Chapter 696

Baxter:

Years Ago:

“I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t fight them,” I stammered in front of my father, crying until it felt like my heart would bleed.

“It’s not your fault. You did everything you could. Don’t worry. She’ll be fine,” my father said, pulling me into a hug.

Coming home alone while my sister was left behind in the hospital was the hardest thing I had ever done.

It all happened right in front of me. The boy tricked her.

He used my sister’s innocence against her and fooled her into believing he was in love with her.

Then he lured her into the woods, where he and his friends took advantage of her.

I was there. I got out of the car and tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen.

Two of them held me in place while they dragged my sister away.

Then all I remember is them coming out of the woods, fixing their pants, and gesturing for the next one to go in.

It went on for hours before they finally left me there with my sister’s beaten-up body. I called for help, but by then it was too late.

“Listen, we’ll get you medicine, and you’ll be fine, okay?” my father assured me as he pulled away from the hug and cupped my face in his hands. “But from now on, you’re going to tell me honestly what you’re feeling every moment, okay?” he added, gesturing with his eyes for me to promise.

I nodded in agreement.

My father gave me pain medication and helped me lie down.

The problem was that the doctor had found a significant amount of wolfsbane and silver in my system, enough to make it dangerous for me to be around other people.

According to him, I was a danger to others for the time being.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about my sister.

If I was so dangerous, why weren’t those men affected?

I wished I had been this dangerous before the attack. Maybe then nothing would

have happened to my sister.

Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

I stood there and cried instead of fighting them. I couldn’t even break free from their grasp. That was how big of a loser I was.

I was lying in my bedroom, passed out from the medication, when the door suddenly burst open.

A hand smacked my cheek so hard that it jolted me awake.

I gasped as I sat upright.

For a split second, I thought I was back in the woods and those men were attacking my sister again.

Terror seized me until I realized it was only my mother.

She was in tears, and that wasn’t a good sign.

“What are you doing?” my father barked as he rushed in after her.

“What am I doing?” my mother screamed. “I’m waking the shit out of this little boy who refused to listen to me who the fuck told the fuck told him to take his sister into the woods, to such a dangerous place, when he knew he couldn’t protect her?”

I couldn’t even defend myself or cry because she wasn’t lying.

I knew the woods were dangerous.

Even though I was still very young, I should have told my sister no.

But she had been so happy that I couldn’t refuse her.

Besides, I thought she was older than me, so she would know what she was doing.

“It’s not his fault. It’s our fault.”

The moment my father said that, my mother let out a grunt.

“What are you trying to imply?” she asked, her voice rough with emotion.

“Instead of teaching our kids to fight, we taught them to fear danger,” my father explained.

My mother slowly began to clap before breaking into manic laughter.

The sound was so frightening that goosebumps spread across my entire body.

“Have you lost your mind? What are you doing? You’re scaring him,” my father snapped at her.

However, she only stopped laughing so she could shoot me a harsh glare.

“Well then, let me tell you a hard truth,” my mother muttered. “Our daughter is dead.”

The moment those words left her mouth, it felt as though my heart stopped beating. My entire world turned dark.

My father stumbled for a second, while my mother continued glaring at me.

“Are you happy now?” she demanded.

“No-that’s not true. She can’t be dead,” I uttered, my voice breaking.

“Really? Why can’t she? Huh? Why

wouldn’t she?” my mother

screamed. “I told all of you to stay

away from the woods. But now

#E

She’s

gone she’s gone because her

own brother took her life.”

She pointed a finger at me.

“And I’m wondering—maybe that’s what you wanted. You wanted her out of the

way.”

To be honest, at first, I wished this

was just another one of those moments when my mother lied to

teach us a lesson.