Chapter 1

After our family went bankrupt under millions of dollars of debt, I risked my life to protect my little sister from the ruthless loan sharks.

She, however, floated above the squalor—a saint who treated money like filth.

I was beaten half to death trying to guard the last thousands of our savings. Once the money was secured, she handed every last dime to a pitiful distant uncle.

I saved us from the goons with a smashed glass bottle, shielding her all the way to the police station. Instead of thanking me, she called me barbaric, insisting I should have sat them down for a civilized conversation.

I toiled for months pulling three grueling shifts a day to settle our father’s debts, while she lounged at home basking in a peaceful domestic paradise, handing out charities when it pleased her.

Then came the day I was framed for embezzling funds from my father’s friend’s company.

I begged her to testify in court—to tell them it was a predatory scheme I was tricked into.

But she simply looked down at me. “If you did nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear. The law will grant you justice when the time is right.”

Her pious refusal was my death sentence. Driven to the brink to repay the missing funds, I was cornered on the edge of a half-built construction. A shove sent me plunging down, my bones shattering on the cold concrete below.

While I bled out on the ground, she was promptly adopted by our father’s friend, married off to a high-born heir, and crowned the darling of elite society—a pristine gem everyone adored.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the day the loan sharks kicked down our door.

Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes again, my fingers were tightly wrapped around a bank card with frayed edges.

In the account was three thousand dollars—money I had squeezed out penny by penny from selling scraps and odd jobs after our family went bankrupt and our estate was foreclosed.

My bedridden mother would soon need this money to pay for her life-saving medicine.

“Hazel, please! My son Jeremy has to pay his school fee tomorrow. He can’t miss the deadline—his future will be ruined.

“I know you’re bankrupt, but still you’re better off than us. Three thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket for you. Call it an act of charity!”

Standing before me was my distant uncle, Uncle Jack, in his dusty gray jacket, sniffling and wailing at the top of his lungs.

He stared at the card in my hand, greed glinting in his murky eyes. He leaned forward, his hands poised to pounce and snatch it away at any given second.

Looking at his face, my mind drifted into a momentary blur.

On this exact day in my past life, when tears failed to work, Uncle Jack had resorted to brute force, shoving me violently during the struggle.

My head crashed against the doorframe, blood streaming down my face as I nearly blacked out.

Yet my dear little sister, Serena, completely ignored my blood-soaked face. Letting out a sanctimonious sigh, she slid the crimson-stained bank card from my limp fingers and handed it over to him.

She had said, “Uncle Jack, money is just a worldly distraction. Hazel clings so tightly to such earthly possessions—please don’t hold it against her. Take this to cover the tuition. Education is priceless, and we cannot let a child’s future be delayed.”

Uncle Jack showered her with endless gratitude, praising Serena to everyone he met as a living saint and a merciful soul.

Meanwhile I, the one beaten bloody trying to protect our mother’s medical fund, became the definition of a cold-blooded, heartless miser in the eyes of our relatives.

“Hazel! What are you daydreaming about? Hand me the card!” Uncle Jack lost his patience at my silence and lunged forward, reaching out toward my hand.

I snapped back to reality, my eyes turning dead cold.

Stepping back half a pace to avoid his hands, I flipped my wrist, swiftly shoving the card into my pocket and zipping it shut.

“This is for my mom’s medical bill. She needs it tomorrow. Nobody touches it.” I glared at him, my voice devoid of warmth.

Uncle Jack’s hand froze midair, his expression instantly twisting into a hideous sneer.

Just as he was about to throw a full-blown tantrum, a soft, reproachful voice echoed from right behind him.

“Hazel, how could you say something so heartless?”

I turned my head. Serena stood there in her favorite long white dress, dark hair draped over her shoulders, her unadorned face bearing an exquisitely tailored expression of gentle sorrow.

She drifted to my side, her brows delicately knit together as she looked at me with that usual, detached demeanor.

“Come on, he is in such a pitiful state, and the boy’s education is what truly matters.

“Money can always be earned back. Why do you cling so desperately to such material things? How would you sleep at night, after refusing to help our own flesh and blood?”

The exact same words, delivered in the exact same pious stance.

She was always like this—perched high on her moral pedestal, doling out generosity at the expense of others just to cultivate her saintly reputation.

In the two weeks since our bankruptcy, I had pulled three grueling shifts a day to evade debt collectors and scrape together medical funds, working myself into the ground.

And what about her? Every day, she lounged in our dilapidated rental apartment, brewing tea, reading books, and writing in her journal—waxing poetic about the cruel whims of fate while maintaining her delicate, high-born posture.

Staring at her serene, peaceful face, waves of chilling fury surged through my chest.

“You’re right. Money can always be earned back, and material wealth is just a worldly distraction.” I locked eyes with Serena, my lips curling into a smirk.

Believing I had surrendered, a flash of smug triumph gleamed in Serena’s eyes. Just as she reached out for my pocket, I caught her wrist in a grip.

I squeezed with all my might. Wincing in pain, Serena gasped, “Hazel, what are you doing? You’re hurting me!”

Ignoring her struggles, I hoisted her arm high, thrusting her wrist in the direction of our distant uncle.

Adorning Serena’s slender, porcelain wrist was a diamond-encrusted watch.

It was a birthday gift from our dad for her eighteenth birthday, before the bankruptcy—retailing at over thirty thousand dollars.

“Take a look, Uncle Jack,” I said calmly, watching as his eyes lit up in an instant. “The money in my pocket is for our sick mom. If I give it to you, she stops her treatment and dies.

“However, Serena is absolutely right. Money is just a worldly distraction, and we can’t let it get in the way of your son’s future.”

I turned to look at Serena, whose face was already draining of color, and delivered each word with deliberate precision: “Since you are so wonderfully kindhearted and treat money like filth, why don’t you pawn this watch and lend the money to Uncle Jack?

“Even on the second-hand market, this watch easily fetches over ten thousand. That won’t just cover the school fee—it’ll help with his living expenses too.”

Chapter 2

Serena froze instantly, the delicate veil of gentle sorrow on her face crumbling to bits.

She yanked her hand back with sudden force, her voice pitching up into a shrill screech: “No! Dad gave me this for my birthday—it’s my only keepsake from him! How could I pawn it?”

“Are your personal keepsakes more important than our cousin’s education?” I threw her own self-righteous logic right back in her face.

“Serena, didn’t you just say that money can always be earned back? You’re so kindhearted—are you really going to stand by and refuse to help? How would you sleep at night?”

Serena choked on her words, rendered entirely speechless. Tears welled up in her eyes, making her look as though she were suffering the greatest injustice in the world.

If it had been my past life, I might have felt a pang of guilt. But now, it only made me nauseous.

Uncle Jack’s eyes were glued to the wrist Serena was desperately trying to hide behind her back.

Between three thousand dollars and a watch worth much more, even an idiot knew which to choose.

He pivoted instantly, throwing himself to his knees in front of Serena and locking his arms around her calves.

“Serena, darling! Hazel is a cold-blooded monster, but you’re different. You’ve always been so sweet and kind, and you practically watched Jeremy grow up. Just lend me the watch. I’ll write you an IOU—I swear I’ll pay you back!”

Uncle Jack possessed the strength of a ox. Serena stumbled under his crushing grip, nearly tumbling to the floor.

She stared in sheer terror at the man clinging to her like a leech, thrashing wildly to break free. “Uncle Jack, let go of me! I can’t give you this watch! Hazel, help me pull him off!”

I leaned nonchalantly against the peeling wallpaper, crossing my arms as I watched them with indifference. “I wouldn’t dare. If I interfere, I’d be stopping you from performing an act of charity. Weren’t you so eager to play the living saint? This is your moment.”

“Serena! If you refuse to help, I’ll bash my skull in right on your doorstep!” Seeing his tears weren’t working, Uncle Jack began flailing and making a bigger scene. He even reached up to yank violently at her arm, trying to tear the luxury timepiece off by force.

Serena shrieked in terror, her meticulously styled hair falling into a disheveled mess.

She had always presented herself as the epitome of poise and elegance. Never in her life had she encountered such an act of thuggery.

Caught under Uncle Jack’s forcing and the weight of her own moral high ground, she finally gave in.

“Stop grabbing at me! I’ll give it! I’ll give it to you!”

Sobbing hysterically, Serena unclasped the watch from her wrist and slammed it furiously into the man’s chest.

Cradling the watch as if it were a divine treasure, Uncle Jack scrambled to his feet. Without so much as a word of thanks, he bolted out of the door like a bat out of hell, terrified Serena might change her mind, and vanished into thin air.

Silence fell over the small apartment. Serena stared blankly at her bare wrist, her heart bleeding in agonized anguish.

She snapped her head up, glaring at me with eyes full of rage and resentment. “Hazel! Why did you push me into that? You knew Dad left that for me—”

Before Serena could finish her tearful accusation, the flimsy door vibrated from a deafening, bone-rattling crash that shook the entire frame.

Before we could react, the door was violently kicked open from outside, its lock snapping out of shape.

Five burly men with heavily tattooed arms barged into the room, wielding baseball bats and steel pipes, sneering menacingly.

Leading the pack was a bald man with a long, jagged scar running down his left cheek, looking like a demon from hell.

His eyes scanned the dilapidated apartment before locking onto Serena and me. Letting out a low, sinister laugh, he raised a heavy boot and crushed the flimsy coffee table in the center of the living room to kindling.

“Here you are, the heiresses. You sure know how to hide. Five million in principal plus another million in interest. Hand over the money, or neither of you will walk out of this door on your own two feet!”

Chapter 3

The shatter of the glass exploded in the cramped living room, sending razor-thin shards flying across the floor to spray against my feet.

Serena shrieked in terror, dropping to the floor to cover her ears as her entire body trembled like a leaf in a gale.

On this exact day in my past life, these loan sharks had kicked the door down in the exact same manner.

Back then, the moment Scarface took a step toward Serena, my reflexes had kicked in. I sprinted into the kitchen, grabbed an empty glass beer bottle, smashed it against the counter, and wielded the jagged glass to shield her with my life.

I took several vicious blows from their baseball bats, bleeding profusely from a broken forehead, yet I led Serena through the gang in a desperate scramble, running to the police station several streets away.

Yet afterward, standing in the cold hallway of the precinct, Serena didn’t have a single word of gratitude for me. Instead, she offered only disdain and disapproval as she looked down at my blood-soaked clothes.

“Hazel, you acted too rashly. They just wanted money. We could have sat them down and talked things out like reasonable adults.

“Why did you have to antagonize them with a broken bottle? You made such an ugly scene—there wasn't a shred of dignity in what you did.”

Her words had pierced my chest like a poisoned dagger.

I had put my life on the line to protect her, only to be called undignified.

This time round, I would never do such a thankless, foolish thing again.

I quietly took a few steps back, slipping my hand into my pocket, subtly angling my phone camera toward the center of the living room.

Seeing me back away, Scarface assumed I was terrified. Letting out a contemptuous sneer, he hoisted his steel pipe and strolled toward Serena, who was still cowering on the floor.

“Come on, little one. Your old man is dead, his company bankrupt, but you still owe us money.

“If you don’t produce the cash today, I’m taking you with me to settle the balance.” Scarface tapped the steel pipe against the wall, producing bone-chilling clanks.

Serena had nowhere left to run. She turned her head toward me, her eyes overflowing with desperate pleas for help.

She must be expecting me to charge out and stand in front of her, just as I had done countless times before.

Instead, I simply stared back with icy detachment, not budging an inch.

Seeing that I had no intention of stepping in, Serena forced herself to stand up on trembling legs.

“Sir,” her voice quivered slightly, but she quickly resumed her usual high-and-mighty, saintly posture. “Violence solves nothing.

“Though my dad went bankrupt, we are currently finding ways to raise the money. It’s illegal to break into a private residence and destroy property.”

Scarface froze. The heavily tattooed thugs behind him exchanged bewildered glances, as if they had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

At their silence, Serena foolishly assumed her attempt at “reasoning” was working, and her courage surged.

She pointed toward the only two intact plastic chairs in the corner, her expression dripping with sanctimonious pity. “We’re all just trying to survive. Why must you push things to such bitter extremes?

“Why don’t you all take a seat? I’ll pour everyone a nice cup of tea. Let’s sit down and talk this through, all right?”

Two seconds of dead silence passed before the small rental unit exploded into deafening, hysterical laughter.

“Hahaha! Something wrong with this chick’s head? A cup of tea? Sit down and talk it through?” A thug laughed so hard tears streamed down his face.

The smirk on Scarface’s face vanished in a flash, replaced by a dark, sinister malice.

He lunged forward before Serena could even register what was happening, swung his hand back and made a brutal landing on her cheek.

The force of the strike was so immense that Serena was knocked completely off her feet, crashing to the floor.

“Talk things through with me? I want money! Who the hell wants your worthless tea?”

Scarface stepped forward with a sadistic grin, reaching down to grab a fistful of Serena’s long hair and yanking her straight up off the ground.

Serena shrieked in pain, her hands clawing wildly at his forearm.

“No money, huh? Fine by me!” Scarface scanned Serena’s porcelain face, his eyes flashing with sickening, nauseating lust.

“You’ve got some good looks. Since you can’t pay up, I’ll drag you to the nightclub to work the tables tonight. A few years of selling you out might just get back my interest.”

“No! Let go of me! Help!” Serena shrieked hysterically, her tears mixing with the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

In pure terror, she turned toward the corner where I stood. “Hazel! Help me! Don’t you still have three thousand in your pocket? Give it to them! Give it to them now!”

Chapter 4

Hearing about the money, Scarface paused and turned his head to cast a sinister look in my direction.

Seeing this, Serena believed she had manage to get out of trouble. Ignoring the searing pain in her scalp, she pointed at me and screamed:

“Yes! She has money in her pocket! Go take hers, don’t touch me! That money was supposed to go toward repaying you anyway!

“Hazel! Come on! I’m your sister!”

Scarface, having lost the last shred of his patience, shoved Serena toward the thugs behind him and marched over to me with his steel pipe drawn, reaching out to grab me by the collar.

“Shut the hell up! Three thousand isn’t even enough to cover a tip. I’m taking both you and the cash!”

Just as his hand was about to reach my clothes, the sharp wails of police sirens suddenly exploded from the courtyard outside the building.

Scarface froze, his expression shifting into panic.

“Boss! The cops are here!” a tattooed thug guarding the broken door shrieked in terror.

“Damn it! Who called the cops?” Scarface spat a curse, too freaked out now to care about the money or Serena. He spun around, trying to bolt for the exit.

But it was already too late.

Accompanied by a flurry of heavy, frantic footsteps, several armed officers barged in.

“Police! Don’t move! Hands on your heads, get down!”

The loan sharks who had been acting so smug just moments ago immediately tossed their pipes aside and dropped to the floor, locking their hands behind their heads.

Scarface attempted to flee, but two officers deftly pinned him to the floor, slapping handcuffs on his wrists.

The senior officer scanned the vandalized room, his voice heavy. “Who placed the call?”

I calmly stepped out from the corner. “I did. They broke into our residence, attempted violent extortion, committed assault, and even tried to force my sister into sex work at an illegal establishment.”

I handed my phone over. “I recorded everything from the moment they kicked down the door. Here is the footage.”

The officer glanced at the video on the screen, then waved his hand to signal to his men to escort the whole gang back to their vehicles.

Meanwhile, Serena remained slumped amid the scattered debris and shattered glass.

She stared blankly at me as I seamlessly handled the situation with the police.

Only then did it finally dawn on her: From the very beginning, I had never intended to use violence, nor had I intended to shield her from it.

In the hallway of the precinct, the harsh fluorescent lights cast a glaring, sickly pale glow.

I quickly finished the witness statement.

With the evidence stacked against them, Scarface and his gang were facing jail time.

As I grabbed my bag to leave, Serena rushed out of her interview room and yanked hard on my arm.

Holding an ice pack against her swollen cheek, her eyes bloodshot, she was brimming with raw venom and resentment.

“Hazel, you knew the cops were coming! Why didn’t you hand over the money just to stall them?

“Do you have any idea how much that slap hurt? You wanted to see me get hit, didn’t you? You did it on purpose just to see me humiliated!”

I coldly brushed her hand off my arm. “Get one thing straight, Serena. That money is Mom’s, for tomorrow. If I had handed it over, her treatment would have to stop.

“Your pride and a slap across your face, those are nothing next to Mom’s life.”

“But I was the one who got hit!” Serena shrieked in a complete meltdown, entirely deaf to my words. “You’re my sister—how can you be so heartless? You were never like this before!”

“I was blind back then.” My tone remained flat, not a ripple of emotion. “Starting today, you go your way, and I go mine.

“I won’t be paying another cent for your living expenses. Wanna act like a saint, figure out how to fund it yourself.”