Milo shrieked like a stuck pig.

Not done, I clutched the scissors, twisting them wildly into his flesh.

"You worthless bastard! How dare you hurt me?" He grabbed the handle, kicked me hard, and roared with fury.

The blow sent me sprawling to the floor. I tasted blood rising in my throat.

"Get him!" he shouted, his voice cracking with rage. "I want him dead!"

At once, the goons turned toward me with cold ferocity. A wooden chair came crashing down toward my head.

"Don't touch my brother!" Allison bellowed, stumbling in front of me just as the chair smashed into her skull.

"Allison!" I screamed, catching her fallen form.

She collapsed into my arms, twitching, then went still. I fumbled to hold her up, but the goons tackled me, pinning me to the ground.

My limbs were crushed under their weight. My face scraped the concrete as I struggled, screaming through blood and tears.

Milo's leather shoe pressed down on my fingers. "Is that it?"

I curled up into a ball, my body twisting in agony. My face went ashen, cold sweat pouring down my skin, and my vision began to blur.

His manic laughter echoed in my ears. "Don't die so soon. I've prepared a special gift for you two."

A blow came crashing down, and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, Allison and I were trapped inside a glass-walled freezer.

Every inch of skin that touched the icy ground throbbed with stabbing pain. I shivered uncontrollably, while Allison's face had already turned purple, frost clinging to her lashes.

I rubbed my palms together, pressing the warmth against her cheeks, as blood and tears slid down my face.

"Allison, stay with me! Don't sleep. Dad is on his way to save us. Hold on," I muttered, but her breath grew weaker.

My heart sinking into despair, I glared at Milo through the glass, my eyes red as if they would bleed. "If something happens to her, I'll wear your skin as a coat!"

Unfazed, he pulled on a cashmere coat and strutted into the freezer. "You sure talk a lot!"

He shoved a rag into my mouth and kicked me hard in the chest. "So much anger. Time to chill."

He kicked over a bucket, the icy water instantly spreading under my feet. In the freezing temperature, it quickly turned to ice, welding me to the ground.

The cold seeped deep into my bones, each second sharper than knives.

"Enjoy the gift I prepared for you?" Milo grinned, admiring my misery, before walking out of the freezer.

I stared in despair at my lifeless sister, drowning in regret. I itched to rush outside and kill that bastard.

The phone in my pocket suddenly vibrated, interrupting my thoughts. My pupils contracted as I saw a call from Susan.

Enduring the pain that tore at my flesh with every movement, I inched toward the phone and answered it.

Panic vibrated in her voice. "Barney, where are you? I can explain about Milo later! Just let him go! Otherwise"

She paused. "I'll hate you for the rest of my life."

The blood beneath me steamed against the ice, and my heart clenched painfully in my chest. My face twisted with madness and despair.

"Hate me?"

From the very day we got together, Allison had been secretly helping Susan behind the scenes, all so that our father would accept her.

In just three years, she'd turned the Lefebvre Group into an industry leader. And this was how Susan repaid us, using our money to keep a lover and letting him hurt us like this.

She was nothing but an ingrate, and her lover was now trying to kill us. With the rag still stuffed in my mouth, all my fury could only come out as muffled sobs.

Milo burst back in, pausing at Susan's voice on the phone. He rushed over and snatched the phone. "Babe, why are you calling the home-wrecker?"

Getting no response from me, Susan panicked. "Where is Barney?"

"So, that's his name, huh?" Milo sneered. "Just roughing him up, showing him I'm not someone to mess with."

The silence on the other end of the phone was thick and lethal, broken by Susan's furious scream. "What the hell did you do? He is from the Tucker family. You're gonna get us both killed!"

Milo jolted, the phone slipping from his hand and crashing to the floor. His pupils widened in shock, disbelief flooding his face.

For several seconds, he just stood there frozen, then jerked his head toward me.

Milo ripped the rag from my mouth and raised his voice in a furious demand. "Are you really Barney Tucker?"

Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. I gave him a cold, broken smile. "Now you believe me? Then do the right thing and take Allison to"

Before I could finish, his hand struck across my face with a loud, stinging crack. "Shut up! I'm Susan's husband. So what if you're a Tucker? Doesn't change the fact that you're a homewrecker."

He took out his phone and shoved it in my face. On the screen was a photo of their marriage certificate, the date burning into my mind.

I laughed bitterly, finally understanding why Susan had always worked late these past five years. She hadn't been busy with work at all. She'd been married to Milo.

I had been such a fool, worried about her exhaustion and begging Allison to send talented people to assist her, and what had she done in return? Lying to be with Milo.

In our seven-year relationship, she had spent five of them dating another man. What Milo said wasn't just a punchline. I was indeed an outsider in their relationship.

I laughed until tears streamed down my cheeks. My chest heaved, and I coughed up a mouthful of dark blood.

Milo's face twisted in fury. "Susan loves me. She'd never yell at me. You seduced her, didn't you?"

He gripped my throat. "Answer me!"

In a blind rage, I sank my teeth into his wrist. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, making me gag. I spat a bloody wad at his feet and sneered at him.

He didn't even flinch, just smiled with a crazed glint in his eyes. "Go to hell! Once you're gone, Susan will be mine alone."

He staggered out of the room, then came back with a canister filled with some kind of liquid. He uncapped it and dumped it over me.

The cold splash hit my face, followed by an overwhelming, nauseating stench.

It was unmistakably gasoline. Milo wanted to burn me alive.

Panic surged through me. I grabbed Allison and tried to run toward the door, but it was too late.

The lighter in his hand clicked once, then came the flash. Flames exploded across my clothes, licking upward in hungry tongues.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air. I rolled on the ground, screaming in agony, but the fire only spread faster.

Maybe my cries were too desperate. Allison, who'd been unconscious, suddenly stirred.

Her eyes flew open, and she cried out, "Barney!"

Driven by horror, she tore free from the ropes binding her wrists and ankles, stumbling toward me without hesitation.

Through the haze of pain, I shouted hoarsely, "Don't come closer! You'll die too! Stay back!"

She ignored my warning, slapping at the flames with her bare hands. "Barney, I'll save you. You're gonna be fine!"

The moment her hands met the fire, the skin on them blackened and peeled, revealing raw flesh underneath.

Her pained expression broke my heart, but the moment tears welled up, they were dried by a blast of heat.

Not stopping, she forced a trembling smile to reassure me. "Don't cry, Barney. I'm fine."

I'd never seen her look so broken before. And it was all because of me.

Regret tore through me like a second fire, burning deeper than the flames ever could. I pounded my chest, glaring at Milo with every ounce of hatred in my soul.

It was all my fault. If I hadn't fallen for that heartless woman, none of this would've happened.

"Milo!" I roared. "When my father gets here, I swear I'll kill you!"

He laughed mockingly, gasoline pouring from his hands. He flicked the lighter open again, the flame reflecting in his deranged eyes.

"Still talking big!" he snorted. "It's fine. I'll send you both to hell."

Just as the fire was about to swallow us whole, two voices thundered through the warehouse.

"Stop!" Susan rushed up, her face pale.

"Who dares touch my children?" Wilfred Tucker burst in, flanked by a group of bodyguards.

The moment he saw our burned forms, his face twisted with fury so deep it seemed to shake the earth itself.

Susan collapsed, and Milo froze, his insanity giving way to terror.