He had started with those closest to me, breaking through them one by one.
“Corbin, you’re finished.”
“I want you to feel firsthand what it’s like to be betrayed by the people you trust most.”
“You beat him for me,” Landon ordered my bodyguard.
He wasn’t just my bodyguard. He had also been one of my good friends.
He didn’t hesitate. He walked right up to me.
“Landon, you’re truly ruthless.”
“I must have been blind to ever help you when you were in trouble.”
“Don’t act so noble.”
Suddenly, his eyes turned bloodshot and he kicked me hard.
“Every time we went back to the village, you basked in the spotlight while I was just your background.”
“You knew the villagers would praise you and belittle me, yet you still brought me back.”
“They laughed at me, said I’d always be your dog.”
“So tell me, how could I not hate you?”
He grabbed me by the collar, face-to-face.
But I never treated him like a dog.
It was because his parents hadn’t seen their son in years.
Their longing for him had taken a toll; their health was worsening day by day.
When I found out, I brought a reluctant Landon back home.
If I hadn’t, his parents probably wouldn’t have made it through that year.