Transcription
The day before the engagement party, my fiance, Lucy, had someone gouge out my eyes, sever the tendons in my hands and feet, and throw me into an underground cage barely waist-high. By the time they found me, I was barely breathing, my whole body burned and rotting.
My mom flew in a top medical team from overseas overnight on a private jet to save me. She swore she would stand up for me and call off the engagement, but outside the operating room, I heard Lucy's voice. "Mom, thank you for letting Tom and me be together, but just to call off the engagement, did we really have to hurt Jack this badly?"
My mom stayed silent for a moment, then spoke with no emotion at all. "His dad was too careless. Jack may be my biological son, but Tom is the one I raised with my own hands for over 20 years. Jack never should have coveted what belongs to Tom. After Tom marries you and inherits the company, I'll take Jack overseas and take good care of him for the rest of his life to make up for the years he wasn't by my side."
My hands clenched into fists and blood kept seeping from my rotting wounds.
"So, the home I fought so hard to return to was the real hell. Jack never dared ask me for anything. But ever since your engagement, he actually dared ask me for money. And his dad even wanted to give him shares at your engagement party. That's clearly him eyeing the company inheritance. How could I let them get away with it?"
I laughed coldly inside. I only wanted to ask her for money as a betrothal gift, but she rejected me. That's why my dad decided to use his own shares as the betrothal gift, and somehow that became the ambition she talked about.
The doctor interrupted them. "Ms. Anna, are we still not operating? Young Master Jack's skin is rotting all over and his organs are failing. The burns on his lower body are especially severe. If we wait any longer, we'll have to amputate."
Mom didn't hesitate. "Wait a little longer."
Lucy's voice sounded hesitant. "Mom, Jack is already blind. Even if we save him now, it won't matter. No one will support a blind man as heir. I'm just afraid if we wait any longer, the infection will be impossible to treat."
"If the wounds get infected, cut it off. Jack won't inherit the company anyway, and he doesn't need to carry on the family line. I gave Jack this family's bloodline. Even if he can't function as a man later, we can just find some ordinary woman to take care of him for life. Tom is adopted. Other than our love, he has nothing. I have to clear every obstacle for him. Besides, I've already wronged Henry. I can't wrong Tom, too."
"Then do as Ms. Anna said. Just keep Jack alive. The rest is up to fate."
I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be unconscious, but my heart was in agony.
After being tortured and humiliated by people my fiance sent, I had still held on to one breath of hope, believing my mom would avenge me once she found out. But the joke was, my mom was the real culprit behind all of this. And she still had feelings for that man.
The Henry my mom mentioned was Tom's biological father, and also our family's former butler. She knew damn well it was Henry who switched me and Tom, made me suffer out there for more than 20 years, sleeping under bridges and digging through trash. To survive, I even ate dead rats. If I hadn't run into my dad while begging and he hadn't recognized that my face looked just like hers, I probably would have died in some corner long ago.
But after my mom found out the truth, she only lightly kicked Henry out of the house. She still let Tom keep living as the young master of the family. And now she was actually saying she owed Henry.
My body trembled slightly with rage, and mom saw it. She immediately held my hand with fake concern. "Jack, you're awake? It's mom. I'm sorry. Jack, it's mom's fault for not protecting you. Ha."
I was already blind, so all her tearful acting was wasted on me.
"Doctor, what are you standing there for? Give my son the best medicine. Can't you see he's shaking from the pain?" Mom suddenly yelled at the people beside her, then said,