Their Punching Bag Became The Storm novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Love Locked Away

Pain dragged Whitney Harrington awake.

She blinked, staring at the shabby, leaky ceiling and then at her foot. Blood mixed with rainwater on the floor, each drop sharpening the ache.

‘Wasn’t I dead?’ she wondered. ‘I died because of Emily, that fake heiress who stole my family and took everything from me. I died at the hands of the family I longed for, the ones I gave up everything to please.’

Even now, she could feel the pain from the crash. Afterward, the Andersons dragged her, who was on the verge of death, aside and tortured her.

That was definitely no nightmare.

“Whitney!” Suddenly, an angry voice cut through the rain.

She looked up. A handsome, dangerous-looking man stepped into the shed, dripping wet.

He didn’t glance at her bleeding leg but snapped, ‘Whitney, I didn’t make you look bad in front of the cameras earlier. You scraped Emily’s leg. Why can’t you apologize? And you dare to sulk about it?’

It was Chase Anderson, Whitney’s fourth brother, the one who grabbed Whitney by the throat and smashed her head against the wall when she was barely clinging to life, only to show that Emily Anderson was the only sister he’d care about.

Whitney stared at him, her eyes intense. Then, slowly, her lips curved into a wide, unsettling smile.

With the rain pouring down, that smile looked downright eerie, chilling enough to make people’s skin crawl.

‘I’m back,’ Whitney thought. ‘I’m alive again. It’s one year after I was brought back to the Anderson residence.’

Looking back on everything from her previous life, Whitney found it all ironic and pathetic.

She thought that by returning to her real family, she could finally have the family love she’d always craved.

She thought she could finally have her own parents and brothers.

So she gave up everything, groveling to every single member of the Anderson family, hoping to finally be accepted.

But in the end, in the Andersons’ hearts, there was only a place for Emily.

Emily was the one they’d loved as their real daughter and sister for nineteen whole years.

They’d even go out of their way to humiliate Whitney and treat her like she didn’t exist, trying to make Emily feel good.

And every time Emily cooked up some lame scheme to frame her, they’d always back Emily up, scold Whitney for being wrong, and force her to apologize to Emily.

As long as Emily was there, Whitney would always be nothing more than a foil, a stepping stone, a pawn the Andersons used to please Emily.

Just like right now. She was on a reality show called Real Survival.

The whole thing was set up to fulfill Emily’s dream of being a star. Chase, the top trending idol who could sing, dance, and rap, was roped in to team up with Emily.

And Whitney was the ultimate sucker, the unlucky scapegoat, shoved in to make Emily look good.

Real Survival was kind of like one of those wild survival shows. It was streamed live for everyone to see.

The contestants were sent to a secluded island, completely cut off from the outside world.

They could exchange whatever supplies they managed to find on the island or complete challenges set by the producers to get what they needed.

Survival shows were never easy, after all. There was always some risk.

Whitney’s foot was left bloody and raw because, during a challenge with the other contestants at a steep slope, Emily schemed against her and tried to shove her off.

Whitney caught on to what Emily was up to and dodged instinctively.

But because she dodged, Emily lost her balance and almost tumbled down the slope. So Emily grabbed Chase at the last second.

Whitney didn’t care what would happened to Emily, but the thought of Chase getting hurt was something she couldn’t stand.

He knew well that if Whitney hadn’t grabbed him in time, he would’ve been the one tumbling down the slope.

But he’d always acted like he was above Whitney, and he was used to her groveling and bending over backwards for him.

Even if he was in the wrong, he’d never admit it. “This is payback for you having it out for Emily.”

Whitney looked at him with pure sarcasm, like he was a moron.

She didn’t waste her breath arguing with Chase.

It was pointless to argue with him about right and wrong. The Andersons would only believe Emily.

“Yeah, I really deserved it,” Whitney said.

‘In my previous life, I lost my life because of my own choices. Isn’t that exactly what I deserved?’ Whitney thought. ‘I had to chase after the family love I was so desperate for and endure the Andersons’ nonstop mind games.

‘Though I knew there was never a place for me in the Anderson residence, I still foolishly believed that if I poured out my heart, I could somehow warm theirs.

‘I’d been a fool all my life, and that stupidity cost me everything. This time, I won’t waste a single hope on the Andersons ever again.’

Chase looked at Whitney.

Her face was utterly expressionless. Her indifference was like still water, calm, cold, and distant. It was directed at Chase, her own brother.

Chase couldn’t shake the faint sense of panic in his heart, as if something important was quietly slipping away from his life.

Chase frowned, his tone softening a bit. “Whitney, apologize to Emily, and I’ll get someone to treat your foot right away,” he said.

Whitney spat, “Get lost.”

Chase’s face darkened instantly as he said, “Don’t take my kindness for granted. If you keep stalling, your foot might end up beyond saving. The Anderson family would never accept a cripple.”