He Sold My Virginity, I Fought to Survive

Chapter 3

At Bianca’s birthday banquet, Silas pulled out all the stops, inviting high-profile elites and socialites from every industry just for her. She stood surrounded by a sea of admirers at the center of the room, looking every bit as regal and elegant as a real princess.

Under the watchful eyes of every single guest in the room, Silas reached out and laced his fingers through hers. "Bianca, this is the gift I've prepared for you."

The heavy curtain dropped, and a massive oil painting swung into full view. Rendered by a master artist's deft brushstrokes, it depicted an old, stately, imposing traditional manor.

"This house, it's yours. A gift from me." Silas' voice was soft and warm, like a gentle breeze brushing across skin.

A shocked murmur rippled through the crowd, then erupted into a full-blown commotion.

"That's the Cross family's ancestral home,"

"Somebody offered seven hundred million for it years ago and couldn't close the deal! President Thorne really dropped a fortune to give this as a gift. What an incredible gesture!"

Bianca stared at the painting of the house, an unusual, greedy gleam shining in her eyes. Still, she perfected her look of innocent surprise. "But... what about my sister?"

Silas' jaw tightened, his expression shifting for a heartbeat before settling back into cold indifference. "From the moment she spread lies about you, she stopped being a member of the Cross family."

"Who gave you the right?" My voice shook with white-hot rage as I burst into the opulent hall, disheveled and out of breath, crashing the fancy party right in front of everyone.

"Is that Evelyn?"

"It really is her? I thought she'd be too ashamed to show her face around here."

"She has already spent time in prison. That's a little more shame for the Cross family, right?"

"Tsk tsk, raising a slut who seduced her own uncle... I know old Mr. Cross is rolling in his grave over this."

I froze solid in my tracks. Silas stormed over and roughly wrenched me under the covered overhang by the entrance. "You're injured, you should be resting in the hospital. What nonsense are you pulling here!"

I wrenched my arm out of his grip hard and stood my ground, glaring directly at him. "Who gave you the right to give our family ancestral home to her? I'm the real daughter of the Cross family! She's just an adopted orphan. What right does she have to..."

With a sudden smack, burning, throbbing pain bloomed across my cheek immediately. I clapped a hand to my face, staring up at Silas in utter disbelief.

He stepped firmly in front of Bianca, shielding her completely from me. "Your father entrusted both of you to me on his deathbed. In my eyes, Bianca has never been just an adopted daughter! You've framed her over and over again. You don't deserve to call yourself a Cross daughter at all. What right do you have to object to any of this?"

In that second, the whole situation felt like the most absurd joke I had ever lived.

A memory flashed through my mind, back to when I was ten years old, right after Bianca first moved into our house.

I had offered her my favorite doll as a welcome gift, and she had ignored it completely. But the second I turned my back to walk away, she tumbled down the stairs right at my feet.

"Sister... why did you push me? Is it because you don't like me being here?"

My parents had believed me that day, at first. But from that day on, her tears became the sharpest weapon ever pointed at me.

My mother's missing jewelry, my father's shattered antique collection, every single time she would put on that doe-eyed, pitiful act, and I was left with no way to prove my innocence.

But no matter what happened back then, Silas had always stood firmly by my side. "I know Evelyn better than anyone. She would never do something like that. Sure, she has a little temper. I'm the one who spoiled her, and I don't regret a single bit of it."

I had been so stupidly naive, convinced Silas would stand by my side for the rest of my life.

"You've disappointed me more than I can say." His cold, sharp silhouette standing in front of me now slowly blurred into the memory of another day, when he had gotten down on one knee to propose to me, crying as he promised he would protect me for the rest of my life.

My mind went blank, and I stared at him in a daze.

"Evelyn, I’m giving you one last chance. Apologize to Bianca and the Cross family, and I will still stand behind you."

I stared at the way his hand lay wrapped around Bianca’s, and I laughed. "Don’t bother. Give me one million dollars, and from this day on, we will cut all ties for good."

Dead silence dropped over the room in an instant.

Silas’ eyes darkened into a cold, sharp glower, and he ground out through clenched teeth, "What did you just say?" When he locked eyes with my unyielding gaze, a flicker of shock crossed his face, like he had just missed something important.

"Sister!" Bianca saw the situation spinning out of her control, and she darted forward, throwing herself down with a loud thud right at my knees. "Blame me instead! It’s my fault for ever coming to the Cross family. All of this is my mistake! I don’t want the ancestral home! I’ll leave Silverton today. I’ll give everything back to you!"

She sobbed as she scrambled down the stairs, but her ankle twisted under her mid-step. She went tumbling all the way to the bottom with a loud clatter.

"Bianca!" Silas lunged down after her, his eyes bulging with wild panic. When he saw blood bloom and soak through the fabric beneath her, his voice cracked completely. "A doctor! Call an ambulance now!"

He rounded back to me, his gaze blazing with fury. "Tie her up! If anything happens to Bianca, she won’t live to regret it!"