They Sabotaged My Future, Then Begged Me to Come Back When I Built a Better One Chapter 05

They Sabotaged My Future, Then Begged Me to Come Back When I Built a Better One Chapter 05

The moment I slit my wrist, I felt no pain at all. 

Only a sense of release I had never known before. 

Warm blood poured out, trailing along the chain that bound me, winding across the floor. 

As I started to lose consciousness, flashes of memory rushed 

through my mind. 

Fifteen years ago, a car had come hurtling out of control. 

Vivian froze in fear. 

I lunged at her and shoved her out of the way. 

My knees scraped hard against the asphalt, tearing the skin 

open. 

But it wasn’t my parents‘ concern that awaited me. 

Instead, Vivian hid in our mother’s arms, pointing at me 

through her tears. 

“It was her… she tried to push me under the car…” 

My mother’s slap left my left ear ringing. No one even glanced 

at the blood trickling from the corner of my mouth. 

That very night, my father threw me, burning with fever, 

outside the rusted gates of Silver Pines Foster Home. 

They held Vivian close, soothing her in hushed tones. 

Me? I stood outside, alone in the freezing rain. 

From that day on, I got it. Blood ties meant nothing. I had been 

born unloved. 

The scene shifted. It was winter at the foster home, with no 

heating. 

I had hidden half a bread and was locked in solitary by a caretaker. My body turned numb with cold, my skin purple. 

Just as I thought I would die there, Soren smashed the door 

open. 

He shoved a bottle of warm milk into my arms, covering my 

ears with his hands. 

“Brielle, don’t be scared. From now on, I’ll protect you.” 

In those years, he was the one thing I believed in. The only light in my desolate life. 

I thought that even if the whole world abandoned me, at least I 

still had Soren. 

But the memories began to speed up, twist, and tear apart. The gentle Soren disappeared. 

In his place was the man who watched coldly as my admission ticket burned to ashes, who kicked me away without 

hesitation to protect Vivian. 

His mocking voice tangled with my parents‘ curses and Vivian’s triumphant laughter, piercing straight into my skull.. 

It hurt. 

The fragments of memory spun wildly, collapsing one after another, until everything dissolved into the endless red before 

my eyes. 

It’s better this way. At least now, I won’t have to be his toy 

anymore. 

At the same time, outside the test center at Westbrook High 

School. 

Soren stood under a sun umbrella, gently wiping the sweat 

from Vivian’s forehead. 

“Vivian, don’t be nervous. Just focus on the test.” 

Vivian leaned shyly against him and nodded. 

At that moment, his phone started vibrating. 

When he saw the hospital’s number, he frowned. A flicker of 

irritation crossed his face. 

He answered, and a nurse’s panicked voice came through. 

“Mr. Cross! Miss Harrington slit her wrist! There’s so much blood. Please come quickly!” 

Soren’s grip on the umbrella tightened abruptly, his knuckles 

turning white. 

“What did you say?” 

After a brief moment of surprise, a trace of mockery appeared 

in his eyes. 

Someone like Brielle, who clung to life like a weed in the mud, 

would never be willing to die. 

This had to be another one of her tricks–some pathetic stunt to sabotage Vivian’s test. 

“Tell her if she wants to die, she can go do it somewhere else. 

Spare me this cheap, disgusting act.” 

With that, he hung up without hesitation. 

As he turned back, the darkness on his face vanished, replaced 

by gentleness. 

He reached out and smoothed the loose strands of hair by Vivian’s temple, his tone soft and indulgent. 

“Go on in, Vivian. I’ll be right here waiting.” 

He watched her nod shyly and disappear through the test center doors, then let out a long, slow breath. 

But as the surroundings quieted down, he leaned against his car and lit a cigarette. 

It was blazing hot out, a scorching summer day, yet his fingertips felt cold. 

The nurse’s words echoed in his mind. 

Irritated, he yanked at his tie, trying to force her out of his 

head. 

“She’s faking it. She worships me too much. She’d never actually go through with it…”