Dragging my heavy right leg, I limped toward the stairs. I saw the shock in Dylan's eyes.
Gianna exclaimed, "Chloe, what happened to your leg?"
Dylan looked at me intently as if waiting for an answer.
I felt bitter inside. Don't they know better than anyone what happened to my leg?
Over the past three years, I refused to endure the torment from my aunt's family. I tried to escape time and again.
But every time, I was caught and brought back.
The villagers were their eyes and ears.
My last attempt to escape completely enraged my cousin.
He took out a belt and beat me until my skin was torn and bleeding. He shouted, "Don't you get it? The Phillips family has long abandoned you. Even if you manage to escape, they'll just send you back.
"It was their idea to cripple your leg, so you wouldn't run back and embarrass them."
A brick came crashing down, breaking my right leg.
If they didn't still need me to do hard labor, I would've lost the other leg too.
I didn't know why they were pretending to be clueless.
I really didn't want to go back to that nightmare of a place.
I cooperated and shook my head. "It's fine. It's just a minor injury."
Compared to staying alive, losing a leg is nothing.