Chapter 3

After receiving their forgiveness, I returned to the Bennett family home and resumed life there, and the days were just like before.

When I stepped through the door and returned to the room where I used to live, I lay on the bed and looked at the familiar decorations, still feeling a sense of unreality.

I always woke up in the middle of the night, cold sweat sticking to my clothes so stickily that it made me sick, and I always dreamed that I was sleeping in a damp, cold basement, where the dog chain locked around my neck only tightened more the harder I struggled.

I wanted to start over as a person, find a job, and live normally, but my high school diploma was too low for me to even qualify for interviews, so I found a cleaning job from an ad on a utility pole.

“Mr. Bennett, welcome. We’re honored to have you here for guidance.”

When I heard the boss’s hearty laugh, I silently moved the water bucket aside and continued kneeling to wipe the floor.

The sound of conversation grew closer and closer.

I turned my face away, knelt in the corner of the office with my head lowered, and prayed that he would not see me.

The sound of leather shoes stopped, and when I saw those polished black leather shoes diagonally behind me, that burning gaze made all the hair on my body stand up, and every time I turned my head, I could feel Ethan Bennett’s anger.

“Mr. Bennett? Is there something you’re not satisfied with?”

The manager hesitated and looked at the clean, tidy floor, wondering if there was a problem with the new cleaner.

“Liam Bennett, is this the so-called good job you found?” Ethan Bennett’s voice came slowly from behind me with a bone-chilling coldness, and I lowered my head as my body trembled.

“I... don’t know you...” I lowered my head, carried the water bucket, hunched my back, and tried to leave.

“You don’t know me? Liam Bennett, you’ve really grown bold.” Ethan Bennett forcefully grabbed my wrist, water splashing all over the floor, and he pinched the back of my neck with his left hand, forcing me to look straight at him. “Come back with me!”

I lowered my head to look at the tips of my shoes, not daring to meet his eyes, which were filled with anger and disappointment, and when our skin touched at such close range, the burning sensation in my stomach made me feel so sick that I wanted to vomit, while every inch of flesh seemed to tear with pain.

“Ethan, I still have to keep working, so don’t delay me...” I lowered my head, my fine hair covering my brows and eyes, and resisted in a small voice as I tried to shake him off.

I failed.

“Delay you? You’re the young son of the Bennett family, and you’re working as a cleaner. What do you think outsiders will say? Will you only be happy if you make the Bennett family a joke? Are you really that cheap?” Ethan Bennett questioned me in anger, and the force around my wrist gradually tightened.

I could not argue back, and my whole body went cold as my lips trembled and I bowed. “I’m sorry... Ethan, I didn’t mean to embarrass you...”

He did not have the patience to listen, and in front of everyone, he grabbed my arm, dragged me downstairs, shoved me into the passenger seat, started the car, and left.