[Don't say anything you shouldn't.]

I replied with a single word: [Okay.]

She didn't need to tell me. This time around, I had no intention of getting involved in her life.

Our families were neighbors.

I'd just finished a practice test and stepped outside to take out the trash when I saw Christina being hauled out of a car by her parents.

Yolanda Sullivan smacked Christina on the back of the head.

"Look at you! Eloping right before the exam! Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

Christina struggled against them. "Mom! Dad! Myron and I are in love!"

"Disgraceful!"

Hubert Sullivan slapped her across the face.

When they spotted me, they immediately pulled me over.

"Thank god you're here, Alvin Fox! Now we can relax. This idiot girl's fallen for some boy at your school—wants to run off with him. Talk some sense into her!"

Growing up, Christina had always been the wild one. I was the good kid every parent approved of.

Whenever she stepped out of line, I was always the one reining her in.

Now she turned to glare at me, hatred flashing in her eyes.

"It was you! I knew it—you ratted me out to my parents again! Why can't you just mind your own business? Why do you always have to interfere with my life?"

A memory flashed through my mind—my past life, pinned down by over a dozen men, my fingers snapped one by one while she stood outside the door, staring longingly at photos of Myron Mason.

A chill ran down my spine. I stumbled backward.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, I really need to get back to studying. I'll stay out of Christina's business!"

Christina froze.

After all, in situations like this, I'd always been the first to rush in and look after her.

But now I was already turning to leave. She opened her mouth to say something, but I was gone.

Over the next few days, I heard from my parents that Christina had been grounded by her family. They'd confiscated her phone and forbidden any contact with Myron.

I smiled to myself.

So even without my interference, her parents would set her straight.

But it didn't matter. I just needed to focus on myself.

If the exam questions stayed the same as before, then this time, the top score in the province would be mine.

Still, I didn't dare slack off. Ten practice tests a day, English vocabulary drilled on every walk home.

But one evening, while I was walking and memorizing, lost in concentration, a group of men dragged me into an alley.