Chapter 3

5

The second time I saw Jiang Li was outside our crumbling apartment compound.

He was handsome, his hair dyed a glaring blond. He stared at me and smiled.

That bright smile bore no resemblance to the brutal man of that nightmare. Yet the moment I saw it, I felt as though I had plunged into ice.

I couldn’t stop my mind returning to that night.

I had tried to escape again and again. Every time, sheer violence dragged me back.

The terrible difference in our strength crushed the last of my resistance.

In the end, I cried.

“Why?”

“What did I do wrong?”

“All my life, I’ve done nothing but study in that miserable little home. I have to look after my parents. I could finally see a future. Why did you drag me down into this filth?”

Pain tore through me, and he laughed in contempt.

“Your biggest mistake was being born into that dirt-poor family and still daring to get grades that good!”

“You want to know why? A bricklayer’s daughter like you is no different from the rest of those lowlifes. Pretending to be pure while you seduce men!”

He gripped my neck from behind and forced me to my knees.

After pulling up his trousers, he took out his phone and photographed me lying motionless.

Every moment, every image ran through my head like a nightmare on a loop.

Now he waved that phone at me, a threat in his eyes.

“Let’s talk.”

Talk about what?

I stumbled backward in panic and collided with a pair of warm arms.

“Xiao Ke. Why are you out at this hour instead of looking after your mother?”

A familiar voice.

Auntie Zhang from next door pulled me aside with one hand and put the other arm around my shoulders, as though we were very close.

She eyed Jiang Li warily.

“Are you a classmate of hers? What are you doing here so late?”

“Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow.”

She pulled me past him.

As we passed, he smirked, looking amused, and tapped his phone.

The screen of his latest-model iPhone lit up. On it was an enlarged photograph I knew all too well.

I shook so badly I could hardly stand.

Auntie Zhang half supported, half dragged me home.

On the second-floor landing, I looked through the broken stairwell window. Below, his cold, animal gaze met mine.

Only at our door did Auntie Zhang let go.

That was when I noticed the cold sweat on her palm.

“Boys like that are dangerous,” she told me. “Keep away from them.”

But she didn’t know.

Once a predator has chosen its prey, no amount of caution can take it out of his sights.

He devours it, little by little, until nothing is left.

6

On the seventh day after the entrance exam results, Experimental High held a lavish banquet to thank the teachers.

My homeroom teacher insisted that I attend.

I hadn’t expected the owner of Shuoke Group to be there, the man who had promised the prize flats.

Still less had I expected to see Jiang Li beside him.

The vice principal pushed me forward. The top science student and I were to toast President Jiang and thank him.

President Jiang was a potbellied man with a soft voice. He repeatedly waved away the suggestion that we had to drink.

But the vice principal smiled obsequiously.

“They’re adults now. Of course they can drink!”

He pressed our shoulders, urging us to empty our glasses.

The liquor burned like fire down my throat.

“This is President Jiang of Shuoke Group, and this is his son, Jiang Li. He’ll be transferring to our school for his final year.”

At his son’s name, President Jiang frowned.

“Him? Don’t get me started. A troublemaker and a wastrel.”

“Just like his mother. Not a scrap of aptitude for studying.”

“I’ll count myself lucky if he doesn’t ruin the business.”

Then he turned to me with a benevolent smile.

“So this is our top humanities student? Clever and pretty, too…”

The vice principal gave a strained laugh and pressed me into the seat beside him.

President Jiang poured my drink himself.

As he set the glass down, his large hand slid beneath the tablecloth and touched my thigh.

A chill ran down my spine. I almost sprang up.

Then I caught Jiang Li’s eye.

His face had gone dark.

Experimental High had done exceptionally well that year. After several rounds of drinks, the room grew livelier.

President Jiang even announced a donation of tens of millions for a new laboratory building.

Everyone seemed delighted.

But a cold gaze remained fixed on me.

I escaped with an excuse about the restroom. In a corner away from the table, people were whispering about his private life.

President Jiang was apparently divorcing his wife to marry his mistress.

The mistress was clever. She had graduated from a prestigious British university and borne him twins. They went to school in Hong Kong and had attended an Ivy League summer camp that year.

Someone sounded astonished.

“An Ivy League camp? Then they must be about the same age as his eldest son?”

The other person held up two fingers.

“Less than two years younger.”

My stomach twisted.

The banquet didn’t end until half past ten.

I watched Jiang Li get into a car with his father before saying goodbye to my teacher and leaving.

The air was heavy and damp that night, threatening rain. Dark clouds covered the moon, leaving only a frail sliver of light.

As I turned into our compound, hurried footsteps sounded behind me.

I gripped my cloth bag.

Since that night at my aunt’s, I had always carried a little awl, one Mom used for craftwork. Its dark red handle was faded.

I closed my hand around it as though it were the last scrap of courage I had.

Suddenly, someone seized my hair and yanked me backward. Pain tore across my scalp.

Moonlight caught half a savage face.

Jiang Li.

I trembled. A scream lodged in my throat. My grip tightened on the awl.

He pinned me against the old brick wall.

“Your dad works on that building site in the south, doesn’t he?”

“Make a sound, and I’ll have him fired.”

“And your mom’s a cripple, right? Fight me, and tomorrow I’ll have someone throw her off the roof!”

“You cheap little bitch. The way you tried to seduce me tonight made me sick!”

He slammed my head against the wall by my hair, again and again.

The rough bricks tore my scalp. Hot blood ran through my hair.

“Please… please don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt my parents. Please…”

Even heaven seemed deaf to my begging.

A dark cloud covered the moon. I heard the click of a belt buckle.

All my strength collapsed.

Was this my fate?

Was this what it meant to be a poor girl?

Then I heard a furious roar.

I opened my eyes.

Through the red blur, I saw Dad, holding the iron hammer he used at work.

“Xiao Ke!”

His voice was hoarse.

The next instant, the hammer struck the back of Jiang Li’s head.

Blood sprayed.

Something silver flashed in his hand.

Instinctively, I drove the awl through flesh and into his heart.

His eyes widened in astonishment. The hand around my throat loosened, then fell.

My knees gave way. I shook and cried without stopping.

I had killed someone.

I really had killed someone.

Then a terrified scream sounded behind us.

Thunder rolled in the distance. Lightning ripped across the sky.

In its harsh glare, Dad and I turned.

And saw the one person who had witnessed the killing.