"You’re going to die!"
The little beggar who once begged me to take him in.
The rural child that Sophie James despised so much she wouldn't even spare him a glance is now an upper-class person who can yell at me without hesitation.
I watched Ethan King and then turned to Sophie James, whose softened gaze at Ethan King made me laugh aloud, clapping for them in praise.
"Actually," I smiled at Ethan King and Sophie James, "you two really suit each other."
"There's a saying, how does it go?"
I thought for a moment.
Then, I realized.
"Trash matches with a dog, what's it called again?" I looked at Sophie James, whose face had fallen: "Eternal love, hahaha."
"Isn't that right, Sophie?"
"Hahaha."
"You're asking for death!"
Sophie pushed Ethan away and tried to rush at me, but it gave me time to react. I grabbed the knife from the ground and lunged at Sophie James. The knife plunged deep into Ethan King's body, and as I saw Sophie’s expression crack, the calm person she once was lost control, screaming.
"Ethan!"
"Ethan!"
Ethan King turned pale, collapsing into Sophie James’s arms. His eyes remained soft, stroking her face, gazing at her with deep affection.
"Sophie."
"I’ve protected you."
"Sophie..."
Ethan King lost consciousness, and Sophie James, now out of her mind, lifted Ethan King and shouted, "Doctor!"
"Where’s the doctor?"
Before Sophie James rushed Ethan to the hospital, she turned to meet my gaze, filled with murderous intent.
"Liam Carter!"
"There’s something I wanted to tell you five years ago," Sophie James said, her eyes bloodshot as she looked at me. "Before you signed the divorce papers, I should have told you your brother was still alive."
"I lied to you."
Sophie turned away, leaving me with those words.
"Your brother had already died long before you signed the papers."
"Sign."
"All I wanted was for you to leave Seaside City."
Thunder rumbled across the sky.
Lightning split the clouds, and I thought I heard my brother’s weak voice calling me, "Big Brother," just before I saw the truck racing toward me. My brother pushed me out of the way with all his strength, then collapsed under the truck, his eyes soft as he reached out toward me, calling out to me.
"Big Brother."
"It hurts," I crawled desperately to my brother’s side, holding him as I neared breaking, but my brother gently gripped my hand and said, "But I protected you."
"It was worth it."
That day, I lost my only close relative in this world.
My brother fell into a deep sleep, forever separated from me by the thick hospital door, as Sophie James dragged me, throwing me outside the room. She pointed to the brother lying asleep in the room, asking.
"Liam, do you know why your brother ended up there?"
"Wasn't it because he saw the compromising photos?"
"Liam, did you ever think that before you hurt me, the one you hurt the most was your own brother?"
"Liam, sign the papers."
Sophie James threw me to the ground.
It felt as though all my strength had been drained, and I collapsed, staring at the agreement. I heard Sophie say, "Sign the papers, and I guarantee your brother won’t die."
"As long as you agree to leave Seaside City, I’ll promise to take care of your brother."
But later.
I had just boarded the plane when I received a video from Ethan King. In the video, my brother was hastily buried, without even a proper gravestone, and Ethan’s voice was filled with mockery.
"Liam, this is what happens when you cross me."
