Chapter 3

"I'll transfer it to you."

I couldn't stand to watch her struggle like that.

I sent her the money, and she rushed over, thrilled, and hugged me.

But in that hug, I couldn't feel any love.

In the days that followed,

my mom cooked me all kinds of delicious food.

The way she went out of her way to please me made me feel guilty for a while, for getting upset with her over three thousand dollars.

The peaceful days didn't last long.

It wasn't until, after I'd streamed all night and was sleeping like the dead through the day,

my best friend Imogen's calls came in like some death-summoning demon,

that I woke with a jolt and realized my whole world had collapsed.

She told me to get online and check the news right away—my explicit photos were plastered all over the internet!

"This girl's pretty good at faking it. Comedy is her job, being a slut is her nature, hahaha."

"Such an innocent face, and who knew she had a body like that. It got me hard just looking!"

"Brothers, I like the naughty ones, hit like so the streamer sees it!"

"Desperate for fame, huh? Posting a video of yourself in the shower online—first one on the whole internet to pull that!"

"People mock the poor, not the whores. The blogger's just scared of being broke, hahaha."

My hands were shaking badly.

Just then, Imogen called again.

"Teresa, wait for me. I'm coming to get you right now, and I'll go to the police with you. Let's find out which shameless creep planted that camera! We'll catch them and throw them in jail!"

"Okay."

I felt like every last bit of life had been drained out of me. I curled up on the couch, so scared my stomach cramped up...

Imogen came flying over and grabbed me to head to the police department.

That was when my parents blocked the door and, once again, knelt down at my feet.

Tears and words pouring out of them:

"Teresa, don't call the police. I did it. I saw the money and got greedy, and I sold the video of you in the shower to a porn site."

The last thing I ever expected was that it would be my dad who spoke up.

A farmer who works with his face to the dirt and his back to the sky, who can barely read a word—how could he possibly understand all these high-tech twists and turns?

"It was Dean, wasn't it?"

A second before my parents knelt, I'd still thought I was being targeted by some criminal.

Now I felt like I'd plunged into a pit of ice.

The parental love I'd craved for twenty years turned out to be nothing but a front.

I couldn't stand to see them struggle, yet they were perfectly willing to shove me into the mud.

"Teresa, your brother still needs two hundred thousand for the bride-price. There's nothing we can do about it."

"Think about it—we've already transferred the house over to them and paid out the bulk of it. We can't have it all fall apart over the bride-price."

"Two hundred thousand is no small amount, and you can't come up with it right now. Your brother figured he'd use your videos to make a little money."

"They promised they'd only post it on that VIP website or whatever, but they went back on their word and put it straight out there."

"Teresa, you know the law—let's sue that website. Maybe we can even squeeze more money out of them in damages!"

All they saw was money. They didn't see me, their daughter, sweating from head to toe with stomach cramps.

The family bond I'd propped up all by myself crumbled into ruins in that instant.

"Fine. I'll go to the company right now and find the legal department to draft a demand letter, and I'll sue the website that spread the video."

I deliberately leaned hard on the part about suing the website.

The reason I got out of that house so easily was thanks to my legally clueless parents.

They thought that winning the lawsuit meant getting even more money.

That's why they let me walk right out...

"Teresa, are you sure about this?"

Standing at the entrance of the police department, Imogen asked me gravely.

Because she knew all too well how desperately I'd once longed for my parents' love.

"Yes."

Family love is such a precious thing. It should never have become a tool for them to profit off my own flesh and blood...