After Our Entire Family Was Reborn Adopted Brother Went Insane Chapter 09
The apartment was barely the size of a closet, and it looked like a hurricane had passed through it.
The so-called artist, Zachary, had Lily by the hair and was smashing her head against the wall.
Lily’s clothes were disheveled.
One side of her face was grotesquely swollen.
Blood stained the corner of her mouth.
When he heard people burst in, Zachary startled – and snatched up a fruit knife from the table, pressing it to Lily’s throat.
“Nobody move!”
“One step closer and she’s dead!”
The moment Lily saw us, tears came pouring down her face.
“Dad!
Mom!
Leo!
Help me!”
“He’s insane – he’s a monster -“
My adoptive mother screamed and lunged forward.
“Lily!
My baby!”
Leo fell to his knees on the spot.
“Zachary!
Don’t do anything stupid!
We’ll pay!
We swear we’ll pay!”
But Zachary’s eyes were wild, far past reasoning.
“Pay now?
It’s too late!”
“I never wanted to kidnap anyone – this little idiot came to me herself!”
“She said she was a Harrington heiress.
She said if I played along with her scheme, she’d get me fifty million.”
“And what did I get?
Three days of waiting.
Not a single cent.”
“Since your family’s so loaded, bring me a hundred million.
Cash.
Right now.”
I turned to Lily.
“Is this the man you chose?”
“I thought you were in love with Ethan Wentworth.
But you threw away your place in the Wentworth family for this?”
Lily snapped her gaze to mine.
“Sis – it wasn’t supposed to be like this!”
“In my past life, Zach wasn’t like this!”
“He took the money.
He had his exhibition.
He became a celebrated artist.
Everyone said I had an eye for talent!”
“I wanted to bring him home the right way to prove to Mom and Dad that I hadn’t made the wrong choice!”
“But…”
Her voice cracked apart.
“But when I finally came home… Mom had died in a car accident.
And you – you and your baby were both gone.”
My chest seized.
So she knew too.
“Leo went looking for you.
When he found out you were dead, he couldn’t take it.
He jumped from a building.”
Lily broke into a howling, wretched sob.
“The whole family was gone.
Just me left.”
“I couldn’t bear it.
I went after them.”
“Sis – being reborn, I only wanted to hold onto my love.
So this time I never called home about the kidnapping.
I only told Leo in secret – I just wanted him to send me a little money.
That way none of the tragedy would happen.”
“You could be happy with Mr. Wentworth.”
I went still.
But before anyone could speak, a savage roar cut through the room.
Zachary drove the knife harder against Lily’s throat.
“Shut your mouth!
What past lives, what reincarnation – are you having some kind of fit?!”
“Old man!
Did you hear me?!
A hundred million!
Right now!
This second!”
“Or I’ll start carving up this pretty face of hers!”
My adoptive mother nearly fainted.
Lily stopped crying.
She stared at the man beside her as if seeing him for the first time.
“Zach – you -“
Zachary slapped her across the face.
“Stop calling me that!
I’m not your Zach!
I only put up with you because your family had money.
You think I’d touch you otherwise?”
“Artist?
I paint to con naive little rich girls like you.
That’s all.”
“Money!
That’s all I want!”
Those words hit Lily like a bucket of ice water.
She went rigid, her whole body shaking.
Leo, who had been silent, exploded.
He launched himself forward like a cornered animal.
“You touch her and I’ll kill you!”
“Don’t move!”
Zachary screamed, driving the blade directly against Lily’s carotid artery.
“One more step and I bleed her dry right here!”
I looked at Zachary – twitching, near-deranged at the center of the room.
“Zachary.
There’s something you seem to have gotten wrong.”
He fixed his glare on me.
“What?”
“The Harrington family’s liquid assets right now couldn’t cover even five hundred thousand.”
“As for selling off property – do you think the police would give you that kind of time?”
At the word “police,” Zachary’s face turned ashen.
“You called the cops?
Impossible – Leo said you’d never risk Lily’s reputation!”
At that moment, the wail of sirens rose from outside.
Zachary’s composure shattered.
The hand holding the knife began to tremble violently.
Lily seized the moment – and sank her teeth into his wrist.
Zachary let out a shriek of pain and lost his grip.
Lily scrambled and half-crawled toward us.
But Zachary’s eyes went red.
He raised the knife and lunged at her from behind.
“You little bitch – I’ll kill you!”
