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But these guys were the real hustlers.
They played a video of Steven,naked and in a compromising situation, with vulgar sounds filling the air.
“We don’t want your life,just your money! $100,000,and not a cent less!”
“No money?We’ll send this to his wife,his workplace,everywhere!”
Steven begged,“Mom,Sarah,pay them!I’ve got a reputation.This’ll ruin me!”
Mom saw the men’s menace and knew whining wouldn’t work.
Her wallet had a few hundred bucks—useless.
She glanced at me,a“broke loser”who couldn’t even scrape together $10,000.
Then she shoved me forward.“My son slept with your wife,so take my daughter instead!She’s a college-educated girl,pure,way cleaner than your wife!”
I froze,thunderstruck,my body cold.
“Mom,you’d…sell me out like this?”
Steven,knowing Mom had no cash,chimed in,“Yeah,my sister’s pretty,right?You can do whatever you want with her!Just don’t post that video…”
I stared,heartbroken,at my family.“Steven,you’re just as cruel as Mom.How could you do this to me?”
He didn’t care if I lived or died,pleading with the men.
Even they looked at me with a hint of pity in their eyes.
Before this,I’d paid them my $30,000 commission,explaining blackmail was a crime.They were in it for cash,so they agreed to stage this,legally.
They promised to record everything,high-definition.
But no one expected Mom and Steven to sink this low.
If I hadn’t paid them,and they were truly vicious,what horrors would I have faced?
Was it worse than the death I’d faced in my past life?
The rage from both lives erupted.
“You’re not human!”
“Why are you treat me like this?How can you be so heartless?”
“I’m your daughter!I’m your sister!”
I lost control,pummeling Mom,grabbing a bedside lamp,and smashing it on Steven.
I unleashed all my hatred,leaving them bloodied.
The men pulled me off.The leader said,“You told us not to break the law.Keep this up,and you’ll be the criminal.”
“You’re a college student with a bright future.Don’t ruin it for these scum.”
I calmed,wiping tears.
Looking at their pathetic state,I said,“You’re no longer my family anymore.Never contact me again.”
I took the video from the leader and left with them.
In the elevator,I saw Rachel,fuming,with her relatives.
Hidden behind the men,she didn’t notice me.
As the elevator doors closed,I cut all ties with that toxic family.
I edited the video and sent it from a burner account to every relative,friend,and Steven’s classmate group.
No one knew it was me;Steven assumed the men had sent it and didn’t bother to investigate further.
I blocked all their contacts,keeping only classmates,close friends,and one cousin I liked.
Mom came to my school multiple times,but I’d already left for an overseas internship.A friend collected my diploma.
I quietly transferred my legal residency.
They couldn’t find me.
Through friends and my cousin,I heard snippets about them.
Rachel,convinced that intimate could induce labor,continued to act recklessly with Steven.
Their preemie was born with skin lesions,not full-term.The ambulance arrived to find them in the nude, making them the talk of the town once again.
The baby died despite massive medical bills.
Mom,enraged,died of a heart attack.
Steven,jobless,grieving his son and mother,was hounded by Rachel for money.Driven mad,he stabbed a stranger for cash and went to prison.
Rachel g was diagnosed with tomach and esophageal cancer.Too poor to afford treatment, she was left to await her inevitable fate.
As for me,I just lived my life.
That was enough.
