- 8.
After that day, Julian Hayes locked himself in the basement.
For three whole days, he didn’t drink a drop of water, huddled in a corner like a motionless corpse.
It wasn’t until the early morning of the fourth day, before dawn, that he called Serena.
He tidied his clothes, held a bouquet of roses, and arrived at the coast where he had arranged
to
As if nothing had happened.
As if the bloodstains and wails from the basement had never existed.
When Mrs. Hayes learned he had left, it was already too late.
She rushed to the beach with her people, frantic.
From a distance, she saw two figures leaning quietly together at the end of the beach.
meet Serena.
11.00
લસનો કોલ ફ
ઇસ્લામના રહ
“That wretched boy!” Mrs. Hayes gritted her teeth, thinking Julian had long forgotten Anya and was now with that scheming hussy again.
But as she approached, her foot slipped. She looked down and saw not
a
Serena lay half–reclined in Julian’s arms, her abdomen hollow, a thorn–studded rose deeply embedded in her eyes. She had long stopped breathing. The malformed infant, dug from her womb, was pinned to Serena’s chest.
red dress, but
a pool of fresh blood!
And Julian, clutching a short blade, was carving into himself, a cut at a time.
Blood flowed from his body like water, staining the ground red.
“Julian Hayes!! Are you insane?!” Mrs. Hayes screamed, rushing forward, but was frozen by the look in his eyes when he lifted his head.
ཟམ་ག
His eyes were clear, yet allen, as if he had returned from hell.
Julian slowly stood up, covered in blood, his wounds deep enough to show bone.
He smiled, a very faint smile: “Mom… didn’t you say Anya’s ashes were scattered in this ocean?”
“I don’t want those fish to eat her, so… I’m cutting my own flesh to feed them.”
He looked down at his dripping hand: “This way, when they’re full, they won’t bite Sister Anya.”
“I once said that if I ever betrayed her, I would be cut into a thousand pieces and die a miserable death.”
He said, giving his mother a childlike smile.
“Mom… do you think this way, Sister Anya will forgive me?”
“If she were still here, I could start over. If she would just look at me again… I’d do anything…”
“Oh, God, you let me live again… can you give me one more chance?”
“This time, I will protect her to the end. Please… please…”
His voice grew softer and softer, until finally, only his lips trembled, no sound escaping.
In that instant, Julian closed his eyes and gently fell backward, as if in release.
“Anya, I’m coming for you…”
He plunged into the sea. The seawater instantly engulfed his blood–stained body, but the surface of the ocean remained calm, as if nothing had happened, not even a ripple.
I received the news on the day of Julian Hayes‘ funeral.
The entire city mourned.
Serena’s family all knelt before Julian’s coffin, each one crying hysterically, repenting their complicity in his atrocities.
Mrs. Hayes wore a black dress, her back straight amidst the crowd. She remained silent, but her eyes were etched with weariness and the marks of profound sorrow.
It wasn’t until after everyone had left that she walked over to me, holding my hand tightly.
“Aren’t you going to see him?”
I froze, my throat tightening. Looking at this woman who had raised me since childhood, who had stood up for me time and again, my eyes finally welled up.
“Mom… I’m so sorry, Julian was your son after all. I never thought he would do this. I just…”
Back then, it was she who rescued me from the basement, and she who stopped my villagers from being sent to Africa. We weren’t biological mother and daughter, yet our bond was stronger than blood.
Mrs. Hayes interrupted me, gently stroking my hand: “The Hayes family wronged you. You did nothing wrong… You are a good child I watched grow up. Julian did what he did; this is his karma, it has nothing to do with you.”
She choked up, her voice trembling even more tears falling onto mu band
are a good child
ng to do with you.”
She choked up, her voice trembling even more, tears falling onto my hand.
“Anya, you must live well. You’re the only child I have left…”
She cried, crying with a raw, heartbreaking agony.
This woman, who had been strong her entire life, finally let down her guard in that moment. Perhaps only in front of me did she dare to cry like a child.
I hugged her, my heart heavy with bitterness.
From the moment I faked my death and escaped, she had borne all the consequences for me.
She said I owed no one, but I knew- owed her a life, and half a lifetime of profound sorrow.
Later, I took over the Hayes Corporation as an adopted daughter.
Everyone envied my good fortune, thinking I had found a golden ticket.
But only I knew that just staying alive had drained every ounce of luck I possessed.
Now, a greater destiny rests on my shoulders.
days 400
