After He Mistook Me for My Twin Brother - Chapter 2

“I will never tell you anything about my brother.”

At my blunt refusal, Pei Yi raised his gun and struck me with the butt.

The blow snapped my head aside. My long hair fell loose, and the corner of my mouth split open.

I narrowed my eyes against the pain but drawled with a lazy laugh, “What a temper, Young Master Pei.”

“If you want to know where my brother is, the least you can do is tell me why you’re looking for him. You barely had anything to do with each other in the ring eight years ago.”

Pei Yi sneered. “You spent every day currying favor with the people running the ring. When would you ever have paid attention to us?”

“Eight years ago, a buyer chose me. I was supposed to be handed over the next day. *Xie Er-gege* woke me in the middle of the night and led me out of the compound.”

Pei Yi pressed his lips together, his voice going hoarse. “He took me down the mountain and told me to find the police, but he went back to the ring himself.”

“He must have been afraid you would be punished because of us… But you were Song Chongli’s godson. Even if both of us had escaped, would Song Chongli really have had the heart to do anything to you?”

My right leg twitched unnaturally. Pain drained the color from my face, and I had to spread my palm over my knee and press down hard.

Lowering my eyes, I smiled. “So it was my brother who saved you… No wonder. The man buying you was an old pervert. You probably wouldn’t have survived a single day with him.”

“My brother was willing to risk his life for you. What about you? Why didn’t you come back with the police as promised eight years ago?”

The hand holding Pei Yi’s gun trembled. “I led the police to the ring’s hideout, but we arrived too late. The place was deserted…”

“You monsters had even buried all the abducted children alive behind the mountain!”

“Your people took *Xie Er-gege* away. For eight years, I’ve tried everything, but I couldn’t find a single trace of him…”

“Where is Xie Er? Is he… still alive?”

I pushed his gun aside with two fingers and smiled softly. “Of course. He’s my brother. How could I ever let anything happen to him?”

“So you’re looking for my brother to repay your debt?”

“If you plan to offer him your body, I’m afraid you don’t stand a chance. But my brother and I look so alike that even our family often gets us confused.”

“Why don’t I make the sacrifice and let you be with me instead—”

Disgust flashed through Pei Yi’s eyes. He seized my throat. “Shut up!”

“Xie Er is kind and gentle. He put himself in danger to lead me out of that ring.”

“How could a vicious monster steeped in crime like you ever compare to him?”

“Xie Yi, you rotted through a long time ago.”

The uglier his abuse became, the wider my smile grew.

“So there really is someone in this world who can see just how different my brother and I are.”

“But Pei Yi, how can you be sure the person who took you away that night was my brother and not me?”

His fingers loosened as he faltered. I leaned close to his ear.

“My rank in the ring was higher than Xie Er’s. I knew the way down the mountain.”

“In all these years… did you never once wonder whether I might have been the one who saved you?”

I blew softly against his ear. Pei Yi shuddered all over and shoved me away.

“You? Xie Yi, don’t make me sick!”

“You would never help me escape. All you ever did was betray me to the ring!”

I stilled at the sudden redness in his eyes.

He gritted his teeth viciously. “Xie Yi, on bonfire night eight years ago, the man guarding us got drunk and slacked off. I could have escaped that night!”

“I thought you were my best friend. You were the only one I told about my plan. But not only did you refuse to help me—you reported me to the ring!”

“Do you have any idea how much I hated you while they hung me from a tree and beat me?”

“I wanted to bite you to death!”

As he spoke, he wrenched my chin to one side and stared at me, eyes red and seething with hatred.

I had no doubt that if I provoked him once more, he truly would sink his teeth into me. I could not help leaning back, trying to escape the fingers clamped around my jaw.

He refused to release me. His grip only tightened, and he asked with almost savage satisfaction, “Xie Yi, when you betrayed me—when you sold me out to please those adults and led them after me—did you ever imagine the day would come when you fell into my hands?”

“A rotten, blackhearted bastard like you has the nerve to ask how I recognized you?”

“No matter how much you two look alike, you could never pass for Xie Er!”

The hand hanging at my side clenched into a fist. I closed my eyes despite myself.

Several breaths passed before I pulled my lips into a smile. “So that’s why.”