Chapter 2

Just then, the roar of a car engine echoed from the estate's front driveway.

Catching sight of the young man stepping out of the vehicle, my brutally overstretched nerves finally gave way to a wave of relief.

It was my own flesh and blood—Julian.

Sienna's eyes lit up. Instantly dropping her vicious sneer, she masked her face with a frail, agonizingly wronged expression and threw herself at him.

"Julian, you're finally here!"

"This filthy peasant stabbed my dog! You have to fix this for me—have the bodyguards smash her teeth out one by one, stuff her mouth full of dog food, and make her kneel in the mud to beg Caesar for mercy!"

Julian, hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, radiated an air of absolute arrogance.

Because Lily and I were entirely plastered in mud and blood, looking like utter wrecks, he only spared us a fleeting glance before looking away in disgust, completely failing to recognize us.

Adjusting his cuffs, Julian waved a dismissive cold hand at the bodyguards behind him. "Didn't you hear Miss Sienna? Do as she says."

Several hulking bodyguards lunged forward immediately, pinning my shoulders down from both sides.

One of them pulled out a telescoping baton, aiming it squarely at my mouth.

Looking down at Lily, whose small body was growing cold from blood loss, and then up at my own high-and-mighty son, the inferno in my chest instantly burned through the last shred of my sanity.

With a violent jerk, I broke free from the two massive guards.

Before anyone even had time to react, I charged straight at Julian like an enraged lioness.

I raised my hand and, summoning every ounce of strength in my body, delivered a vicious slap across Julian's face.

A sickeningly sharp crack exploded in the air. The force of it sent Julian's sunglasses flying, instantly shattering against the pavement.

"You blind, heartless animal!" I shrieked.

The blow snapped Julian's head to the side, a vivid red handprint immediately blooming across his cheek. Gripping his face, he whipped his head back, his eyes blazing with shock and fury. "You crazy bitch, how dare you—"

His furious tirade choked in his throat the exact second his eyes met mine.

Unshielded by his sunglasses, Julian stared blankly at my mud-caked yet unmistakably familiar face.

Then, with a sickeningly stiff slowness, his gaze drifted downward, landing on the dying little girl with a mangled, bloody leg.

The arrogance and rage in his eyes instantly twisted into something grotesque—a cocktail of utterly absurd disbelief and raw, paralyzing horror.

Beside him, Sienna let out a sharp gasp. Her eyes widened into saucers, her face twisting in pure disbelief.

"Oh my god!" she screeched. "You filthy lunatic! Did you just hit Julian?! Guards! Chop her damn hand off!"

Julian's voice cracked, trembling completely out of pitch. "L-Lily?!"

"Lily's leg was mauled by the dog! She's bleeding out, we need to get her to a hospital right now!"

Julian's body went completely rigid.

He darted a panicked look around the estate. Today, the grounds were hosting an exclusive high-society afternoon tea. Dozens of elegantly dressed guests, drawn by the commotion, were already standing on the distant terrace, pointing and whispering.

"Julian! What the hell are you just standing there for?!" I roared, sick with desperation.

"Julian, that is your sister!" Watching his eyes frantically dart away from mine, an intensely ominous feeling suddenly coiled in the pit of my stomach.

Deliberately shifting his body to block Sienna's view of us, Julian muttered a hasty explanation to her: "This woman used to be a cleaner for our family. She was fired for being a bit mentally unstable. I didn't expect her to sneak in here and go crazy. Security! Throw this woman out immediately, and just send the kid to the hospital!"

"Hold on a second! Just throwing her out would be letting her off way too easy, wouldn't it?" Sienna sneered, intercepting the guards. She strutted over to me, using the tip of her designer heel to forcibly tilt my chin upward. "I recall saying she needs to get on her knees and apologize to my dog. Since the young master has already spoken, why aren't you doing it, you crazy bitch?"

Julian shot me a warning look, leaning in close to hiss through his teeth: "Mom! I am begging you! Stop being so stubborn! Look at where we are—today is the day Dad is hosting his biggest clients! If you keep causing a scene, Dad is going to be furious! Just apologize!"

He actually wanted me to drop to my knees and apologize to a dog?!

"Julian, do you even hear yourself?!" I stared at him, my eyes wide with sheer disbelief.

A heavy car horn suddenly cut through the tension. A sleek black Rolls-Royce Phantom was slowly pulling into the estate's driveway.

"It's Mr. Arthur!"

"Make way! The master of the estate, Mr. Arthur, has returned!"

A wave of awe-struck gasps and murmurs instantly rippled through the surrounding guards and the distant crowd of guests.