Chapter 3
I thought I’d spend a long time packing up.
But after looking around, I realized I didn’t have many belongings.
Almost all of my jewelry was given to me by my three stepbrothers.
Back then, they said, “Grace, for us, you’re the shiniest star. Of course, you ought to dazzle every day.”
And now, those pieces of jewelry were casually discarded, scattered in every corner of the drawers, just like me.
I used to be the most precious person in their lives, but I had become an irrelevant stranger to them.
Purchase completed
As I pushed aside the curtains, I saw several paintings scattered all over the floor.
Once upon a time, Brooke loved painting for me; he said I was his one and only.
He, Maurice, and Samson always fought for my paintings.
And now, all my figures in those paintings were crossed out with blue lines.
And my smiles were smeared with black paint maliciously.
I didn’t want to look anymore, so I asked the maid to get rid of all those things.
At the same time, Maurice happened to take Amanda downstairs.
He was a bit stunned; after all, I used to treat these things as precious
treasures.
But in the next second, he sneered, “You get rid of my gifts so easily.
“Sure enough, you don’t appreciate kindness. Grace, I’m so disappointed in you.”
In the past, Maurice wouldn’t hesitate to spend a fortune just to see me smile.
But now, since he had Amanda, everything I did was wrong.
I was no longer qualified to be willful, and I didn’t have any intention of defending myself at all.
I said calmly, “Sorry that I let you down. I’ll pay you back.”
He said, “We don’t need that money of yours. Just remember one thing Don’t pick on Amanda again.”
Amanda tugged at his sleeve and said coquettishly, “Maurice, are you done talking to her?
“Let’s go, OK?
“I wanna go to the ‘Mountaintop‘ to enjoy the stars. I’m so looking forward to it.”
I was stunned and stopped in my tracks.
“Mountaintop” was the stargazing platform Maurice had built for me when I first moved into the Miller’s place.
a f f
Back then, Maria was swamped with work.
So, she asked Maurice, who was five years older than me, to take care of
- mc.
Maurice offered me almost all the beautiful things in the world.
He said I was his muse.
So, he built me a stargazing platform.
That night, he gazed at me affectionately under the starry sky.
He said, “Grace, remember. Mountaintop, just like my love, belongs to you only.”
We spent ten years renovating the stargazing platform bit by bit.
Ever since that night, I had tended to choose Maurice.
But every time I was about to make a choice, Brooke would always do something to mess with my heart, and Samson would protest, too.
So, I had always been hesitant.
And now?
They had already found someone new and forgotten about me, the orphan
So what?
I smiled and turned around resolutely
I didn’t want any of them anymore.
Just as I was about to leave, Amanda clutched my ann suddenly
Her fingernails were so sharp that they left a bloodstain on my skin.
“Grace, why are you leaving when you heard me mention the Mountaintop? You don’t want me to go there?” she asked.
I felt pain and broke free from her grasp.
Yet, she deliberately stumbled backward and fell to the floor.
“Maurice, help!” she exclaimed.
Maurice’s expression changed drastically as he held her in his arms.
Before I could react, he slapped my face hard.
Samson heard the commotion and rushed over.
He scolded me loudly, “Grace, why do you always pick on Amanda?”
He was so furious that he wanted to beat me up. Brooke stopped him and reprimanded me, “Grace, you’re just an orphan. Without us, you would have been dead on the streets already. We’re not asking you to be grateful, but don’t you think what you did is too much?”
Memories from the past came flooding back into my mind.
It was the first time I had ever been slapped.
I felt that my whole world was falling apart.
Maurice stared at my red, swollen check, seemingly realizing he had gone
too far.
“Are you OK? L.” he stuttered.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” I said, wiping my tears away
Jdn’t blame him. After all, he looked after me when I was little.
After this slap, from now on, I owed him nothing.
Yet, Samson and Brooke didn’t think it was enough.
“Don’t go! Apologize to Amanda!”
The fierce look in his eyes made me wonder if he was that person who used to play cute with me.
I knew what he was capable of.
T
Back in school, a boy harassed me.
He did something cruel to the boy, and Brooke took care of the aftermath.
They worked together perfectly, and the boy ended up moving away from New York together with his family.
Back then, I never saw it coming that they’d use these ruthless tactics against me one day.
I glanced at Amanda, who looked smug and put away all those thoughts.
Then I said, “I’m not the one who should apologize.”
I had nothing to be afraid of.
I’d leave the Miller’s place even if they didn’t ask me to.
