“Nathan wouldn’t stay silent this long. I’m worried something bad happened to him. I’m going to find Walter and Mike.”
“Wait,” Justin said, grabbing her arm. His expression hesitated, uncertain. “Actually…”
He sighed, then let go. “Forget it. Go if you want.”
“What is it?” she frowned.
“It’s nothing…”
“Is it about Nathan?”
“No, really, it’s nothing.”
“Tell me!” After a moment of silence and a few tugs on her hand, Justin finally pressed his lips together and sighed.
“You’re worried about him in the middle of the night, but he’s busy having fun with his ex.”
A fake video of me and my ex-girlfriend appeared on Justin’s phone. The moment Winona saw it, her face turned pale, then flushed red with shock.
Justin quickly pulled his phone back. “If it weren’t because you insisted, I wouldn’t even show you this… He hurt me so badly. And I still can’t bring myself to hate him.”
Winona went back to her room with clenched fists. Her eyes were red with anger and heartbreak.
She opened my chat window and coldly typed, [Let’s break up. You don’t deserve me.]
I stood not far away, fists clenched just as tightly. “Alright…”
The next day was Justin’s birthday.
No one seemed to care where I had gone. Only my sister, Isabel, looked restless, with dark circles shadowing her eyes.
She stood beside Winona, watching the stream of guests pour into the hall. “Has my brother messaged you lately?”
Winona didn’t speak. She just handed over the phone. The moment Isabel saw the video, her face hardened.
“Winona,” she called out, stopping her. “Don’t tell Mother and Father…”
She replied coldly, “Of course.”
“Today is Justin’s birthday and Nathan still isn’t back?” My parents, dressed elegantly, looked displeased.
“He disappears all the time, but on Justin’s birthday, too? Does he think the whole world revolves around him?”
My mother sounded impatient. “Just forget about him.”
The party began. She raised her glass high and announced proudly, “Today is my son’s birthday!”
“My son-in-law, Justin Meyer, is the only true heir of the Miller Family. The treasure of our home.”
Someone in the crowd said, “Then what about Nathan?”
Mother smiled faintly. “Him? He doesn’t even count as one of us.”
Just then, the giant LED screen behind them flickered.
It was supposed to be a 360° slideshow of Justin’s best photos, but the images suddenly vanished, replaced by a breaking news broadcast.
[A Dying Message Written in Blood Found in Snowy Mountains]
Mother was about to scold the stagehands for switching the wrong channel.
But before anyone could move, the screen filled with a swirl of white snow. Amidst the snow, a single red line of blood appeared.
[In my next life, I will never be part of the Miller family again.]
