Chapter 5

Chloe's voice drifted to me, faintly.

"Quick! It’s our chance now. Hurry and take her away in the chaos!"

"I'll just tell Mom and Dad there was a fire, she didn't make it out, and she burned to death!"

"Mom and Dad only need one daughter! Who asked her to come back?! She can go back to wherever she came from!"

"The money's already been wired to you, double! Be quick about it, don't leave any traces!"

Several grinning faces moved closer, chillingly familiar.

I didn't struggle or cry for help.

Instead, I submissively waited for them to tie my hands.

The smell of sedatives spread through my nose and mouth, and I passed out.

I was slapped awake.

A burning pain erupted on my cheek, and my already deaf ear rang, bleeding again.

In front of me were several twisted faces.

The human traffickers always disguised themselves as locals, stuffing one stolen child after another into this remote village.

They shoved people into dog cages, mutilated them to appear disabled, and forced them to beg on the streets for profit.

A scar-faced man fiercely yanked my hair, his eyes leering.

"Damn it, you little bitch, you're hard to kill! Almost got away for good!"

"Boss, I say we just make sure she's a permanent fixture here, no more running!"

The prosthetic limbs with their embedded trackers were brutally ripped off.

They tore my evening gown.

I knew struggling was useless, so I could only try to buy time.

I looked up, my gaze calm.

"You disguise yourselves as villagers, but behind our backs, you kidnap children, commit arson, murder... Aren't you afraid of karma for all the evil you've done?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, they burst into triumphant laughter, as if they'd heard the funniest joke.

"Hah, karma?! We are the karma around here!"

My lips curved into a faint, bitter smile. "One last question, then. Who got me out of the banquet hall?"

Perhaps to savor my even more desperate expression, they erupted in another round of gleeful laughter.

"Your sister! The Chloe from the Hayes family!"

"Didn't expect that, did you? You didn't die with us, but you came home, and someone there was just itching for you to die!"

I feigned a look of disbelief, stubbornly shaking my head, my voice trembling.

"Impossible. Chloe... she would never do that to me!"

They were enraged, as expected. To prove it, they pulled out the transfer records.

"Open your damn eyes and look! The sender! Chloe Hayes! See it clearly?!"

With that, their last shred of patience ran out, and they reached out to strike me.

Just as those disgusting hands were about to touch my body.

Bang.

The door was violently kicked open from the outside!

Along with countless police officers who stormed in with guns drawn.

And my parents and Caleb, their faces filled with shock and fury.

And... Chloe, her face ashen white.