“You little bastard! You dare raise your hand against your own mother? Wait till I get home and break your legs!”

Sophie immediately fanned the flames, shrieking:

“Ethan, did you hear that? Rachel’s mom just cursed you out!”

“What a family of leeches! If they hadn’t blackmailed you with saving your life, you’d never have married Rachel!”

Ethan’s anger was fully ignited now, and he laughed coldly.

“Just wait. The moment my old parents kick the bucket, the first thing I’ll do is divorce Rachel and marry you in style! They won’t live much longer anyway!”

Margaret nearly fainted, her face pale as death.

“You unfilial son! How dare you curse your own parents to die early!”

But Ethan only laughed more wildly.

“Didn’t know the old lady could act so well—what a waste not going into comedy!”

More stones rained down, and from the helicopter, the two of them watched the Parker relatives scramble in terror, laughing until their stomachs hurt.

I could only throw myself over Margaret, using my own body to shield her and taking several hits on my back.

Sharp stones scraped my cheek, and warm blood immediately streamed down my face.

Margaret’s eyes welled up with tears as she gently touched my face.

“Good child, you’ve suffered so much. It’s the Parker Family that wronged you. That beast doesn’t deserve you.”

She handed me the phone.

“Call your father—tell them to come save us.”

I shook my head, eyes red.

I had tried at the start, but Ethan had apparently cut off all communication signals to the outside world.

Right now, my phone could only dial his number.

Before I could say more, Lily came tumbling toward me, crying hysterically:

“Sister-in-law! It’s bad—Uncle Robert can’t hold on!”

My mind buzzed loudly.

Uncle Robert was the most respected elder in the family! He had always treated me well, teaching me hand-in-hand how to handle family affairs. He could not be allowed to die!

I rushed over and saw Robert’s face turning purple, his lips pale, clutching his chest and convulsing in pain.

It was a heart attack—he needed a defibrillator immediately!

I dialed Ethan again.

“Robert is in critical condition! Send over a defibrillator now or this will end in tragedy!”

On the other end came the sound of clinking glasses and Sophie’s coquettish laughter.

Ethan’s voice was lazy and impatient.

“Still at it, Rachel? Addicted to your little drama? My uncle hates snow—he’d rather sit by the fireplace than come to this damned place!”

“Come on, make up a more believable lie!”

This time Lily couldn’t hold back and shouted through tears.

“Ethan Parker! Haven’t you had enough? You’re killing him! Uncle Robert is dying!”

Hearing Lily’s voice, Ethan froze.

“Why does that sound like Lily?”

Sophie quickly leaned closer.

“Wow, Rachel’s really pulling out all the stops—using AI voice clones to trick you now!”

She hung up the call for him.

This time Ethan frowned slightly.

He had a good relationship with Lily and naturally recognized her voice.

He suspiciously walked to the window and looked down, but the ski suits below covered everyone completely, making it impossible to tell who was who.

Sophie seized the moment and handed him her phone. The screen showed Lily’s freshly updated Instagram post—sunny beaches, bikinis, smiling brightly, location tagged in Hawaii.

Ethan immediately dismissed his doubts, his anger burning hotter.

“Rachel Moore, are you playing me? You almost had me fooled!”

Sophie whispered something in his ear, and Ethan’s eyes lit up with malicious glee.

Without the defibrillator, I could only kneel in the snow and perform CPR on Robert with all my strength.

But just as I was desperately trying to save him, a shot suddenly hit my right arm!

Warm blood gushed out, staining the snow crimson.

Lily screamed.

“Sister-in-law! Are you okay?!”

They had switched from stone guns to live ammunition!

The relatives screamed in terror as bullets whizzed through the air, kicking up sprays of snow.

I tried to keep working on Robert, but the gunfire grew closer and closer.

Someone was shot in the leg and fell down screaming.

Another’s cheek was grazed, blood gushing down.

Then Ethan’s mocking voice boomed through the helicopter’s loudspeaker.

“Rachel Moore, I’ll give you a chance. Get on your knees and bark like a dog ten times, and I’ll spare your family.”

Margaret shook with rage.

“That ungrateful son! Rachel, you mustn’t kneel! Wait till your father gets here—he’ll make him pay!”

Lily, already sobbing uncontrollably, grabbed my arm.

“This is too much! I never imagined your marriage was this humiliating!”

I looked around at the Parker relatives groaning in pain, at the dying Robert, at the blood pouring from my arm...

Slowly, I raised my head.

“Fine. I’ll kneel. Whatever grudge you have, take it out on me—leave my family alone.”

I pushed away those trying to stop me, bent my knees, and knelt on the freezing snow.

Then I lowered my head and barked like a dog—one sound after another.

“Woof. Woof. Woof...”

Ethan laughed loudly.

“Didn’t think you had such loyalty in you. Guess my parents weren’t wrong about you.”

Maybe this marriage had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Three years ago, I was a hospital nurse. Margaret had a heart attack and was hospitalized for a month.

I took care of her with all my heart, and she grew fond of me, saying I reminded her of her younger self. Later, she insisted on introducing me to her son.

At first, I didn’t want to overreach, but when I saw Ethan, I recognized him immediately—he had been the high school football team captain I’d secretly crushed on for three years.

At that moment, I thought fate had blessed me.

I married him full of hope, only to find he hated this arranged marriage, treating me like a servant.

I thought if I treated him sincerely, he’d at least feel a little affection for me.

But he hated me—hated me enough to wish death upon me and my entire family.

Today’s tragedy happened simply because he mistook the Parker relatives for my poor family.

But I couldn’t let the people who truly cared about me suffer for it.

By the time I finished barking ten times, my face was streaked with tears.

“I did what you asked. Now let them go.”

But from the helicopter came roaring laughter.

“She’s so stupid—she actually believed us!”

“Yeah! How could someone that gullible have won over your parents?”

And then, the chilling howls of wolves echoed from every direction.

Pairs of glowing green eyes lit up all around us, making everyone freeze in terror.

I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw ached.

“Ethan Parker! You promised to let them go!”

Ethan smirked coldly.

“I only said I wouldn’t use guns—didn’t say I wouldn’t use anything else.”

He raised his hand and made a small gesture.

His trained wolf handler immediately understood and blew a whistle.

Dozens of starving wolves shot toward us like black lightning.

The pampered Parker elders, already battered by the stone guns, no longer had the strength to resist.

“My leg!!”

Uncle David had a massive male wolf clamped onto his calf. He let out a scream and passed out.

Aunt Helen’s ski suit was shredded by claws. Terrified, she sobbed uncontrollably.

I shielded Margaret behind me, flailing a dead branch, but I was hopelessly outmatched.

No—if this kept up, everyone would die.

In desperation, my fingers brushed the lighter I’d just used to light a senior’s cigarette. I hurled it to Lily with the last of my strength.

“Lily Parker, light the branches—fire will scare the wolves!”

Lily was quick-witted. Hands shaking, she set a bundle of twigs alight. The feeble flames pushed back several wolves that were closing in.

I stripped off my already-torn ski jacket and wrapped Margaret, who was shivering violently.

“Mom, I’ll draw them away. You find a place to hide!”

Margaret grabbed me, yanked off the necklace she never took off, and shoved it into my hand.

“Be careful—on that clearing over there, press the gemstone to summon the Thunder Squad!”

I understood. Margaret would never use this necklace unless we had no other choice.

I clenched the pendant, tore open my wound, and used the smell of blood to lure the wolves as I ran deeper into the resort.

The people in the helicopter noticed where I was going.

“Ethan, Rachel ran off and left them! Knew she was ungrateful!”

“Ethan, don’t let her escape, or we won’t be able to clean this up!”

Only Sophie coiled around Ethan like a viper.

“What are you all worried about? Ethan already has a plan.”

Ethan took a drag on his cigarette and checked his watch.

“Just about time to finish the game.”

I’d nearly burned through every ounce of strength when I staggered into the clearing.

I slammed my thumb onto the cold gem on the necklace.

“Boom!”

A blinding red flare soared into the sky and burst into a shower of brilliant sparks.

Everyone in the helicopter froze.

“W-what is that?”

The smile on Ethan’s face went rigid.

“A Thunder flare?! How does she have that? That’s my mom’s—”

A horrifying thought shot through his mind.

If he remembered right, his mother always wore that necklace.

Could the woman in the snow calling him “son” actually be…

A chill raced down his spine. He fumbled for his phone and dialed his mother.

No one picked up.

Sophie immediately pressed close.

“Don’t scare yourself. Margaret can’t be here—doesn’t she have snow blindness?”

“Rachel must have stolen her necklace to spook us!”

“Right—Mom has snow blindness.”

Relieved, he exhaled.

“Rachel almost had me again. I nearly fell for it.”

Meanwhile, on the top floor of a Corporate Headquarters in Manhattan, William Parker was reviewing documents when a violent jolt of dread hit him. His custom pen slipped from his fingers and landed with a soft thud on the expensive carpet.

At that exact moment, his assistant burst in, face drained of color, voice shaking.

“Mr. Parker! Bad news—M-Madam just activated the Thunder Order!”

“What?”

William shot to his feet, his face turning paper-white.

As New York City’s wealthiest family, the Parker Family had a century-old pact with an elite private security force—the Thunder Squad.

Each Head of the Family could invoke the Squad’s protection only once in a lifetime.

Unless it was an existential threat to the family, the Order must never be used.

It was the life-saving trump card he had given his wife years ago.