Dumped in the Mountains as a Plaything

Rowan's POV

Before I could even process the news, a sharp, blinding pain shot up from the bridge of my foot.

The village chief, Martha Campbell, spat in my face as she viciously warned me, "Rowan White, I'm sure you know exactly what to say and what to keep to yourself. If you don't keep your mouth shut, we'll gladly air all your dirty laundry. When that happens, you, the scion of the White family, won't have much of a reputation left."

I lowered my eyes numbly. Did she honestly think Elaine Sinclair would give a damn? If she actually cared about me, she wouldn't have left me in this godforsaken hellhole for over a year without checking in on me.

I shrank back, pulling my tattered clothes tightly around myself. I shuddered when I caught the fleeting glint of greed in Martha's eyes. I had already seen through these people's greedy, ugly mugs over the last year.

So long as I could leave this place, I would stay as far away from Elaine and my adopted younger brother, Owen White, as possible. I would never show my face in front of them again for the rest of my life.

I followed Martha out of the low, mud-brick house. The blinding sunlight filled me with joy.

Elaine was standing beside her car. Her brows knitted together when her gaze locked onto my tattered clothes. "What's with the getup? Are you trying to remind me of how miserable your life has been?"

Initially, she had felt a twinge of guilt about leaving me stranded in these mountains. Owen, however, had already warned her that I might deliberately play the victim to gain her sympathy.

Looking at me now, she realized he was right. I wasn't even wearing shoes. Her guilt instantly twisted into disgust; she found me utterly repulsive for resorting to this kind of method just to force her hand.

Long-term abuse had left me thoroughly conditioned. I immediately lowered my head and began slapping my own face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that…"

I struck my own face, blow after blow, showing myself no mercy. Elaine was startled by my sudden action. Instinctively, she wanted to stop me, only to realize that my cheeks were already severely swollen and a trickle of blood was seeping from the corner of my mouth.

Martha, who was standing beside us, panicked as well. She hurriedly grasped my hand and asked, feigning concern, "What's gotten into you, Mr. White?"

But on the sly, she shot daggers at me, making me shudder in fear.

"That's enough. Drop the act and get in the car." Elaine waved her hand in disgust, as if she would defile her eyes if she spared me another glance.

I stumbled into the vehicle. The car was filled with a faint fragrance, which stood in sharp contrast to the musty smell coming from me.

Elaine acted as if I were invisible the entire time. She merely coldly instructed the driver to hit the gas.

The car jolted down the uneven road. Elaine eventually broke the silence, as if she was doing me a favor. "I wasn't going to let you off the hook so easily, but Owen's kind-hearted. You're only allowed to come home because of him. If you're disrespectful to Owen again, don't expect me to go easy on you."

My throat tightened. I wanted to explain myself, but I felt powerless to do so.

Our marriage was a mistake from day one.

Elaine had been drugged at a party and ended up having a one-night stand with me. I was well aware that she and Owen were head over heels for each other, so I had no intention to tie her down. Elaine only married me because her parents looked down on Owen for being an orphan and used the incident to threaten my family.

I had harbored a crush on Elaine since I was a teenager, so naturally, I had wanted to be with her. However, I never could've imagined it would be the beginning of a living nightmare. Elaine and my older sister, Quinn White, left me to rot in this isolated mountain for over a year, living a life worse than death, all because Owen didn't like something I said.

I lowered my gaze to conceal the bitterness swirling within them before nodding apathetically. "I won't disrespect Mr. White ever again, nor will I do anything to upset you guys, Ms. Sinclair. If it's alright... could we file for divorce once we return?"

Elaine shot me a displeased look. "That's enough from you. What's with the sarcasm? You want a divorce?

"Are you trying to drag Owen into this and make my parents blame him again? You're so vicious—you disgust me."

"No, I'm not. I mean it," I hurriedly explained. However, a sudden, sharp pain shot through my lower abdomen, causing me to clutch my stomach and start trembling.

Elaine noticed it and grumbled, "Cut it out already! Playing the victim once or twice is fine, but any more than that is just annoying."

My face drained of all color. "Can you… can you please pull over for a moment?" I gritted out.

"What are you trying to pull now?"

"Please, I'm begging you, stop the car…"

Elaine completely ignored me and closed her eyes, acting as if I didn't exist at all.

I could no longer hold it in. The very next second, a warm liquid streamed down my thighs, and a foul smell began to permeate the car.

I buried my face in my hands as a tidal wave of despair and burning shame crashed over me. After more than a year of inhumane torture, I had long since lost my dignity as a normal human being.

Elaine caught the foul odor too, and she kicked me with her high heel. "You're absolutely disgusting, Rowan White! Couldn't you have held it in?"

The disgust burning in her eyes was no different from that of the villagers, but it cut me even deeper. I curled into a ball and apologized repeatedly under my breath. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

Elaine was about to berate me when the driver hesitated before chiming in, "Let's head back first, Ms. Sinclair. Mr. White seems a bit off."

It only hit her then that blood seemed to be seeping through the exact spot where she had kicked me. Elaine froze for a moment before falling into an eerie, uncanny silence. We rode the rest of the way to the villa in absolute dead silence.

Owen was sitting on the couch in the living room, playing video games. The moment he spotted me, he immediately tossed his controller aside, hid behind Elaine, and said timidly, "Ellie… now that Rowan's back, he's not going to be mad at me for being here, is he? I didn't mean to stay here. Please don't yell at me, Rowan…"

Tears welled up in his eyes, as if he had suffered some monumental injustice. Elaine wrapped her arms around him protectively and comforted him softly, "It's alright, Owen; you don't have to be afraid of him. He wouldn't dare do anything to you now."

Then, she whipped her head around to glare at me. "Rowan White, you'd better behave yourself. You don't get to call the shots in this household. If you lay a finger on Owen again, I'll never let you off the hook!"

I smiled wryly. I had never done a single thing to him.

Ever since we were children, Owen had always liked telling people that I hurt him, pretending to be the helpless victim to gain everyone's sympathy. I was used to it, but this time, I didn't even have the strength left to defend myself.

Enduring the pain, I dropped to my knees right in front of the two of them and apologized in a humble tone. "I'm sorry. It was my fault. I shouldn't have dared to hope for something that didn't belong to me."

"Stop playing the damn victim!" Elaine kicked me squarely in the chest. I was sent crashing to the floor, and everything went black before my eyes. "If you think this is going to make me pity you, think again. I'll never forgive you for the things you've done!"

"Rowan's so scary, Ellie! I'm scared…" Clinging to Elaine, Owen trembled slightly, as if I were some kind of monster. Lying limply on the floor, I let them humiliate me and curse at me.

I was already numb. More than a year of dehumanizing torture had ground my dignity into dust. I even began to wonder if all of this was punishment I deserved.

"Drag him down to the basement first." Elaine waved her hand in disgust, as if she was shooing away a bothersome fly.

As soon as her words fell, two bodyguards hoisted me up and dragged me down into the cold, damp basement. I was thrown onto the floor, and every single bone in my body felt as though it had shattered into pieces. I curled up in a corner as my consciousness gradually began to fade.

All of a sudden, it felt as though I was back at that small mountain village again, surrounded by the villagers' twisted, hideous faces. The way they handled me roughly replayed in my mind over and over again. A whimper escaped my lips, but it fell on completely deaf ears.

…

I had no idea how much time had passed before I was jolted awake by a wave of excruciating pain. I peeled my eyes open and found Owen standing before me with a blood-stained leather whip in his hand.

"What happened to you, Rowan? You used to be untouchable. Now, look at you. You're a goddamn wreck!" A twisted smile warped his face, and his eyes burned with pure malice.

My survival instinct made me curl up instinctively. "Why? I thought I'd always treated you well…"

Owen's movements never faltered, bringing the leather whip down on me stroke after stroke. He struck me with such savage force that my vision began to blur.

"Your very existence is a mistake! You have everything I've ever wanted just because you were born into wealth!" His eyes were filled with twisted hatred, like a venomous snake.

Ever since Owen was adopted, everyone in my family had treated him like royalty. He was pampered, spoiled rotten, and given absolutely everything he ever wanted. My family would've gladly stripped away everything that belonged to me just to hand it to him on a silver platter.

I was the one who was abandoned, ignored, and sacrificed. Despite that, he still wasn't satisfied.

The whip tore through my flesh. The excruciating pain almost made me black out as my surroundings began to blur. In the fog of my fading consciousness, I thought I saw Quinn standing in the doorway.

Her eyes widened in disbelief, yet her tone was oddly calm. "What are you doing, Owen?"

"I… I came to see Rowan. He… I-I didn't do this to him!"

Quinn glanced at me with contempt, as if she were looking at a piece of trash. "It's fine. Scum like him needs to be taught a lesson. He got what was coming to him."

There wasn't a single shred of concern in her voice, as if I weren't her younger brother at all. Lying flat on the freezing floor, I no longer had the strength to utter a single word. All I felt was a bitter, piercing chill that seeped deep into the very marrow of my bones.

…

When I came to, I was already in the hospital. Quinn stood beside my hospital bed, looking down at me with an ice-cold gaze. "I know Owen did this to you. Don't tell anyone. After all, you owe him so much. You deserved this."

Staring blankly at the ceiling, I asked lowly, "What exactly do I owe him?"

Quinn scowled, a hint of impatience creeping into her tone. "You've picked on him since you were little, and you even stole Elaine from him. Don't you think you owe him enough?"

I'd had it up to here with bearing the blame for these two crimes. Growing up, whenever Owen cried, I was always the unforgivable sinner in everyone's eyes.

If he fell down, I must've pushed him. If his toy broke, I must've broken it. If he failed an exam, I must've been the one who caused it.

As for Elaine, I was a victim of that drugging incident, too.

I closed my eyes, unwilling to waste my breath on Quinn. In any case, my explanations were nothing but cheap excuses to them. I was tired. I was just so, so tired.

As soon as Quinn left, the doctor walked in with my medical report and a grim expression. "Where's your family? There are some things I need to discuss with them."

"I don't have any family. Please, just give it to me straight."

The doctor hesitated for a moment before admitting, "Several of your internal organs are severely ruptured and displaced. Your kidneys, in particular... I'm afraid things don't look good."

I wanted to smile, but I couldn't even move the corners of my mouth. I had forgotten that after enduring countless bouts of high fever in that isolated, godforsaken mountain, my face had already become partially paralyzed.

"What's going to happen to me then?"

"If you take good care of yourself, you should be able to live for at least another six months. But if you keep going on like this… you have half a month left, at best."

All of a sudden, I felt relieved. As it turned out, I was actually going to die.

To be honest, I had seen this coming. My body was broken beyond repair.

Half a year or half a month made little difference to me. To live was merely to be the living dead. To die would be a deliverance.

I nodded. "I understand. Thank you, doctor."

The doctor was about to add something else when Elaine stormed into the ward. "What's your problem this time? Instead of staying in the basement like you were supposed to, you upset Owen so much that he ran away from home! How do you still have the gall to lie here?"

Without saying a word, I held her gaze. She seized my hospital gown and tried to yank me out of bed.

The IV needle was violently ripped from my vein, splattering blood onto the pristine white bedding. I let out a muffled groan as she dragged me, and the metallic tang of blood surged up my throat. I clenched my jaw tightly to stop myself from spitting it out.

The doctor hurriedly stepped forward to intervene. "Ms. Sinclair, the patient needs to rest—"

"If any of you help this bastard again, I'll have you fired!" Elaine roared.

Since this hospital belonged to her family, the doctors and nurses could only exchange helpless glances. In the end, none of them dared to step forward.

I was dragged all the way to the White residence's living room by Elaine's bodyguards and roughly thrown onto the floor. My cheek scraped against the hard flooring, the burning pain spreading across my face.

I realized my body was no longer listening to me. I could do nothing but lie there on the ground, sprawled out like a dead dog.

Owen was lounging on the couch, soaking in the warm affection and concern of Quinn and my parents, Caleb White and Hilda Nelson. Every now and then, he would glance at me, his eyes brimming with smugness and mockery.

"Rowan, what are you doing? Are you trying to frame me again?" Owen pretended to fret, his voice trembling.

Elaine kicked me in the abdomen. The blinding pain made my vision go black. "Apologize to Owen right now, or I'm divorcing you!"

With great difficulty, I lifted my head to look at my family, who were sitting high and mighty on the couch. Not a single one of them looked concerned. Their expressions held nothing but cold indifference and disgust.

Quinn seemed to waver for a moment, but she ultimately said apathetically, "Get up. Look at yourself; have you no shame?"

I looked like neither a human nor a ghost. I supposed I really didn't have any shame. Yet, I no longer had the strength to get back up.

Owen immediately dropped to his knees in front of me and sobbed, "Rowan, you don't have to do this. I know you want to play the victim, but I swear, I never meant to hurt you!"

Elaine's heart ached for Owen as she took in his pitiful demeanor. Then, she drove another hard kick into me. "Get up! I'm the one who told Owen he could live with us. Who are you to kick him out?"

Mom and Dad never took their eyes off Owen.

Mom grumbled, "Why do you have to be so petty, Rowan? You just got home, and you're already ostracizing Owen. If you're going to act like this, you shouldn't have bothered coming home at all. If anything, you should've just stayed in those mountains."

It was as if they couldn't see the blood blooming across my clothes or how pallid my complexion was. I tried to talk, but as soon as I parted my lips, a mouthful of fresh blood spewed across the floor.

Elaine froze for a moment before curling her lips in disdain. "You're one hell of an actor."

The very next second, blood gushed out of me, staining the floor red. I heard Mom's scream, Elaine's panicked cries, Dad's curses… and then the darkness swallowed me whole.