Chapter 471 A Hundred Slaps

Not a sound came from the kitchen. No one knew what kind of torment Elsie might be enduring in there.

When force didn’t work, Owen’s eyes turned red. He dropped his pride and pleaded with Yunice.

“Yunice, I’m begging you, please let us through! Peggy’s ruthless–she doesn’t follow any rules. Elsie’s life could be in danger!”

Lily’s throat was still scorched from the chili and she couldn’t even speak. Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded, joining Owen in silently begging Yunice.

Yunice watched them–watched how their tough pride always shattered when it came to Elsie. The contrast was almost heartbreaking.

She said quietly, “So if I let Elsie go, you’ll do whatever I ask?”

They both nodded frantically, desperate to save her.

To be loved that deeply–what a beautiful thing.

Too bad their love was for a monster.

Loving a monster always ends in ruin. Yunice would make sure of it.

She gave them a vicious smile. “Fine. I’ll give you a chance.”

Yunice turned to Lily, her voice slow and deliberate. “One of you–either you or Owen–has to slap the other one a hundred times. Then I’ll let you through. Deal?”

Both Owen and Lily froze, eyes wide. They hadn’t expected something this inhumane.

They were mother and son. Slapping each other like that was no different from tearing each other apart.

This wasn’t a test of will–it was a test of loyalty. Whoever struck first would be admitting, in that moment, that Elsie’s life meant more than the other person’s dignity.

The demand was brutal. Cruel.

“Yunice, what the hell happened to you? You’re a monster! Did Wyatt teach you all this?!”

Yunice didn’t respond. She used to try and appeal to their sense of morality.

But she’d learned that people like them had their own warped sense of good and evil. If something benefited them, it was good. If it didn’t, then anything Yunice did was considered evil.

Reasoning with them was pointless. Only pain would get through.

She didn’t take the bait. Instead, she smiled and said calmly, “Didn’t you just swear you’d do anything for Elsie? And now my first request is already too much?”

“A hundred slaps won’t kill anyone. Or is her life worth less than your pride?”

She deliberately glanced toward the kitchen. “Uh–oh, still no sound. Maybe she’s already dead. Peggy doesn’t know how to hold back, after all…”

Owen and Lily stared at Yunice with hatred burning in their eyes. If they could kill her without consequence, they would have done it then and there.

Owen yelled in grief and fury, “Yunice, Dad’s death anniversary is coming up. Aren’t you ashamed to be doing this?! Don’t you think he’d be heartbroken watching you now?”

“Heartbroken?” Yunice didn’t flinch. “The grave’s empty. You both know that better than I do.”

“You lost Dad’s ashes and tried to cover it up. You called me back to join the ceremony–who really dishonored his memory?”

Owen hadn’t expected Yunice to know about that. No wonder she hadn’t visited the grave once in the past year.

“So it was you who took them?” he demanded.

Yunice didn’t deny it. “Yeah. I’m the only one left in this family who still remembers him. Of course I should honor him alone.”

Lily listened to them argue about what she thought were meaningless details, tears silently pouring down her face.

She didn’t care if Will’s ashes had been scattered by the wind or licked by a dog. She only cared if Elsie was still alive.

She dropped to her knees, grabbed Owen’s hand, and slapped herself with it.

Just once, but it stunned Owen.

He yanked his hand back, horrified. “Mom, what are you doing?! You’re really going to go along with this? I’m your son–how could I ever hit you?!”

Lily shook her head helplessly, silently telling him there was no time. If they didn’t act soon, Elsie might die.

Owen’s face twisted in pain and conflict. He knew she was right.

But even for Elsie, he couldn’t raise a hand to his own mother.

Then, jaw clenched, Owen seized Lily’s hand and smacked himself across the face hard.

Before she could stop him, he used her hand to keep going–slapping himself again and again, back and forth, until red prints bloomed across his cheeks.

When he finally stopped, he glared at Yunice and growled, “Is that good enough for you?!”

Yunice stared at him coldly. She hadn’t expected Owen–so obsessed with his dignity–to go that far for Elsie.

Then again, this was the man who’d been willing to sacrifice her life for Elsie’s.

What were a few slaps, compared to that?