He Betrayed Me, I Let My Brother Punish Him

Chapter 1

The moment the message sent, my phone died. The screen went black.

Zane caught a glimpse of my last message. His expression darkened, and a cold laugh escaped him.

"Nina, can you not be so childish? Every single time, you have to drag the family business into it. Do you think that's funny?"

He dropped the pretense entirely, snatched my phone out of my hand, and threw it into the sea.

I watched it sink and felt as though I were sinking with it.

The pain in my foot came in relentless waves, the wound swelling white and puffy in the salt water.

Hoping against hope, I pried out two vitamin tablets and forced them down dry.

My stomach turned almost immediately. I bent over and retched.

Chloe strolled over from the beach umbrella a short distance away, holding my imported tetanus shot in one hand.

She crouched in front of me, her face arranged into a picture of childlike innocence.

"Neen, don't be mad at Zane, it's all my fault. A shell nicked me a little while ago, and you know how terrified I am of scars."

She pressed the barely-there scratch up to my face. Then, right in front of me, she twisted off the protective cap of the syringe.

She tilted it and let the contents drip out onto the sand, 8,000 dollars' worth of medicine, drawing a lopsided little heart. In the center, she wrote his initials: ZH.

She stepped back to admire her handiwork, then tugged at Zane's arm, fishing for praise.

"Zane, look. Pretty, right?"

Zane flicked her nose with an indulgent smile. "You're such a little troublemaker."

He turned to look at me, eyes full of contempt.

"Nina, you see that? That's just how Chloe is, sweet and carefree, nothing like you with all your scheming. Stop acting like you're half dying over a shot she wanted to play with. I've been telling my dad for ages, a woman like you doesn't belong in our family."

I tried to reach into the first aid kit for painkillers, only to find everything had been ransacked.

The painkillers were gone. The antiseptic wipes. Even the bandages.

Zane pointed at his friends nearby, who were wrapping each other up in my bandages, playing mummy.

"We're here to have fun, so stop being so stingy. Look at yourself, you're perfectly fine. My mom always says women who can't handle a little pain can't give you sons."

His voice and his friends' laughter kept swirling around me.

My medicine. My first aid supplies. All of it had become their toys.

I felt like a piece of trash abandoned on the shore.

"Zane, I really could get an infection." My voice wouldn't stop shaking.

"Infected?" He dropped the act entirely. "The only thing infected here is your head. Your parents had you vaccinated with every imported shot money can buy. You're strong as an ox."

Chloe nestled against him, soft and fragile-looking, chiming in gently. "She's right, Neen. Zane says your immune system is incredible, not like mine, I catch a cold just from the sea breeze. You won't mind if I borrow your things for a bit, will you? I'm sure you'll be fine."

With that, she picked up my sunglasses, slipped them on, and tilted her face toward the water to pose.

My brother had given me those sunglasses for my birthday. My name was engraved on the arm.

And now they were her props.

Rage surged through me. I pushed myself upright and reached for them.

Zane shoved me back down onto the scorching sand.

"Nina, are you done? Do you have to ruin everyone's day?"

The impact drove my wounded foot into the coarse sand. I sucked in a sharp breath.

Chloe peered at me from behind Zane, a smug smile on her lips.

"Zane, did I say something wrong? Neen seems even angrier now."

"You did nothing wrong," Zane said, turning to comfort her, his voice gentle. "She's just spoiled. She thinks the whole world should revolve around her."

I listened to the exchange and felt something inside me go cold, inch by inch.

'This man I had once believed was my salvation. He was nothing but hell.'

With every last scrap of strength I had, I grabbed the diving flipper beside me and hurled it at his face.

"You two cheating bastards, get the hell away from me!"