sick, my mother stayed in the hospital to care for you. She lost ten pounds in one month. But when my father jumped from the building, you stood by making snide remarks, asking her to follow him in death! If it weren't for you, my mother wouldn't have jumped so resolutely!" "Who are the ungrateful wretches here? How dare you two lecture me?" A surge of anger rushed to my head, and blood immediately gushed from my nose. I pressed hard against it, but the blood kept pouring out uncontrollably. Anna walked toward me, reaching out anxiously to support me. I shoved her away with one push. My limbs were clearly weak, and I had almost no strength left. Yet Anna fell straight backward in front of me. "Ah!" Her eyes were filled with terror as her hand reached down toward her lower body. A pool of blood had already spread across the floor. "My baby... No! My baby!" Everyone panicked. Some rushed to call Victor, others hurried to call an ambulance. I leaned against the wall, feeling really dizzy. As I watched them send Anna into the ambulance, I completely lost consciousness as well.
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