Angel Hayes was lying on the floor, out of breath. She squeezed her left fist against her painful chest while her other hand pointed at the handbag held by Elis Hayes. She pleaded to Elis, "The medicine... Please, give me my medication. It's inside my purse!"
"No way, dumb*ss. You felt sick the minute I asked for money, huh? How much cash do you have in your bank account, and what is your ATM card password? Why not just give me a few hundred dollars in your purse?"
Elis was Angel's younger brother, but they were not blood-related. He intentionally stepped on Angel’s chest, trampling it a few more times before viciously cursing her.
Angel’s asthma attack was life-threatening. She could hardly breathe, and her face was already blue. She gazed longingly at her bag nearby, where she kept her life-saving medicine.
Although her foster father’s family maltreated her and exploited her like a leech, she still loved the world. She didn’t want to die, absolutely not!
"Dad, please help me..." Angel realized that Elis refused to help her, so she turned her appeal for help to the middle-aged man sitting on the couch. He was her adoptive parent, Ruben Hayes, whom she had considered her father for thirty years.
Ruben stared coldly on Angel’s bluish face and paused. Then, he spoke slowly,
"You know that I'm your father, right? I asked you to give me your monthly salary, but you held on to it and kept it all these years instead. I asked you to buy a house and I instructed you to register it in Elis' name, but you put your name on the title instead. Now you want me to save you? You're one ungrateful and cold-hearted daughter! You deserve to die!"
Angel had eyes full of desperation. She dropped out of school during her junior year so she could work. She tirelessly worked her way up, from being a waitress to the restaurant’s manager.
For over a decade, Angel gave all of her earnings to Ruben. But three years ago, when she almost died of Elis' aggression, she finally decided that one day she would escape from them. As a result, she secretly started saving money to buy a small house of 60 square meters for herself.
When Ruben and Elis learned that she had bought a house, they started disturbing her. Fortunately, she had managed to get away from them before. But this time, she had an asthma attack, so she knew she was doomed.
"By the time you die, this house will go to your brother, Elis. My ungrateful daughter, if you ever get married, this house might go to your husband, so it's better if you die now. I raised you your entire life, so consider this property as your way of repaying me!”
Ruben slowly walked toward Angel and looked at her with a ferocious gaze.
Angel was desperately gasping for air, and her breathing became more labored. She watched in utter desperation as Elis took all the cash out of her purse. He raided her boxes and took every piece of jewelry she had kept. Afterward, he haughtily tossed away her asthma medication downstairs, and he even managed to throw her already outdated but still functional cellphone in the trash.
"Angel, your name suits you well. The only reason you existed was to help my mom raise me. Now that I'm all grown-up and living just fine, you're totally worthless. You're just a b*tch who has no blood connection to our family. You can die now!"
Elis looked so vicious when he grinned like the devil.
Ruben walked to the place where Angel lay with his hands clasped behind his back. He spitefully spat on her face, "We’ve done nothing wrong to you. Your asthma is the reason for your death. When you move on to the next life, you must serve your mother well. Do you understand?"
Afterward, the father and son left the house with Angel’s money and the things they had looted. As the door closed with a loud bang, Angel’s heavy breathing also appeared to be cut off by the slamming door's noise.
She began to struggle, trying to open her mouth to breathe some air, but her efforts were futile. Suddenly, something went off inside her. Then the pain in her body stopped, and her consciousness started to fade away slowly.