Inside a villa at Qingquan Bay.
“Cough... You... you vicious woman, what are you trying to do?” Adelaide Morgan was forced into the corner of the bathroom, completely cornered.
Adriana Morgan's lips curled up slightly, followed by a cold chuckle. Even now, she hadn’t shown an ounce of remorse. “Adelaide, have you made your call yet?”
“...”
Adelaide's face instantly turned pale, her hands trembling as she tried to hide her phone behind her back. “How... how did you know?”
The moment Adelaide responded, Adriana’s sharp eyes narrowed. Without a moment of hesitation or even a flicker of emotion, she raised the muzzle of her gun and shot her sister twice in the shoulder.
“Ahhhh!” Adelaide screamed in agony as the phone slipped from her hands, and she collapsed onto the floor in pain and terror. “Don’t... don’t kill me! You crazy witch—Arliss won’t let you get away with this! Dad will... Ahhh!!!”
Before she could even finish her sentence, two more gunshots echoed through the room. Adriana had fired again, this time aiming for her legs.
Blood immediately poured from the wounds, staining the floor.
Adriana’s cold, piercing gaze stayed locked onto Adelaide, who was now reduced to a wailing, trembling mess. Without a word, she stepped closer, one calculated step at a time, and crouched down right in front of her sister's crumpled figure.Adelaide's face, already pale from blood loss, turned even whiter with sheer terror. She shut her eyes tightly, her voice trembling in panic. "No... no! Please don’t kill me! It wasn’t me! It was all Arliss! It was his plan, not mine!"
Adriana’s lips twisted into a mocking smirk, her eyes cold and menacing. Moments ago, Adelaide had been fawning over her dear "Arliss," but in the face of death, all that love went out the window.
Adriana lifted Adelaide’s chin with the barrel of the gun, her voice icy and detached. "Adelaide, tell me—where have I ever wronged you?"
Adelaide was shaking so hard it seemed she might collapse on the blood-streaked floor. "N-no... you haven’t."
"Good girl. Now open your eyes," Adriana said flatly, tapping her cheek lightly with the gun. Her tone left no room for disobedience.
Terrified to the core but too afraid to refuse, Adelaide slowly opened her eyes. The sight of Adriana’s disfigured, twisted face made her flinch so hard she nearly sobbed.
Adriana let out a low, bitter laugh that only made her ruined face more unsettling. Leaning in close, deliberately invading Adelaide’s space, she sneered, "Take a good look, Adelaide. This is all your handiwork. What’s wrong? Afraid now? Huh?"
"No... no!" Adelaide clamped her eyes shut again, frantically shaking her head. "It wasn’t me... I didn’t...""Ha ha ha~" Adriana Morgan suddenly stood up and let out a crazed laugh. Just as abruptly, her laughter stopped, and she shot a bloodthirsty glare straight at her. "Not you? So, what? You’re saying I took this knife to my own face for fun? Ten times?"
With that, she pulled out a small knife, a move that seemed far from unplanned.
Seeing this, Adelaide Morgan's face went as white as a sheet. She nearly collapsed, screaming, "No... don’t, please don’t!! I’m sorry, Adriana! I’m sorry! Sis, sis, I was wrong, okay? Please... Please, forgive me. Whatever you want—I’ll give it to you, just don’t!"
"Ha!" Adriana sneered, her laughter dripping with mockery. She looked at her sister like she was the punchline to some cruel joke. "You? Give me what I want? Tell me, Adelaide, exactly what can you give me? What part of everything you have didn’t you already steal from me?"
"I’ll— I’ll give it back! All of it! I swear, I’ll give it all back to you!" Adelaide stammered, her body trembling uncontrollably, her gaze locked on Adriana’s knife.
"Oh, is that so?" Adriana's voice suddenly boomed with rage. Her eyes narrowed into slits, cold enough to freeze fire. "Then why don’t you start... by giving me back ten slashes?"
Without waiting for an answer, she crouched down in one swift motion. Her face showed no mercy as she dragged the blade across Adelaide’s face, stroke after deliberate stroke.
Ten times. No more, no less.
By the time Adriana finished, Adelaide finally passed out, her body crumpling to the floor. Her breathing was fragile, faint—like she didn’t have much longer.
Perfect.
Adriana smirked to herself. One down, one to go.Adriana was still lost in thought when someone suddenly pushed open the bathroom door. "Adelaide!"
The moment Arliss stepped in and saw Adelaide lying motionless in a pool of blood, his expression flashed with fear rather than sorrow. Without a second thought, he turned to flee.
Adriana wasn’t about to let that happen. Just as he turned, she fired a shot, hitting his right leg squarely.
Arliss collapsed onto one knee, letting out a muffled groan of pain.
He tried to force himself up, but Adriana shot his other leg without hesitation. This time, he went down completely, both knees hitting the floor.
Limping toward him, Adriana’s every step was deliberate and cold. Arliss stared at her in shock, his face paling. "Y-you’re Adriana."
"Ha," she sneered, curling her lips into a cold smirk. "Wow, that’s impressive. You actually still recognize this face. Oh, wait—no, I bet it’s the leg that gave it away, huh? After all, you’re the one who left me with it."
"Adriana, I—"
"Shut up!" she snarled, her fury erupting like a storm. She kicked him hard on his wounded leg, causing his blood to gush out even faster. "You don’t get to say my name!"Arliss Cross's face turned ghostly pale as his eyes stayed fixed on the gun in Adriana Morgan's hand. His voice dropped to a deliberately soft tone as he muttered, "Adriana, where have you been all these years? I... I swear, I had no idea what really happened back then. I've been searching for you ever since."
“Ha! Seriously?” Adriana let out a cold chuckle, her face devoid of any trace of emotion. Her voice was sharp, cutting through the tense air. "Oh, really? So, you're trying to tell me that it wasn't you who stabbed me and pushed me into the ocean all those years ago?”
“Of course not! That’s not true! I love you, you know that! I—”
“Shut the hell up!” Adriana's entire body shook, her voice rising to a near scream as if she'd hit her limit. "Love me? Love me?! Love me so much you ended up in my sister's bed? Love me so much you made sure I lost everything—my home, my family, my life—just to turn me into this... this half-dead shell of a person?”
Arliss saw her trembling, and in a flash, he lunged. His hand shot forward, snatching the gun from her grip. He didn't even hesitate—he aimed straight at her chest and pulled the trigger.
The deafening shot echoed, and she collapsed, blood blooming on her shirt. He raised the gun again, pointing it straight at her head. But when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Out of bullets.
“Ha…” Adriana hit the floor, her breaths shallow yet steady. But in her eyes, there was no fear. Just regret. Seven bullets. She had counted them, and the last one—the one she had saved for him—was gone. Her miscalculation was going to cost her everything. Summoning all her strength, she raised the knife in her hand, determined to end it with the last bit of power left in her. But she had underestimated the sheer difference in strength between them. Arliss Cross easily grabbed her wrist, wrenching the knife away from her, ready to deliver the fatal blow.
But his hand, raised and poised to strike, never came down. Because he was here.
Leon Blackwell, Adriana Morgan's ex-husband, had arrived.
Without hesitating, he aimed and fired a single shot directly at Arliss's head.
Arliss Cross was no more.
The moment she saw him, Adriana's frosty glare shattered, her vision blurring as hot tears spilled down her face.
Leon rushed to her side, holding her up as she faltered, one hand pressing firmly against the wound in her chest to staunch the flow of blood. "Don’t you dare pass out on me. We’re going to the hospital, now!"