Chapter 10
Tears welled in my eyes as I voiced the fear my parents dreaded the most.
In my past life, their decision to sell me to the blind, crippled old man in the mountains wasn’t solely because of my sister. More than that, they couldn’t bear having a daughter they saw as “unclean” and “damaged.”
Locked away in a pigpen, I endured a decade of torment at the hands of the Conrad Family -beaten, starved, treated worse than an animal. If not for Simon secretly sneaking me scraps of food, I would have suffered an even crueler fate. To my parents, I had become nothing more than a burdensome disgrace, a girl without an education, a future, or worth. So when my sister suggested a “family picnic,” they seized the opportunity. They led me deep into the mountains, abandoned me, and let the old bachelor take me away. For their reputation, they chose to obey my sister over any lingering shred of parental love.
And in the end, I set them on fire.
This time, it was Kathy’s turn to experience the agony of betrayal.
As my words sank in, I saw the shift in my parents‘ eyes. Their resolve wavered. Just days ago, they had been exhausting every effort, trying to pull strings, bribing officials–anything to keep Kathy out of a mental institution. They wanted her treated at home, medicated, closely monitored.
But now, after everything that had happened… after seeing me bloodied and injured because of her, fear gripped them.
“Don’t worry, Yueyue,” my mother murmured, her voice trembling. “I’ll get a doctor to bandage your wound.”
She hurried out, while my father, after a moment of hesitation, called for someone to restrain Kathy. She thrashed violently, screaming in blind rage. When her curses grew too vile, they gagged her.
I pressed my fingers to my freshly wrapped wound, meeting Kathy’s furious gaze. My lips curled into a smirk.
“Now tell me,” I whispered. “Who won?”
Her eyes blazed with hate, but she couldn’t utter a single word.
Ten days later, the Conrad Family was pronounced dead.
Kathy was officially tried for intentional homicide. Alongside her, Mei Jie and Sally faced trial as well.
Stepping into the courtroom, I saw them again–and felt nothing but satisfaction.
Mei Jie looked hollow, her once–arrogant posture reduced to a frail, sunken frame. She mumbled about revenge, repeating the name of a child over and over. That child had been hers–born from Erick seven years ago. Desperate and broken, she had smothered the infant while feeding him, unable to bear the cycle of abuse any longer. In return, Erick had unleashed even greater cruelty, breaking her mind completely.
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Sun, 30 Mar
Sally looked even worse. Already in her fifties or sixties, she had become a shell of a woman. Daryl, enraged by her menopause, had found new and perverse ways to torture her. Now, her hair had turned entirely gray, her spine permanently bent, her eyes lifeless. When the judge questioned her, she barely seemed to understand.
And then, piece by piece, the truth came spilling out.
Hundreds of kidnapped children.
Countless young lives brutalized, broken, murdered.
Mei Jie cackled, voice shrill with madness. “The disobedient ones–those who tried to escape? We cut off their limbs and dug out their eyes. Sent them to beg in the streets of the big cities. Selling them alive was too much trouble, too risky.”
A collective gasp filled the courtroom. Fury radiated from the spectators, their eyes red with rage. Insults and curses flew, calling for their deaths.
My parents, pale and trembling, finally understood.
They realized why Kathy had cooperated so smoothly after being kidnapped. Why she had been so quick to turn them over in exchange for her own survival. She was the smartest of us all–but too smart for her own good.
If they let her stay at home, she would always be a threat.
With her mental illness as a shield, she could harm me. Harm them. And still, the law wouldn’t hold her accountable.
In desperation, they did the only thing they could.
They rushed to file the necessary documents, ensuring Kathy’s fate was sealed–locked away in a mental hospital, forever.
07:45 Sun, 30 Mar
