Chapter 85: No Hope for Rescue
“I’ll turn myself in tomorrow,” he announced flatly.
“What?!” Lily and Elsie both let out a wailing cry simultaneously.
Elsie threw herself into Owen’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably. “Yunice didn’t give in? How could she be so cruel, so selfish! You’re her brother!”
Owen closed his eyes heavily, and two silent tears slid down his face. His voice was hoarse. “It’s me who has failed her. Perhaps this is heaven’s punishment for my sins.”
Elsie buried herself in his arms, weeping bitterly while shooting Yunice a venomous glare, as though Yunice were the root of all evil and the one tearing their family apart.
Lily looked at her children, one crying bitterly in the other’s arms. She was trembling with rage, her hands curling into spasms of anger. This was something Yunice could resolve with a single nod. Why did she insist on breaking this family?
In Lily’s eyes, all of this was Yunice’s fault. Hatred filled her to the point her teeth almost shattered from clenching too hard. She stormed into Yunice’s room like a madwoman, pouncing on her and reaching for her neck.
“Is marrying Wyatt so unbearable for you?! Owen only got into trouble because he was standing up for you, and now you just sit back and watch him go to prison?”
Lily was beside herself with rage, so much so that she knocked Yunice over in one blow. The two of them tumbled onto Yunice’s bed. Lily’s hands locked around Yunice’s neck, her voice shaking with resentment as tears fell. “Ever since we brought you back, this house has known no peace. If I had known things would turn out like this, I would rather have left you to rot in that asylum forever!”
Fueled by fury, Lily used all her strength. Yunice’s breath caught. She could not breathe. Her feet kicked helplessly off the edge of the bed. Yet, despite seeing her desperate struggle, not a single person from the living room moved.
Lily’s curses poured on. “You stabbed Elsie, and your brother couldn’t bear to see you suffer, so he risked everything to forge a medical report to send you to the asylum for protection. And how do you repay him? By sending him to prison yourself? Even a snake that bites its savior isn’t as vicious as you!”
Yunice clawed at Lily’s wrists, but her grip was iron-tight, only tightening further. A choking sound rasped from Yunice’s throat. Her head pounded painfully, and Lily’s accusations blurred, muffled like a voice coming through a thick log.
As her consciousness began to fade, Yunice shifted her gaze toward the living room. Her bloodshot eyes were full of a desperate plea for help, but all she saw were indifferent faces.
Elsje’s eyes were filled with hatred, as if Yunice’s suffering at this moment finally soothed the humiliation of not marrying into the Powell family.
Even Luke, calm and detached, pretended to see nothing. His task was simple: Make Yunice agree to marry Wyatt. And what Lily was doing now suited him just fine.
Finally, Yunice looked at Paul, the man she had once protected with all her heart. As a child, Paul had always been trouble. He was always provoking enemies, always getting into fights. Back then, driven by youthful loyalty, when Paul was beaten or bullied, Yunice had stood in front of him, ready to take the blows herself. And Paul would pull her behind him, forcing out a boastful, reckless grin, “This is my girl. Whoever dares touch her will answer to me!”
But now, Paul sat in his wheelchair, frowning at her, neither helping nor opposing, with no intention of interfering. That look… It reminded her of when Wyatt was beaten in the Powell family home; Owen had worn this exact same expression.
Yunice finally understood. To her… Paul was nothing but an outsider now. She looked away. She no longer held out hope for anyone’s rescue.
Her body was limp from lack of oxygen. There was no extra strength left to pry open her hands. But she ground her teeth, summoned every ounce of strength left in her body, bent her knee, and drove her foot hard into Lily’s leg!
Caught completely off guard, Lily stumbled backward several steps, crashing into a chair and falling with it in a heap of embarrassment.
“Mom!” Two voices cried out in unison.
Yunice flipped over, gasping desperately for breath on the bed, but the searing pain in her throat reminded her clearly of just how deeply Lily hated her. But before she could catch her breath, Owen grabbed her roughly and yanked her up!
Already full of resentment, Owen’s fury erupted the moment he saw Yunice dare to fight back and attack their mother. He did not even check if Lily was hurt. He charged directly at Yunice, determined to teach her a lesson.
“I’m not in prison yet, and you already dare to lay hands on our mother? What will you do once I’m gone? Kill Elsie and Mom too?” The more Owen thought about it, the angrier he became. Rage boiling over until he could no longer hold it back. “If that’s the case, then I might as well take care of you now!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he really lifted his foot and kicked toward Yunice with all the strength of a furious grown man standing well over six feet tall. A kick like that, even a man would struggle to survive.