My Stepbrother Destroyed Me, Then Lost Me Forever

My phone blew up with endless harassing texts and anonymous phone calls.

All of them filled with vile slurs and insults.

My hands shook as I blocked each number, one by one.

My mother told me she’d called the school and gotten me an extended leave of absence.

But I couldn’t let her know I was leaving the country. I had to get back to campus to finalize my paperwork.

She’d never had time for me anyway. Even if I left, it would probably be weeks before she even noticed I was gone.

Leo had forced the photos offline, but nearly everyone at the school had seen them.

Everywhere I went, eyes followed me, curious, mocking, judgmental, accompanied by low, muttered whispers.

“Who would have thought? She’s so quiet and put-together normally, but she’s actually so easy.”

“Hey, you think I’d have a shot with her…”

Suffocating shame and terror wrapped around me like a vice.

My chest tightened until I could barely breathe, and I don’t remember how I made it out of the school building.

I was walking back to the manor in a daze when a group of men stepped out in front of me, blocking my path.

The leader pulled out his phone, and my leaked photos stared back at me from the screen. He looked me up and down, his gaze sickening with malice.

“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re even prettier in person.”

My whole body went rigid, and I stumbled back half a step. “What do you want? Stay away from me!”

The men exchanged looks, and despite my struggles, they dragged me into the dimly lit alleyway beside the street.

They slammed me up against the cold brick wall, leering, their filthy hands reaching for my clothes.

“Get off me! Don’t touch me!”

They pinned my arms and legs down, and I had no strength left to fight. I could only watch, helpless, as they ripped my coat open.

“Just enjoy! No one’s coming to save you.”

I bit down hard on my lip until the metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth.

In the split second they let go of one of my hands to take their own clothes off, I wrenched free and grabbed the knife I’d hidden in my bag.

My hand shook so violently I could barely hold it, but I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Don’t any of you come near me!”

The first time I’d been cornered like this, my mother had said it was my fault for dressing too provocatively, told me to wear more modest clothes next time.

If a stranger hadn’t passed by that day, I don’t know what would have happened to me.

Since then, I’d kept a knife in my bag.

But they just laughed. One of them even reached for the knife, trying to yank it out of my hand.

In the struggle, the blade sank deep into my chest.

The leader’s face went white with panic.

Scared of being charged with murder, he turned and ran, the rest of the men hot on his heels.

I collapsed onto the cold concrete, blood soaking through my shirt fast.

As my vision blurred and my consciousness slipped, I heard one of them mutter into a phone, his voice low and panicked.

“Mr. Corleone, something went wrong. She stabbed herself with the knife.”

Vincent’s cold, hard voice came through the line. “Is she dead?”

Then Leo’s voice, urgent and horrified. “Vincent! Are you insane? She’s your sister!”

Vincent scoffed. “I just told the boys to scare her a little. If she’s stupid enough to try and kill herself, that’s on her. If she’s not dead, dump her at a hospital. Make sure she never finds out I arranged this.”

So it was true. Vincent really had wanted to destroy me.

A memory flashed through my mind, a conversation I’d overheard between him and his men months before.

“My mother’s death is on them. Why the hell should they get to live comfortably in the Corleone house?”

Tears streamed down my face, and the world went black. I passed out completely.