When Rivals Collide

Early the next morning, my role as attendant to Leslie began.

“It’s so hot!” Leslie complained.

Just as her fingertips were about to touch the edge of the soup bowl, she deliberately knocked it over with a forceful swipe.

I didn’t have time to react, and a sharp, searing pain spread across the back of my hand, making me wince in agony.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to!” Leslie whimpered with faux innocence.

I wasn’t in the mood to respond and hurried to rinse the burn with cold water, but Leslie had other ideas.

“Goodness, look at the mess you made! Why don’t you clean it up first? It’s putting me in a bad mood.”

I understood her perfectly.

She was doing it intentionally, just to make things difficult for me.

From the moment the day began, she had me picking out more than a dozen outfits, then redoing her makeup just as many times.

Each time, she ended up choosing the very first look I’d prepared. Her goal was obvious: to exhaust me.

And this incident was no different.

Yet, I didn’t dare resist.

Leslie couldn't be displeased, as my mother’s life was in the balance, and I couldn’t afford to gamble with it.

I loosened my clenched fist, picked up the rag, and crouched down.

Ignoring the pain, I wiped the floor clean.

Leslie ordered me around the entire day. Only when Brandon returned that evening did I finally manage to catch my breath.

“Brandon!” Leslie beamed, her innocent smile blooming as she threw herself into arms that received her without hesitation.

A sharp pain clenched at my heart as I watched them.

Not long ago, that had been me.

I used to wait eagerly for him to come home, run into his arms, and bask in his tender kisses.

I turned my head away, afraid that if I kept looking, tears would betray me.

“What happened to your hand?”

My heart skipped.

I looked up at Brandon, who was frowning now as he stared at my reddened hand.

But just as hope flickered, his words crushed it completely.

“Did you leave it untreated on purpose, so I’d feel sorry for you when I came home?

“I wonder now… Are you childish or just manipulative?”

A tight, prickling pain spread across my chest, and I laughed bitterly.

What had I even been hoping for?

Knowing that arguing would be useless, I lowered my head and patiently waited for Brandon’s punishment.

Perhaps because I hadn’t reacted as expected, he became irritated instead.

“Get out of my sight and go do something about that hand! Disgusting…”

I was a little surprised, but I didn’t bother to read into Brandon’s ever-changing moods.

Without a word, I turned and went to get some ointment for the burns, and so I didn’t see the way his expression gradually darkened behind me.

At last, I made it through the day.

Exhausted, I collapsed onto the narrow bed and fell asleep within moments.

At some point in the night, I woke groggily to something hot trailing across my body.

I jolted awake and was terrified by what I saw.

Brandon was on top of me, his hands roaming all over my body.

I screamed and struggled with all my strength, but he held me down firmly.

He planted fevered kisses across my skin, making every hair on my body stand on end.

I resisted with every fiber of my being, my voice hoarse with desperation.

“What are you doing, Brandon! How could you face Leslie after this?”

As expected, those words made him stop.

But before I could breathe a sigh of relief, he lowered his head and sneered at me.

“What are you pretending for?” he asked coldly.

“Weren’t you the one who used to love it when I touched you? What now? You think playing hard to get will make me interested again?

“If you serve me well, maybe I’ll even consider letting you go.”

My cheeks burned with shame as a tidal wave of humiliation and fury rose within me.

“Are you even human?!” I hissed.

“There’s worse to come,” he whispered.

Under my terrified gaze, Brandon began tearing at my clothes.

In that moment, the despair I felt echoed the same helpless horror from five years ago, when those men pinned me down and tried to assault me.

I burst into tears.

“No! Let go of me!” I screamed as my mind spiraled into chaos. In a final, desperate move, I bit down hard on Brandon’s shoulder.

The sharp, coppery taste of blood filled my mouth.

He cried out in pain and let me go.

His expression darkened with rage, and he was about to lunge at me again when one single thought consumed me— Even if it killed me, I would never let him touch me again.

Seizing my chance, I hurled myself at the wall with all my strength.