Love Swiped Left on Me

I went to my room and began packing my suitcase. Pretty much since Juliet's arrival, my family stopped buying new things for me. They were even reluctant to give me an allowance after I turned 18.

I kept thinking that as long as I got good grades and didn't cause any trouble, I would still be able to earn a bit of their respect, even if they didn't like me.

But I was wrong about that.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I stared at the faded family portrait on the desk. In the picture, Dad had his hand on my shoulder, while William was hugging me from behind with a wide grin on his face. Mom stood on the side, her gaze gentle. She was the only person in this family who understood me.

I could still recall the year the family business ran into trouble. Mom fled the house with William and me. It was the first time I realized even this seemingly indestructible family could fall apart.

When Mom returned, she had a fresh wound on her face. That night, Dad turned off every light in the villa and sat in silence until dawn.

The next morning, he hugged William and me, his eyes reddened.

"I didn't know how to be a good husband before this, but I'll do my best to be a good father," Dad said. "From now on, I'll raise you two properly and make sure you get all the love you need."

At the time, William put his hand on my shoulder and promised, "I won't let anyone hurt Olivia. If anyone touches her, I'll cut his hands off."

I had always been a sickly child. I would get a fever or cough up blood for no reason. Anytime William called, Dad would drop everything and rush home, even if he was in the middle of a drug deal for the Calhoun family.

When I was 12 years old, a group of girls cornered me in the bathroom and humiliated me. William stormed in with a steel pipe and fought them off. Even though he ended up with a broken arm, he didn't even flinch.

Back then, the whole neighborhood knew that I had a super protective brother who'd kill for me.

Shawn had treated me very well, too. When I was little, Dad often left on business trips. Shawn would bring William and me to his house for meals. While dishing the food onto my plate, he smiled and said, "If you want, you can eat here for the rest of your lives."

At the time, I really thought I would marry him, the boy who seemed to only have eyes for me.

That all changed when Juliet showed up.

From the moment she first stepped into the villa, I knew there was something off about the look in her eyes. She didn't seem like an orphan but a hunter instead.

She seized every chance to put on a show, executing each well-timed tear and every calculated pout to perfection. She excelled at weaponizing her "weak" side to manipulate others.

Juliet would always barge in "coincidentally" whenever I was alone with Shawn or William. After destroying my belongings, she would cry and say, "I didn't do it on purpose, Livie."

When William brought her a drink, she would pour it on herself before clutching the edge of his shirt and saying in a trembling voice, "Livie didn't mean to do it… I'm not mad at her."

Once, she used a pair of scissors to ruin a new dress Dad had bought before weeping in front of everyone, saying, "I'm really not trying to steal anything from you, Livie…"

After giving herself a cut on the leg, she threw herself into Shawn's arms and begged, "Please ask Livie to stop bullying me… I can't take it anymore…"

One night, I finally exploded.

This time, Dad and William, who had always taken my side, defended her instead.

"I'm so disappointed in you, Olivia!" Dad fumed. "When did you turn into this person?"

"I can't believe you resorted to such tricks to bully Juliet!" William rebuked me.

Hugging Juliet tenderly, Shawn looked at me and said, "I never thought you'd do such a thing. Let's forget about getting engaged for now. I need some time to get to know who you truly are."

I thought of my 18th birthday, which became a nightmare that haunted me. We were on the way back from a family meeting when the car exploded. Mom shielded me with her body. Lying in a pool of blood, she smiled and said, "Sweetheart, don't blame yourself for this."

Later on, they told me it was an accident. A gunfight involving a rival family had gotten out of hand, and the explosion was accidental. But Mom wasn't even supposed to attend that meeting. She'd submitted a leave request a week in advance.

Someone had added her name back onto the list of attendees without her knowledge.

I suspected that it was Leon Davis' doing, but I had no proof. Leon was Dad's second-in-command and the only person Juliet had any contact with before she joined the family.

I knew full well that Mom's death was a conspiracy, but what role did Juliet play in that plot? I had no concrete evidence of that.

As the wind blew through the hallway, I got up and closed the door without noticing what was happening at the end of the hallway.

The door to Leon's study was slightly ajar, and the panels behind the bookshelf moved back into place with a faint click. That was the only hidden passage down to the basement in this entire villa, and it had been untouched for many years.