Chapter 4

Clutching the urn of my mother's ashes, I returned to the villa, only to see Julian helping Chloe deliver her dog's puppies.

"Gone for days without a word? Who gave you permission?!" Julian snapped.

"Go order a custom gold dog bed for the puppies, and arrange a shipment of fresh imported milk flown in from abroad."

He cut off my mother's life-saving medicine, yet spared no expense for a dog.

Glancing at the urn in my arms, Chloe sneered maliciously, "I wonder whose soul reincarnated into these puppies today!"

"Being my dog must be pure heaven!"

Clutching the urn tighter, I slammed the divorce agreement onto the table.

"Sign it! Let's get divorced!"

Julian ripped the papers in half. "What kind of fit are you throwing?! Did you really think I'd ever let you off the hook?"

My heart was completely dead. I didn't want to waste another breath arguing with him.

There was nothing in this house I wanted to take, except the portrait I had painted of my mother when she was still conscious.

As I stepped past Chloe to reach for the painting, she dramatically threw herself onto the floor.

"Ow! It hurts so bad! She pushed me on purpose!"

In a blind rage, Julian kicked me hard in the stomach. The urn slipped from my hands and shattered on the marble floor.

Gray ashes scattered everywhere.

Chloe snapped her fingers, and her dog trotted over. With a cruel grin, she whispered, "Pee."

The dog lifted its leg and urinated all over the ashes, soaking my mother's remains.

A deafening roar exploded in my head. I launched myself at Chloe like a madwoman, grabbed her hair, and shoved her face straight into the dog urine.

We brawled on the floor until Chloe was pinned down, gagging violently with filthy wetness smeared across her mouth.

Julian swept Chloe into his arms and rushed her to the hospital.

"If anything happens to her, your entire family will pay with their lives!" he roared.

His bodyguards dragged me to the hospital too. To soothe Chloe into getting her stomach pumped, Julian ordered them to pump mine as well.

I was pinned down to a bed while a thick tube was shoved brutally through my nose and down into my stomach. I vomited until I almost passed out.

For three straight days, I couldn't keep a single bite of food down.

Surprisingly, Julian stayed by my bedside, barking at the doctors to fix me quickly.

In the middle of the night, my phone rang with an international number.

"Scarlett, it's Bianca. Losing your mother must feel agonizing, doesn't it?"

"Julian treats you like dirt, yet you're still clinging to him like a shameless parasite!"

"Every single woman he's ever brought home looks like me. In his heart, there has only ever been me."

I rasped, "Julian adores Chloe."

"You really are an idiot. Without my instructions, how could Chloe have gotten plastic surgery to look identical to me?"

"Your mom is already dead. You'd better get out of Julian's life, or your brother will be next..."

My heart stopped. Chloe was planted by Bianca all along.

I ran wildly toward my brother's ward. Inside, Chloe was sobbing dramatically, "He touched me inappropriately—!"

My brother had suffered severe brain damage years ago saving me from drowning. Falsely accused, he could do nothing but shake his head in terror.

Julian shot me a lethal glare, gently comforting Chloe in his arms. "Don't cry. I'll make sure you get justice."

He turned and slapped me across the face. "Are you using your brother now to hurt the people around me?!"

Chloe feigned a thoughtful pout. "Well, brain damage means poor circulation, right? Why not hang him upside down to get the blood flowing so he clears his head?"

Julian hesitated for a fraction of a second, then signaled his bodyguards to do as she said.

They strung my brother up by his ankles against the wall. I fought like crazy to save him, but they tied me up and threw me outside the door.

Inside the room, my brother's muffled whimpers grew fainter and fainter.

A long time passed before Chloe stepped out, smoothing her skirt with flushed, radiant cheeks.

Julian ordered them to untie me. "What are you crying for? That was just punishment for what your brother did."

"I'll hire the top specialists in the world to treat him."

I crawled to my brother and checked his breathing. It had stopped.

Something shattered completely inside my chest. I collapsed against the floor, clutching my head in raw agony.

Julian had already left, his arm draped around Chloe.

Curled into a ball next to his cold body, I apologized to my brother over and over again.

Pulling out my phone with shaking fingers, I dialed the number. "Mr. King... I've made up my mind."