Agony seared through my body. The blood had long dried, crusted against my skin, reeking of rust and decay.

Lucian gagged behind his hand, his voice trembling with faux distress. "Mr. Jack... you know I can't stand the smell of blood. Yet you refuse to wash—are you trying to make me faint on purpose?"

"Look at yourself!" Helena's lip curled in disgust. "A deranged, stinking mess. Pathetic."

With a wave of her hand, she ordered the bodyguards to douse me with bucket after bucket of icy water until my lips turned blue and my body seized from hypothermia. Only then did she signal them to stop.

But Lucian wasn't finished. Clutching his child, he staged a performance worthy of an award.

"Mr. Jack, I beg you—don't take my son from me! If you insist on stealing him... I'll jump from this window right now!"

He lunged toward the glass. Helena caught him just in time.

Whirling on me, she kicked away my clutching hand and leaned down, her voice a venomous whisper.

"You think scheming with my mother will make you heir? That you can steal what belongs to Lucian and his child? I've locked down the family estate. Your plans are worthless."

"And you—how many times must I warn you? Hurt Lucian or his son again, and I'll take permanent measures."

She straightened, snapping at the guards.

"He drove Lucian to suicide. Punish him accordingly. Go—rip out his father's oxygen tube and throw the old man from the roof."

"HELENA!" My scream tore through the room. "He saved your life! YOU OWE HIM EVERYTHING!"

"Debt paid." Her laugh was glacial. "Your father orchestrated my 'accident' to force a marriage—so his lowborn son could wed a Taylor heiress. Well, you got your title. I bore your 'heirs.' But your brats were too slow—Lucian's son arrived first. I owe you nothing now."

"Do it."

I lunged at the guards—only to be beaten down, my clothes shredded.

Dried wounds split open. Blood erupted like a geyser, painting the floor crimson.

I writhed, howling.

Helena moved to drag me up—then froze.

The violent motion had exposed my lacerated flesh... and the crumpled NICU surgery notice that fell from my tattered clothes.

Her face drained of color.

Suddenly she was on her knees, cradling me, whirling on Lucian and the guards.

"WHAT DID YOU DO? I said bring him here—not mutilate him! And this notice—Lucian, you swore the twins were safe with nurses!"

Lucian paled—but recovered instantly, tears welling on command. "They are safe! Jack must've faked this to frame me... but I anticipated his tricks!"

He shoved his phone at her. The screen showed a one-month-old infant in a grainy, obviously staged video.

The guards chimed in eagerly: "We'd never harm Mr. Jack! He probably wore special effects makeup to trick you, ma'am!"

Helena barely glanced at the phone before believing it.

The bodyguards' words sent her into a fresh rage. She raised her stiletto and kicked me square in the head.

My skull cracked against the floor. Blood sprayed.

"You dare lie to me?!" she snarled. "Fake wounds? Fake medical notices? How low can you sink?!"

"Think I'd fall for it again**? Dream on!"

Her heels pistoned into my abdomen—over, over—until the air reeked of copper and my screams turned hoarse.

"P-please... stop..."

My pleas dissolved into whimpers as my body shut down, leaving me a twitching husk in a pool of my own blood.

She shook gore from her jacket and turned to Lucian, all saccharine apology.

"Sorry you had to see that, darling. Let me clean up this trash, then we'll honeymoon in the Maldives—my treat for doubting you."

Lucian sniffled, the picture of self-sacrifice. "But... if we leave, Mr. Jack might... might take my child. Maybe I should just disappear..."

A masterstroke.

Helena's face darkened. "Oh no," she purred, stroking his hair. "I'll ensure he never touches you again."

To the guards: "Throw him and those bastards in the estate's basement. They crawl out after Lucian's heir is official."

Dragged through the hospital like a carcass, I left a scarlet snail trail on marble.

Half-conscious, I rasped: "Helena... I only wanted... divorce. Not his child..."

"You killed our babies once... If you move them from ICU to that basement... they'll die again..."

"I'll sign anything... take nothing... just let them live... spare my father—"

Bloody tears plinked onto tile.

Helena rolled her eyes. "If you behave in that basement, I might—"

CRACK.

A sound like the sky splitting—

—and my father's body hit the pavement in front of me.

His eyes, once so kind, now bulged like burst grapes.

"DAD!!!"

I scrabbled forward on raw bone, screaming—

—only for guards to yank me back.

"Take him away," Helena muttered, avoiding the corpse. "He was dying anyway. This was... mercy."

"HELENA, YOU DEMON!!" I howled. "YOU KILLED YOUR OWN CHILDREN! MURDERED YOUR SAVIOR! MAY YOU ROT IN HELL—"