Chapter 1
To find their missing adopted daughter, my family forcibly extracted my memories.
They were convinced that I had been bullying her for three years, which was why she left home.
I smiled bitterly, my face pale, letting them extract my memories without resistance.
Past scenes unfolded one by one, revealing that I was the one who had truly been bullied all along.
My furious parents gradually tightened their grip on my hands, nearly fainting from shock.
My usually composed brother’s eyes turned red with rage, his jaw clenched in hatred.
I looked up at them in confusion from their embrace and asked, “Who are you?”
*****
On the fifth day after Liliana Clark’s disappearance, my family strapped me down in a private hospital laboratory.
Cold metal restraints locked around my wrists, ankles, and neck, while a strange metallic cap covered my head. Several thick
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black cables connected the cap to a massive, humming machine.
They were about to extract my memories..
Panic and terror flooded through me as I struggled desperately, but it was useless.
My father Isaac Clark, mother Harper Clark, and brother Ezra Clark stood before me with icy expressions, showing not an ounce of sympathy.
Isaac said, “I’m asking you one last time. Where exactly did Liliana go?”
He clutched a letter in his hand, his voice seething with anger, his eyes blazing with menace.
Five days had passed, and he’d completely run out of patience.
Without waiting for my answer, he slammed the letter against my face. “Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know. Liliana’s letter already hints that only you know where she went. You’re behind her disappearance.”
Actually, I’d already read that letter.
In it, Liliana wrote that she wasn’t my parents‘ biological daughter and shouldn’t continue monopolizing my father and brother.
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Chapter 1
So after three years of fighting with me, she felt exhausted and decided to give up.
She wanted to return everything to me, repeatedly emphasizing that I hadn’t forced her to leave and hoping my family
wouldn’t make things difficult for me or pressure me about her whereabouts.
Since she put it that way, everyone could see that Liliana’s departure was connected to me.
But I truly didn’t know where she’d gone.
The day Liliana left, I was still curled up shivering in the cold storage room. Ezra had punished me to sleep there because Liliana claimed the day before that I’d pushed her down the
stairs.
Of course, that was her false accusation. I hadn’t even touched
her.
Yet she used that opportunity to deliberately leave, claiming she wouldn’t fight with me anymore.
Her behavior made it seem like everything was my fault, and Isaac, Harper, and Ezra could no longer contain their rage.
I said, “I don’t know where she went.”
I kept my head down, feeling the cold metal against my wrists
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Chapter
and neck, and gave the same answer.
I truly didn’t know.
For the past five days, I’d explained over and over again- Liliana did this on purpose.
But Isaac, Harper, and Ezra just wouldn’t believe me.
They only ever believed Liliana.
Harper said, “Scarlett Clark, why do you hate Liliana so much? You’ve been back in this family for three Christmases now. How has she ever wronged you?”
Her face was deathly pale. She’d been so worried about something happening to Liliana that she hadn’t slept a wink or had any appetite for five straight days, losing a lot of weight.
Then she continued, “Have you forgotten that on the day we came to bring you home, Liliana personally made you orange juice? She’d never set foot in a kitchen before, but just to make you a glass of her favorite orange juice, she cut her finger.”
Harper stepped closer, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at me. “Scarlett, please tell me where Liliana is, okay? I’m going out of my mind with worry.”
She cried so easily whenever it involved Liliana.
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I lifted my head slightly, about to say something, then stopped.
In the end, I just gave a self–mocking smile.
That orange juice was the beginning of my nightmare.
But who would believe that?
So I said nothing.
Ezra suddenly stepped forward and slapped me across the face.
He said, “Keep playing dumb, you bitch! This memory extractor was made just for you–enjoy it.”
Ezra had never liked me, so this slap was filled with pure hatred.
The blow left my cheek swollen and red, my head spinning, and blood trickling from my mouth.
Isaac watched coldly, saying nothing. Harper scolded, “Ezra, why did you hit her? What if you injure her and it affects the memory extraction?”
Ezra spat, “She deserved it! This bitch would be better off dead.”
His face darkened as he pointed at me. “Think about what she’s done these past three years.
“The day she came home, she wet herself in the car like a wild
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20 min left
Chapter 1
animal. The moment she walked through the door, she made Liliana cry. Did she really think she could just waltz back in and play princess?”
Ezra’s anger intensified. “Remember when Mom had that fever? Liliana stayed up all night caring for her, barely getting any
sleep, nearly collapsing from exhaustion. And her? She slept like a pig, showing zero filial devotion.”
Then he grabbed my bleeding mouth, snarling viciously, “You can’t even handle something this simple without being pathetic.
says everything about your true nature. You’re a selfish, unfilial wretch who isn’t worth a single strand of Liliana’s hair.”
Tha
My mouth throbbed with pain, but with his grip on it, I couldn’t speak.
I wanted to defend myself. But remembering how countless attempts at explanation over these three years had earned nothing but their distrust, I gave up.
Yes, I’m an unfilial, selfish wretch, while Liliana is the devoted daughter you all cherish.
Isaac said coldly, “Enough. Don’t injure her. The memory extraction is what matters.”
Harper wiped the blood from my face and sighed softly.
“Scarlett, don’t blame Ezra for hating you. You really have done wrong.”
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Yes, I’ve done wrong.
I laughed bitterly at myself again.
Strangely, Ezra’s slap had somehow scattered the fear that machine had instilled in me.
Pain can break your heart, but it can also numb you.
So come on! Memory extractor, go ahead and torture me!
I closed my eyes and remained perfectly still.
