Chapter 2

Everyone froze, exchanging startled looks.

Seeing an outsider barging in, the smug smile on my mother's face vanished, instantly replaced by a hostile scowl.

"Professor, what kind of drunken fit are you throwing in the middle of the night? Breaking and entering is a crime—I'll call the cops on you!"

Professor Evans marched straight to the coffee table and swept his arm across it, sending the champagne glasses crashing to the floor.

The sound of shattering glass mingled with Chloe's terrified shriek, echoing through the house.

"Call the cops? Go right ahead! Serena is the daughter you carried for nine months! You bled her dry of every penny, stole her house, and handed it to this spoiled brat! Do you have a shred of humanity left in you?!"

My mother let out a cold laugh. She casually stood up, brushing off a few drops of wine that had splashed onto her dress.

"Watch yourself, Professor. You're an educator. This is private family business. What right do you have to butt in?"

"Cut the crap! Serena is my most brilliant student. As long as she calls me her mentor, I am seeing this through to the end!"

Professor Evans wheeled around, glaring straight at Chloe, who was cowering behind the couch, and pointed an accusing finger at her.

"And you! You ungrateful little leech! Don't you dare forget who put food on your table all these years!"

"Treating your own sister like this—have you completely lost your conscience?!"

Ethan shrank his neck back in terror, not daring to utter a single word of protest.

Professor Evans turned back to me, resting a heavy, reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be afraid, Serena. As long as I'm here today, nobody is going to lay a finger on you."

Looking up at his tall, protective figure, the deep despair and injustice suffocating my chest finally cracked open with a glimmer of relief.

Right then, my mother suddenly let out a bizarre, mocking cackle. She turned on her heel and strode toward the master bedroom.

Ten seconds later, she walked back out, clutching that black leather journal tightly in her grip.

My heart plummeted into my stomach, and every hair on my arms stood on end.

"Professor Evans, don't be in such a rush to play the white knight," she sneered.

She shoved the journal directly into his hands, a sickeningly venomous smirk spreading across her face.

"Take a good look at what's inside first. Once you've read it, you can decide whether you still want to defend this miserable bitch."

Professor Evans frowned, eyeing the cover with deep suspicion before flipping open the very first page.

A dead silence fell over the living room. The only sound was the faint rhythm of our breathing.

I stared intently at Professor Evans's face, every nerve in my body stretched to its breaking point.

At first, he casually skimmed the words on the page.

But barely thirty seconds later, his hands began to tremble violently.

His breathing turned harsh and ragged, his chest heaving up and down.

Heavy beads of cold sweat broke out across his forehead, trickling down his pale cheeks.

I watched in real time as all the color drained from his face, leaving him as ghostly white as a sheet of paper.

"This... this is impossible... You... how could you...?"

His voice shook so violently he couldn't even form a coherent sentence.

He slammed the notebook shut and snapped his head up, glaring at me with an expression of sheer horror.

His eyes held an overwhelming mix of shock, terror, and deep, bone-chilling hatred.

"Professor?" I called out hesitantly, stepping forward to reach for his sleeve.

He flinched back as if I were toxic.

The next second, Professor Evans let out a savage, animalistic roar. He threw his arm back and slapped me across the face with everything he had.

The blow packed all of his strength. The impact knocked me off my feet, sending me crashing directly into the sea of shattered glass on the floor.

Jagged shards sliced into my palms and cheeks, and warm blood immediately began to pool around me.

"Don't you ever call me your mentor again! You inhuman monster!" he screamed, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

Covering my bleeding face, I stared at him in utter disbelief.

"Professor, what happened? What the hell is written in that book?!"

He charged forward and slammed the heavy sole of his shoe right into my chest.

The pain knocked the wind out of me. I curled into a ball on the floor, gasping for air, unable to make a sound.

"You have the audacity to ask?! You're a remorseless demon! I must have been blind to ever treat you like my own daughter!"

Professor Evans turned toward my mother, his demeanor doing a complete one-eighty.

He actually bowed his head slightly, his voice dripping with deep remorse.

"Mrs. Bennett, I sincerely apologize for my reckless behavior just now. A cancer to society like her truly doesn't deserve a roof over her head. She should have been thrown out long ago!"

My mother smirked triumphantly, snatching the notebook back and locking it back in her bedroom.

Professor Evans crouched down, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and yanked my head up.

"First thing tomorrow morning, I'm submitting a formal request to the university to revoke your degree and permanently kick you out of my research lab! Trash like you doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as the rest of us!"

He shoved my head back down against the floor, turned on his heel, and slammed the front door shut behind him.

I lay frozen on the ice-cold tiles, my eyes glued to the bedroom door.

That journal. It was always that journal.

Everyone who looked at it changed instantly.

What kind of dark secrets were hidden in there?

What could possibly make someone do a complete turnaround in a matter of seconds?

Could my mother have fabricated disgusting lies about me in it?

No, that made no sense.

Professor Evans was a brilliant academic with sharp critical thinking skills. He wasn't naive enough to believe baseless slander without hard proof.

Unless...

There was something far more lethal inside that book.

No. I had to see it with my own eyes.