Chapter 8
As soon as my brother collected himself and returned home, our mother approached him with a worried expression, grasping his
hand.
“Where have you been? You didn’t answer your phone. Do you want to drive me to worry myself sick?”
He looked up, meeting her gaze coldly. “Do you know what today is?”
In her confused look, he suddenly burst into laughter. He shook off her hand and shouted, “Lydia isn’t on a business trip! Why are you lying?”
Chapter 8
He stepped closer to her. “Do you realize she hasn’t been to work in over a month?”
“She’s been missing for more than a month. Don’t you care about that?”
“Aren’t you worried something might happen to her?”
Faced with his barrage of questions, our mother’s expression remained calm. “What could happen to her? Lucas, don’t forget, it was your sister who caused you to be like this.”
He staggered backward, disbelief in his eyes. “So for five years, you’ve been blaming her?”
Just then, our father returned. Sensing the tension, he stepped forward to steady my
Chapter 8
+ 5 Points
brother’s trembling frame. “What’s wrong? Lukie, you just got better; don’t get worked up.”
My brother’s lips quivered as he gripped our father’s arm. “Have you hated her too, just like Mom?”
How could he not hate me? He had accepted everything our mother did. He even kept my violation a secret for the sake of saving face.
He once said, “Lydia, I’m doing this for your own good. You still want to get married one day, and no man will want a woman who has been raped.”
Wasn’t it ridiculous? To hear those words came from my own father.
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For the first time, my brother felt the weight of our parents‘ indifference. As he faced our father’s silence, realization dawned on him. He collapsed onto the floor.
“Why do you hate her?”
“Have you forgotten? She’s a victim too.”
At that moment, our mother’s phone rang. I leaned in closer.
It was an unfamiliar number.
“Is this Mrs. Brown? The identity of the
victim has been confirmed.”
“Yesterday, an elderly man found a bag of decaying human flesh at the dump, and DNA comparison has verified it.”
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There was a pause on the other end.
“The victim is Lydia. Since you are relatives, you will need to recuse yourself from this lawsuit.”
“And we need you and your family to come to the police station.“”
