“She’ll be fine. She’d never really let herself die,” he sneered, a look of smug certainty on his face, as if he had me all figured out. I played my part, crying and begging him not to make me leave. My act only confirmed his belief that all my previous attempts were just to get his attention. His expression darkened. “Sera was right. I’ve been too soft on you. You need a lesson to learn who is truly good to you.”
At that moment, I looked up at him and asked softly, “In all the time we were together, did you ever, even once, truly believe me?”
Chapter 2
11.02
He frowned. A memory seemed to surface–all the things I had done for him, the genuine care and love–but it was all outweighed
by the fleeting glimpse of a girl under the eaves on a rainy day long ago.
“Faye, if you play the same game too many times, it stops working.” There was a flicker of regret on his face, but he said no more,
only telling me to “think about what I’d done” before closing the door.
I walked into the darkness. I don’t know how long I walked. Just as I was about to reach the light, everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, Sera and I were tied up on the edge of a cliff. Not far away stood a frantic Joey, Leo, and a team of special
police.
“Let her go! Let Faye go, do you hear me?” I heard Leo’s desperate screams. He tried to rush forward several times but was held
back.
Our captor ignored him, turning his attention to Joey. “Mr. Vaughn, you can only choose one. Who lives and who dies is up to you.”
11
Joey’s face hardened. “I’ll give you any amount of money. Just let them go.” His gaze softened as it fell on me. “Don’t be afraid, Faye. Faye. It’s going to be
dy.”
“We don’t want your money,” the kidnapper sneered. “We just want to see the great Joey Vaughn lose the two women he loves most.”
Joey’s expression grew even darker. I saw him give a subtle signal. A sniper in the distance was already in position.
But the next second, Sera, next to me, let out a piercing scream as the kidnapper forced her head over the edge of the cliff. When she recovered, she called out to him, her voice trembling with tears. “Joey. Joey, I’m scared.”
The bandage on her forehead from where I had hit her was still there. Standing in the wind, she looked like a fragile white flower, ready to snap at any moment. Joey’s gaze lingered on the bandage, a dazed look in his eyes.
“Behave,” the man holding her snarled, yanking her back. Sera stumbled, nearly falling.
Everyone’s heart stopped. The murderous intent on Joey’s face was almost palpable.
Sera, in the midst of her stumble, glanced at me with a hidden, triumphant smile.
“You’re going to lose again,” she mouthed.
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll find out you staged this?”
“Hah,” she scoffed. “With the Roswell family’s connections, they’ll never find out. Isn’t that how it’s always been?” She raised an eye- brow at me, a sweet smil
smile on her face.
The man she hired pulled her closer to the edge. “Mr. Vaughn, if you can’t decide, we’ll have to decide for you.”
“Joey, save me!” Sera was practically hanging off the cliff now, screaming his name over and over, tears soaking her pale face.
Joey’s hands clenched into fists. He issued a final warning to the kidnappers. “I will not let you get away with this.”
“Less talk, more choosing!”
Another scream tore through the air. Sera was about to fall.
Finally, Joey’s hands unclenched. He looked at me, his eyes filled with pain.
“Faye,” he asked, “is this your plan, too? You don’t want money, you just want me to choose. You want to prove who is more import- ant to me, right?”
He laughed, a bitter, self–mocking sound. “I’ve let you get away with too much. I can’t let you make another mistake.”
Unsurprisingly, Joey chose Sera.
11.02 (
Chapter 2
In that instant, the scene fell silent. Leo, finally breaking free, rushed over and punched Joey. Sera shot me a victorious smile.
“Goodbye,” she said, gracefully walking toward Joey. The man holding me let go. Joey let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief. “ Faye, stop using these childish games to test me.”
His words caught in his throat.
Because I took a step backward, positioning myself at the very edge of the cliff. One more half–step, and I would fall into the deep
sea below.
“Faye?” Joey’s voice trembled.
“Sis! Don’t kill yourself over a man like him!” Leo, pinned to the ground, was weeping openly. “Come back, sister. We can have a life together. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been jealous, I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I shouldn’t have given you to this monster.”
I just shook my head gently, looking at them calmly.
“Joey, this is the one hundred and first time.”
“What?”
“The one hundred and first time you’ve abandoned me for Sera. I truly did love you. If, at any point, just once, you had chosen to believe me without question, we wouldn’t be here today.” I watched the panic bloom on his face, dark satisfaction rising within
- me.
My gaze shifted to Sera. “You probably don’t know, but I left a little gift for you all.”
I pointed to the second button on my shirt. “There’s a pinhole camera here. Everything you just said and did was live–streamed.”
I wanted to go home, but I refused to leave with my name still smeared in filth. The years of injustice were real. I wouldn’t be rem- embered as a thief after I was gone. When I first came to this world. I had come with a heart full of goodwill for everyone.
For a moment, panic flickered across Sera’s face. Then, as if hering something, she composed herself. Of course. The Ros- well family, who could forge security footage, could easily shut down my live stream. In her mind, my stream probably hadn’t even lasted a second.
But my smile defeated her. She frantically grabbed a phone from someone nearby. The internet was already exploding with discus- sions about her.
#RoswellHeiresslsToxic
#RichGirlBully
The hashtags were trending. People were posting recordings of the live stream as proof. In the video, her confession to framing me and all her taunts were crystal clear.
Seeing Joey also pull out his phone with a confused look, Sera finally broke. She lunged, trying to knock the phone from his hand.
But she was too late. Joey looked up, his face ashen, and stared at me.
“It’s fake! It’s all fake!” Sera shrieked, pointing at me. Then, a thought seemed to strike her. She looked around and finally realized that the hero of her beloved–heroine story was nowhere to be found.
Her eyes met mine, and I generously enlightened her. “He helped me. He even gave me the camera,”
“So, the two of you can spend the rest of your lives blaming each other. Enjoy your misery.”
With that, I leaned back.
in front of everyone, I fell from the cliff.
11:02
Chapter 2
“No!” The sound of weeping rose behind me. I couldn’t tell if it was Joey or Leo.
But I no longer cared. As I plunged into the deep sea, my soul floated up. I saw Joey on his knees, his face streaked with tears. He
stared at the spot where I had fallen and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Leo, breaking free from his captors, tried to rush after me, but was stopped at the last second by his family.
And in the city far away, Ethan sat silently at his computer, relentlessly pushing the trending topics higher. A fresh, red gash was open on his wrist, blood pooling from it, but he just stared out the window. After a long time, he closed his eyes and whispered, Faye, you must hate your brother so much. It’s okay. I’ve gotten revenge for you. I didn’t even spare myself.”
“When we meet again, I promise I’ll be good to you.”
And then, I saw the kind faces of my parents and the concerned eyes of my friends.
In the final second before I left that world,
has been detected. Mission completed the
System’s electronic voice: Target individuals‘ strong desire for the host to
has been distributed.
When I woke up, I saw my mother clutching my hand, her voice choked with emotion. “It’s a miracle, sweetie. The doctors said your illness completely disappeared overnight.”
I couldn’t hold back any longer. I threw myself into my parents‘ arms, and we all cried together.
It was so good. I was home.
Epilogue
A long time passed. I left the hospital and went back to school, starting my life anew with the support of my friends and teachers. One day, the System’s voice echoed in my mind again. It was here for a follow–up. It allowed me, as a spirit, to revisit the world of the book and see how everyone’s story ended.
After witnessing my death, Joey began a crazed campaign of revenge against Sera. He single–handedly investigated and exposed all the truths that had been buried. He forced Sera to issue a public apology to me on social media. But he didn’t stop there. With a self–destructive fervor, he began to dismantle the Roswell family’s business empire. The century–old foundation of their family was bankrupted within three years. Sera knelt in the rain outside the Vaughn mansion, begging for mercy, but he was unmoved.
After that, he spent his days drinking, completely neglecting his company. He was eventually ousted from his position as CEO. He went back to our old school, reliving our past over and over. One day, he started coughing up blood, but he ignored it, continuing to drink and call my name in his drunken stupors. He had late–stage stomach cancer. When I went to see him, he had been unconsci- ous in a small, rented room for three days. In his delirium, his spirit saw me and just smiled foolishly, his voice soft, as if afraid of scaring me away.
“You look so different now,” he said. “You look so happy. That’s good.” He reached out, wanting to touch my face.
I stepped back, avoiding his touch.
A look of disappointment crossed his face, a bitter smile on his lips. He said he was dying soon, that he could finally come to my side and atone for his sins.
But I laughed. “Only you are dying, Joey. I have been given a new life in another world. I will live in the sunlight, surrounded by love. Only you will be left to rot like filth. We will never cross paths again. Even in death, we are destined for different hells.”
With that, I vanished, leaving him to shatter alone.
Then there were Sera and Ethan. Ethan’s suicide attempt had been thwarted by his family. After that, because of the damage he had done to the Roswell family’s reputation, they targeted him. Before Joey finished them off, Ethan became the new target of their bullying. Sera used the same methods she had used on me, but a thousand times worse, on him.
11.02
Chapter 2
After the Roswell company collapsed, Sera went to Ethan’s house and asked if he would give her a home again. He opened the
door and let her in. One night, he turned on the gas. No one saw the next day’s sun.
Leo lived with the hatred of his own weakness. He had spent his life being controlled by others. This time, he broke away from his
family and went to teach in a remote mountain village, never to be heard from again.
He was overjoyed to see me in his dreams. “Sister,” he said, “I’m like you now. I know how to help others. Does seeing me like this
make you proud?”
But I just shook my head, my face expressionless. “Leo, your life has nothing to do with me. The moment you chose to hide from the world that the girl from the slums who got into the elite school was the sister who raised you for seven years, it was already over between us.”
“Our story ended a long time ago. I have my own life to live now.”
to stop me. But I had already turned away. The dark past was finally behind me. From now on, I would only
He cried, reaching out to stop
look forward.
(The End)
