My Parents Came To Challenge My Bullies

When I was three years old, I was picked on while scavenging dumpsters for recyclables, so I spent fifty cents to “hire” a pair of punk bikers to back me up. Little did I know that I had stumbled into the city’s most untouchable family. My adoptive mother was a fearless street queen no one in the elite circle dared cross, and my adoptive father was the legendary prince of the underground street-racing world. She taught me how to stand my ground, while he taught me how to own the streets. That fifty-cent “protection fee” bought me eighteen years of absolute security. Later, my biological parents found me, and I learned I was the real daughter of the billionaire Sedgewick family. But on the day I returned home, the fake daughter refused to let me inside. She looked down at me with a sneer and told me to use the back door instead. I stayed where I was. My older brother glared at me. “It’s just the back door. Don’t push your luck. You should be grateful Jenna is even willing to acknowledge you.” Meanwhile, my younger brother scoffed, his face twisted with disdain. “How dare a lowlife like you give my sister attitude? Use the back door!” I turned to my biological parents, but they merely said, “Jenna has a temper. She’s upset you came back, so just let her have this. Nothing matters more than keeping the family together.” I looked at the confrontational faces before me without any expression, then took out my phone and typed a message. [Mom, Dad, the Sedgewick family crossed the line. Come and handle it now.] Chapter 1 The moment I sent my “backup request,” my younger brother, Theodore Sedgewick, lunged forward and ripped my phone out of my hand. The screen was still open on the “Jernigan Family Backup Hotline” group chat. Two messages popped up instantly. Nat: Don’t you worry, sweetie. I’m full throttle right now. Your dad and I are on our way! Hank: Who dares lay a hand on my daughter? The Sedgewick family, right? I’ll make them pay for this! Theodore let out a derisive laugh when he saw their flashy punk-style profile pictures. Then, with clear sarcasm, he read the two brazen messages aloud in front of my biological parents, Arnold and Eleanor Sedgewick. The fake daughter, Jenna Sedgewick, doubled over laughing. She wiped the tears at the corners of her eyes away, her voice dripping with disdain. “This is hilarious, Willa. You really think those two street-thug parents of yours can take on the Sedgewick family? You’re biting off more than you can chew.” I froze. Had they truly not bothered to look into my background before bringing me back? My adoptive parents might have a flashy punk-style look, but they were anything but street thugs. Beside us, Eleanor’s face darkened. The look she gave me was filled with undisguised contempt. She took a step forward and spoke with a firm, uncompromising tone. “A daughter of the Sedgewick family cannot be associated with a couple of lowlife street thugs. If word got out, we’d become the laughingstock of the city. Our family’s reputation would be ruined. Willa, now that you’ve returned to the Sedgewick family, you have to cut ties with all those shady people.” With that, she shot Theodore a look, signaling him to hand the phone back to me. “Delete all your adoptive parents’ contact information and sever all ties with them right now. This is your first test as a Sedgewick.” I swallowed my anger and reached for my phone, intending to take it and leave. However, before my fingers could even close around it, Jenna snatched it away. She turned to Eleanor with an exaggerated pout. “Mom, look at Willa. She’s had that sour look on her face the whole time. She clearly doesn’t want to delete their contacts. She doesn’t respect you at all. Since she won’t do it herself, I’ll be the good big sister and help her out. It’ll keep those lowlifes from latching onto our family in the future.” I almost laughed at the sheer absurdity of these people. The so-called prestigious Sedgewick family meant absolutely nothing to me. If anyone wanted to be their biological daughter, they were welcome to it. I, Willa Jernigan, did not want any part of it. Chapter 2 I reached out to Jenna and said coldly, “Give it back.” But Jenna quickly ducked behind my older brother, Damian Sedgewick. She stuck her tongue out at me before rapidly tapping on the phone screen. In a few quick motions, she exited the family group chat, unfriended my adoptive parents, and deleted their contacts before I could react. Once she was done, she showed me the empty contact list with a smug expression. “I don’t care about the phone. Just give me the charm,” I said. My phone case had a small teddy bear charm attached to it. Its color had long since faded, leaving it a dull chalky white. My adoptive parents had bought it for me at a roadside stand when I was three, after some unruly children threw things at me until I burst into tears while I was scavenging for recyclables. It was the first gift I had ever received, and I had carried it with me for eighteen years, treasuring it ever since. A trace of malice flashed in Jenna’s eyes as she glanced at the worn teddy bear charm. Without hesitation, she threw the phone onto the ground and stepped on it. Then, she clicked her tongue and said, “You treat something this shabby like a treasure. It’s probably crawling with germs. It should’ve gone in the trash ages ago. The Sedgewick family doesn’t keep filthy things like this. I’m doing you a favor by helping you get rid of it.” With that, she ground it beneath the heel of her shoe several times. The once-adorable teddy bear was crushed out of shape, and its stuffing spilled out. I paled and quickly bent down to pick it up. However, the instant my fingers touched the charm, Jenna brought the heel of her shoe down hard on my hand. A searing pain shot through my fingers and spread through my body. I clenched my jaw and yanked my hand back. My knuckles were already swollen and badly bruised, a horrifying sight. Suddenly, Jenna let out a cry and collapsed onto the ground. Her eyes instantly reddened, and tears welled up on cue. She looked at Arnold and Eleanor with a pitiful expression. “Mom, Dad, I was only trying to help Willa get rid of something filthy, but she pushed me on purpose… Do I deserve to be treated like this because I’m not your biological daughter?” Theodore immediately stepped forward and shielded Jenna behind him before glaring at me with pure disgust. “I only have one sister, and it’s her. A vicious woman like you doesn’t deserve to be my sister. I’m warning you. Stop making a scene, or you’ll never be allowed through the doors of the Sedgewick family ever again.” Damian’s face darkened instantly. Without giving me a chance to explain, he shoved me hard. I staggered backward several steps before my lower back crashed into the edge of the flower bed. The pain was so intense that I could not bear to straighten up. Damian looked down at me with icy contempt. “Slap yourself in the face and seek Jenna’s forgiveness. We raised her with nothing but love and indulgence. No one has ever dared to cause her the slightest grievance. You’re just some stray girl we only recently brought back. How dare you hurt her?” Only then did Arnold, who had been looking on coldly without intervening, finally speak. His words condemned me outright. “Willa, since you pushed Jenna, you will apologize to her.” Eleanor immediately chimed in with a sharp voice. “The Sedgewick family values respect and proper conduct above everything else. If you’ve made a mistake, you must slap yourself in the face and admit it to show sincerity.” None of them acknowledged my injured hand, as if they were all blind to it. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that they did not care about me at all. My hand still throbbed and trembled slightly from the pain, but my mind had settled into an eerie calm, even tinged with cold amusement. There was no need to rush. Once my parents arrived, they would be the ones begging for mercy. Chapter 3 “I won’t apologize, and I refuse to slap myself in the face.” I straightened my back and clenched my fists. My eyes were cold and unyielding. My stubbornness completely enraged the Sedgewick family. “Very well!” Damian gritted his teeth in fury. He grabbed my phone off the ground, then seized my suitcase and strode toward the pool. “Since you insist on associating with those street thugs and refuse to change, I’ll take down everything that ties you to them!” “No!” I rushed forward desperately, but I was still too late. Both the suitcase and my phone hit the pool with a heavy splash and sank out of sight. Without hesitation, I jumped in. The freezing water swallowed me whole. I searched desperately underwater, swimming back and forth three times before I finally retrieved the battered teddy bear. By the time I pathetically climbed out of the pool, I was soaked through. My clothes clung to my skin, my lips had turned purple, and I was shaking uncontrollably. Jenna crossed her arms and looked down at me with haughty arrogance. Suddenly, her gaze landed on a faint red mark on my neck. As if she had found a perfect piece of leverage, she immediately raised her voice. “Willa, don’t tell me that’s a hickey on your neck?” She covered her mouth in feigned shock, her tone filled with malicious speculation. “Or… are you carrying some kind of filthy disease? With the kind of crowd you used to hang around, who knows what you’ve caught…” At those words, Arnold’s and Eleanor’s expressions instantly shifted. Eleanor stepped back with a frown of disgust. “Your adoptive mother dresses eccentrically and hangs out with street thugs all day. Someone like that clearly lives without restraint. What kind of child could she possibly raise? Be honest with us, Willa. Have you been messing around outside?” Arnold also furrowed his brows as he spoke coldly. “This is unacceptable. We must take her to the hospital for a checkup to see if she’s clean.” Damian and Theodore moved in immediately and seized my arms on either side. Their grip was so tight that it felt like my bones could snap at any instant. No matter how hard I struggled, they still forced me into the car. “Don’t push it. You’re getting a checkup whether you like it or not.” The car sped toward the hospital. As soon as we entered the examination room, Eleanor grabbed the doctor’s hand and raised her voice so loudly it could be heard in the next department. “Doctor, is that mark on her neck a hickey or some kind of filthy disease? My daughter’s been hanging around street thugs for over ten years. You must examine her properly!” Her words turned every head in the area. Stares of disgust, suspicion, and contempt hit me from all sides like needles. I bit down hard on my lip until a metallic taste spread in my mouth. It did not take long for the test results to come back. The doctor glanced at the report before looking at Arnold and Eleanor with a grave expression. “Everything came back normal. She doesn’t have any contagious diseases. She’s conducted herself responsibly. In fact, she has no history of sexual activity. The red mark on her neck is simply a mild allergic reaction.” After a pause, the doctor continued, “As her parents, how could you make such damaging accusations against your own daughter? If word of this got out, it could ruin her reputation for life.” The examination room fell deathly silent. Even so, the members of the Sedgewick family showed no remorse. Instead, Eleanor frowned and turned the blame on me. “If you were clean all along, why didn’t you say so sooner? You made us go through all of this for nothing, and we even embarrassed ourselves in front of the doctor!” I gave a humorless smile, looked her straight in the eye, and voiced the question that had been weighing on my mind. “If you never loved me, why did you go to so much trouble to find me and bring me back?” Chapter 4 Eleanor’s expression stiffened. She averted her gaze uncomfortably and said nothing. As for Arnold, he stayed silent for a long while. When he finally spoke, each word cut into my chest like a sharp blade. “Since you asked, I’ll tell you the truth. We found out ten years ago that Jenna wasn’t our biological daughter. But we had raised her for so long that we had already accepted her as ours. Later, your mom was diagnosed with kidney failure and urgently needed a transplant. We had no choice but to bring you back because you’re a perfect match for her. We gave you life. Now that your mom’s life is in danger, donating a kidney to her is only fair. It is your duty, and you can’t escape it.” His words cleared everything away, leaving nothing but the bitter truth to see. The supposed longing and guilt at our first meeting had been nothing but pretense. From the very beginning, the reunion had been a calculated arrangement. They had two biological sons and Jenna, whom they had raised and cherished for twenty-one years. Yet, they were unwilling to let any of them donate a kidney. Instead, they set their sights on me, the biological daughter they felt no real attachment to. They brought me back simply because I was the one they could sacrifice without hesitation. I lifted my gaze to them, and my eyes were filled with nothing but sarcasm. “Don’t you still have two biological sons? I’m sure they’d be a good match too.” The expressions on all five of their faces changed instantly. Arnold’s face darkened as he pointed at me. “Don’t be ridiculous! Damian is the heir to the Sedgewick family, and Theodore is still a child. How could you even suggest such a thing?” he snapped. Eleanor whipped around to glare at me, her eyes so vicious they looked ready to tear me apart. “They’re both men. What if losing a kidney ruins their health for the rest of their lives? Willa, how can you be so cruel at your age? You’re trying to harm your own brothers!” Jenna rushed to Eleanor’s side and supported her, wearing a dutiful, understanding expression. “If only I were your biological daughter, Mom. I’d gladly give my life to save you.” The Sedgewick family’s contempt for me deepened. Damian stepped forward. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out an organ donation consent form. “Willa, donating a kidney is your second test for joining the Sedgewick family. Sign this, and from this day on, you’ll truly be one of us.” “One of you?” I scoffed, my voice firm. “From the very beginning, I never wanted to be part of this family, and I will never donate my kidney.” With that, I turned to leave. “Stop right there!” I ignored the furious shouts behind me. But as soon as I opened the examination room door, two bodyguards stationed outside blocked my path. They dragged me back inside roughly and forced me to sign the consent form. Immediately after, they bound me tightly and hauled me into the operating room. The surgeon picked up the anesthesia needle and was about to inject when Jenna shrieked, “No anesthesia! Doesn’t she think she’s tough? Since she dares to oppose the Sedgewick family, she needs to be taught a lesson!” The surgeon froze mid-motion, clearly conflicted. He instinctively turned to Eleanor. “But… doing this without anesthesia would be unbearable. The pain could kill her.” With a sneer, Eleanor spoke in a harsh tone. “If she dies from the pain, it’s her own fault. She brought this on herself. If anything happens, our family will take responsibility. Just do it.” The scalpel, glinting coldly under the lights, edged closer and closer until it was about to pierce my skin. I stared at the white ceiling, trembling uncontrollably in despair. Suddenly, a deafening bang echoed as the heavy doors of the operating room crashed down. A sleek, roaring motorcycle burst straight through the entrance, its engine screaming as it skidded into a sharp drift and stopped right next to the operating table. My adoptive mother, Natasha Steele, ripped her helmet off and hurled it forward. It struck the scalpel cleanly out of the surgeon’s hand. Meanwhile, my adoptive father, Hank Jernigan, kicked the lead surgeon to the floor and scanned the room with bloodshot eyes. “Which of you has a death wish? How dare you touch my daughter?!” he roared.