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532words2026-01-26 09:13

I had been in love with my stepbrother for ten years.
When I finally summoned the courage to confess,he berated me for my shamelessness.
“You’re just like your mother—always flirting, no sense of decency.”

He personally arranged for me to be committed to a mental hospital,saying I needed to“reflect”there.
Every day,I was beaten,bruised,and broken.They locked me in a dark room,stripped me naked,all because my stepbrother told them to“fix my brain.”
Finally,my mind was“cured.”
But he went mad.
He knelt before me,begging for my love.
I flinched away from his touch,falling into another’s arms.

“Lucas Hayes,your love disgusts me.”
…
The day I was released from the mental hospital,someone was waiting.
My stepbrother,Lucas Hayes—the man who’d sent me there.

In the drizzling rain,Lucas leaned against his car,a cigarette dangling from his fingers,his handsome face was etched with weariness and distantance.
During countless nights in that hospital,I’d prayed he’d come for me.But now,seeing him,my heart felt numb,like still,dead water.
“You’ve lost weight,”Lucas said,stomping out his cigarette,approaching me.He frowned as he eyed my oversized hospital gown. “Still fussy about food, even here?”
I mumbled,“I…”
“Save it.You never change,”he cut me off,irritated.“Get in.Mom and Dad are back from overseas tonight.We’re having dinner.”
I opened the car door,slumping into the back seat,deflated.
I wanted to explain—it wasn’t about being fussy.They’d starved me,chained me up like a dog,forced me to fight for scraps.I hadn’t had a proper meal in ages.
Lucas drove off.
I looked at the grand Hayes mansion,feeling like a stranger in a place that used to be home.
Three years ago,my so-called best friend,Mia Sullivan,had egged me on to confess to Lucas.Then she posted my confession video online,causing a huge scandal.
My stepfather,Mr.Hayes,was humiliated.My mother screamed,hitting me with her purse,calling me an ungrateful wretch.
Lucas tore up my love letter to in front of everyone,sneering,“You’re as shameless as your mother,only good for seducing men.A dirty flirt.”
The day they dragged me to the asylum,the sky was overcast, and it seemed like the clouds themselves were crying.
I knelt before Lucas,sobbing,“Please,Lucas,don’t send me there.”
He kicked my hand away like I was a cockroach,wiping his pants with a tissue,ordering them to hurry.
His final words to me were:“Disgusting.Sort yourself out in there.Learn some dignity.I’ll come for you when you’re fixed.”
Now,wearing that shabby blue-and-white hospital gown,I felt completely out of place.
The butler,Mr.Thompson,approached,his eyes showed pity as he looked at my gaunt face.“Miss Lily,let’s take your luggage to the second floor.”
“The second floor?”I frowned.In my memory,my room was on the third.
“Mr.Thompson,isn’t my room upstairs?”
He hesitated,and I understood.
This house no longer had a place for me.
I forced a bitter smile.“Fine,the second floor it is.”
In my new room,I unpacked my few belongings—just a handful of clothes and a stuffed dog.
The dog was a gift from a patient in the hospital.She’d lost her child,gone insane,jumped off a cliff,and somehow survived,only to be found deranged.
She would hold that dog tightly, rocking back and forth.sunlight bathing her face,her expression holy,whispering,“Baby,don’t cry.Mommy loves you.”
I used to sneak to her room,peering through the door,wishing she could be my mother.
She’d love me so much.
I hugged the dog,murmuring,“They don’t want me.Please don’t leave me,too.”