Fortunately, the hotel staff arrived in time. I was dragged out of the water and saved.
Kurt rushed over almost immediately, pulling me into a tight embrace. His eyes trembled with lingering panic.
"Daniella, you scared me to death! Why would you do something so stupid? If something happened to you, what would I do?"
My throat burned from the seawater I choked on, tears leaking uncontrollably as a reflex.
I listened numbly as Kurt rambled through his explanation—that I'd gotten drunk, they lost track of me for a moment, and some drunken stranger dragged me away.
They had searched everywhere for me. So he said.
I pushed him away, my voice cold and firm. "The hotel has surveillance. I'm reporting him."
But before I could take a step, Kurt blocked me.
He wrapped me back into his arms, coaxing softly, "Daniella, that man is the son of the city's richest tycoon. We... can't afford to offend him. When I have power one day, I'll get justice for you, I swear."
I closed my eyes, tears spilling like snapped beads, my heart filling with an icy hopelessness.
I almost died, and even so—Kurt would rather protect his own lie than make the man who almost assaulted me pay.
"Come on, let me take you to Disneyland, okay? Didn't we say we'd go together when we grew up?"
"Trust me. Soon, we won't have to live like this..."
He clumsily changed the subject. Before he finished, one of his friends rushed over.
"Kurt, Olivia fainted from the shock!"
Kurt's expression instantly shifted.
Without thinking, he shoved me into the arms of a hotel staff member.
"Daniella, I'll take you to Disneyland tomorrow. Go with them for a checkup—I'll come find you later!"
"Kurt!" I couldn't help shouting his name, but all he did was drop a perfunctory kiss on my forehead before rushing away.
I watched his disappearing figure—and finally vomited all over the ground.
A cruel realization twisted in my chest:
If the one assaulted had been Olivia, Kurt would've torn the world apart to make the perpetrator pay.
I closed my eyes, ripped off the amulet we'd bought together, and threw it into the ocean where it vanished.
And the so-called "compensation trip" to Disneyland?
It wasn't just the two of us.
He brought Olivia.
"Olivia is not feeling well. I can't leave her alone. She'll just tag along a bit—she won't bother us."
"Then I'm not going."
I turned to leave, but Kurt grabbed my arm. His brows tightened with irritation.
"What are you angry about now? Why are you being so unreasonable?"
"Olivia just came back today and wants to get along with you. She's trying. Why can't you?"
Before I could even respond, he pulled me toward the door with a force that made me freeze.
It reminded me of Arturo—and instantly extinguished all my resistance.
In the car, both Olivia and I sat in the backseat.
But she suddenly shrank back, looking up at me with tear-filled fear, like I might hurt her.
Kurt paused only one second before opening the front passenger seat.
"Olivia, sit here."
She glanced at me once, her eyes gleaming with smugness, then obediently slid into the seat.
My fingers clenched quietly in my sleeve.
When Kurt bought this car, he tossed me the keys with a gentle smile. "The front passenger seat is only for my Daniella, okay?"
But now even that belonged to someone else.
I blinked my numb eyes and turned to the window. I agreed to come to Disneyland because when we were kids, Kurt said he'd take me there someday—that it would mark a new beginning.
I'd held onto that promise for years.
But now... if I couldn't refuse, then I would treat today as our final goodbye.
The park buzzed with people, laughter everywhere. But I felt like I was trapped behind a glass wall, only watching the silhouettes of Kurt and Olivia walking ahead.
All the way, they stayed side by side.
"What do you want to play first, Olivia?" She pointed; he bought the tickets immediately.
Whatever she wanted to eat, he queued without complaint.
I followed behind, like a piece of air tagging along.
A staff member saw them standing together and smiled warmly.
"You two have such a lovely relationship. Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!"
Kurt stiffened. His gaze flicked toward me. But in the end, he said nothing.
Only when Olivia went to the restroom did he walk over.
"She's a foreign worker. She doesn't understand. No need to explain."
"I know."
He frowned, like he finally noticed I wasn't tailing behind him as usual.
It seemed being ignored made him uncomfortable. He even had the ridiculous illusion that I was like a kite—and if he loosened the string for even a second, I'd fly away.
He opened his mouth to speak—but Olivia emerged from the restroom, calling sweetly, "Kurt, I want ice cream."
"Okay, I'll buy it." He swallowed whatever he meant to say and walked off, leaving me alone with her.
Olivia studied me for several seconds, then suddenly smiled.
"Daniella, confused, aren't you?" She leaned close, voice dripping with malice. "Wondering why your brother is hot and cold with you?"
I stayed silent.
She didn't mind. Her tone turned almost playful. "Because he thinks you inherited trash genes and wants to 'fix' you. To you, he's probably the most important person in the world, right?"
"But to me? Kurt is just one of the men around me. If you kneel and kowtow a few times, I might even return your precious brother to you."
She watched my face eagerly, waiting for it to break.
She hadn't changed since high school—she still delighted in ripping away what others treasured most.
My eyes flickered. My voice was steady. "Kurt is just one of your men?"
She laughed lightly. "Of course. What else? He's just a decent-looking orphan. In high school, I teased him a little—pretended to turn myself in to help him—and he treated me like his savior. He never knew I was the one who orchestrated his bullying. He still thinks I was brave to stand by him."
She paused, then smirked. "Oh, and do you know why he believed your child wasn't his? Why he forced you to abort it? Because I told him I saw you sleeping with Arturo at a hotel. I said it casually, and he believed it. Isn't that hilarious?"
"You—!" My vision blurred red. I lost control and grabbed her collar in a tight fist.
That innocent child's death was my lifelong wound.
I could endure her destroying me—but the fact that my baby died because of her casual lie...
Olivia's grin sharpened like a blade. "So what? It was just a lump of flesh. A puddle of mud."
