Then, everything went black. Before I passed out, something warm and metallic spattered across my face.

When I woke up, I learned that Caleb had been crushed by the excavator while saving me. Both his legs were gone. Because he had shielded me with his body, I was completely unharmed.

I got out of bed and ran right into a furious Claire.

The once-perfect princess was a mess, her makeup smudged from crying. She glared at me as if I had desecrated her family's graves.

"Lena, you monster! If you wanted to die so badly, you should have just done it! Why did you have to drag Caleb down with you? Now his legs have been amputated! He'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life! Are you happy now?!"

"You're so evil. No wonder fate took your father and your baby. Your mother died because of your bad luck, too!"

Hearing that last part, I finally snapped. I grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the wall.

Just once was enough to make a red mark bloom on her delicate forehead. She shrieked, "You bitch! You dare hit me? Caleb will make you pay! And even if he can't, my family will!"

"I'm all alone now anyway. I'm not afraid of dying. Before I go, I'll do one good deed and teach you the lesson your dead father never could!"

With that, I grabbed her head and started slapping her, again and again. After about ten slaps, my hand was numb and stinging.

Her face was a hundred times redder than my hand, swollen up like a pig's.

I shoved her, and she stumbled back and fell to the floor. She pointed a trembling finger at me, her words muffled by her swollen lips.

"You bitch... Ouch! You're dead! Caleb will never forgive you! Just you wait, he's going to dump you!"

I lifted my leg as if to kick her, and she flinched.

"You! What are you doing?! If you want to die, just hit me again! I'll make sure you join your dead parents!"

I smirked and lowered my foot, dusting off my hands.

"Good. Don't worry, if that day ever comes, my ghost will haunt you. I'll float around you day and night."

"You won't be able to eat, you won't be able to sleep. You'll live in constant terror, and there will be nothing you can do about it."

The thought seemed to genuinely terrify her. She slowly lowered her hand, using the wall to pull herself up, and backed away from me.

"Lena, you just wait. You will pay for what you did to me today, a thousand times over!"

Then she scrambled away, terrified I would fly into another rage and attack her again.

I went to the VIP ward to see Caleb. Just as Claire had said, he was seriously injured. Both his legs had been amputated. He would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

It also meant his career as a surgeon was over. He would never be able to endure the long hours of standing in an operating room again.

For someone as proud as Caleb to be brought so low... it was tragic.

But I felt no pity for him. He had brought this upon himself. This was the debt he owed my mother and me.

When I saw Caleb's mother again, her expression was filled with even more hatred and disgust.

"You still have the nerve to show your face? You've ruined my son's life. Are you happy now? Are you satisfied?"

"You've destroyed his future!"

I smirked, unafraid.

"Mrs. Sinclair, I should be asking your son that question. After destroying my life, is he satisfied?"

Caleb's mother couldn't stand to hear a single bad word about her son.

"Your life was already a mess. If it weren't for my son, you'd be struggling in some slum right now."

"My son gave you the life you have, and this is how you repay him..."

"And your son killed my mother!" I retorted, my voice low and furious.

"If I had never met him, I wouldn't have gotten pregnant, I wouldn't have had a miscarriage and lost my ability to have children, and I wouldn't have been judged and harassed by everyone for all these years!"

"Caleb lost his legs, but he will still live a comfortable life! But my mother is gone! She's dead! My home is gone! I have nothing left!"

My outburst stunned her into silence. She just frowned, her perfectly manicured brows furrowing. "So uncultured..."

Before she could finish, Caleb's voice came from the room, stopping her.

That day, Caleb and his mother had a huge fight.

He begged me not to go, not to abandon him. But he was the one who had abandoned me first.

He fell out of the hospital bed. The once proud and untouchable man crawled pathetically across the floor toward me, begging for my forgiveness.

But I didn't look back.

Later, Claire was reported again. This time, Caleb didn't protect her. She was fired from the hospital, her degrees were revoked, and her reputation was ruined.

Caleb couldn't even save himself. Because he had defied his mother to come after me, she had disowned him in a fit of rage.

The once-revered young master of the Sinclair family became a laughingstock.

After that, Caleb tried to find me many more times, always begging for my forgiveness.

Each time, I turned him away.

I received the demolition payout. With what little was left of my mother's ashes, I left that city and never looked back, ready to live the rest of my life for myself.