Chapter 11
477words
"Please forgive us just this once. Can't we start over?"
Julian pounded desperately on the door.
I listened to his shameless pleas for a long while before finally opening the door.
"Julian, don't you find your own words laughable?"
"Not from your hearts? Yet the damage is done. If I hadn't discovered your plan, what would be standing before you now would be my corpse."
Zachary's lips trembled.
"Tara, we never intended to take your life."
"Never intended? I nearly died. That's a fact."
"Besides, if you hadn't learned the truth—that my mother was your actual savior—you wouldn't be standing here now."
"You wouldn't feel the slightest guilt toward me. You'd still be coddling your precious Lily, wouldn't you?"
I stared at them, my voice rising with each word.
They tried to speak several times but couldn't form a coherent response.
Deep down, they knew I was right.
Perhaps they cared for me in their hearts, but in the end, they chose Lily and hurt me with their own hands.
The person who once trusted them completely had already been killed by their betrayal.
Now, I wanted nothing to do with them—not even to see their faces.
I slammed the door shut again and, despite their persistent knocking, never opened it again.
Julian and Zachary returned home, their faces ashen.
Lily was still crying out in pain.
Without water for a day, her voice had grown hoarse.
"Water… please… I need water…"
Seeing Julian and Zachary enter, Lily crawled toward them, reaching out desperately.
Zachary looked at her and let out a cold snort.
He took out a cup and poured the water into the air.
"Don't you want water? Then catch it."
"Zachary, is this how you treat me now?"
Lily stared at Zachary in disbelief.
"Lily Wilson, get this straight—your entire life is in our hands now."
"Don't want to drink? Then die of thirst."
"No! I'll drink! I'll do whatever you say—please!"
Zachary, as if teasing a dog, poured water in the air, forcing Lily to lick upward, desperately trying to catch drops.
Exhausting herself completely, she managed to catch only a few drops.
Since yesterday, they had stopped helping Lily clean herself.
The stench in the room had become unbearable.
Lily's body had become filthy.
Julian covered his nose in disgust.
"You're disgusting, Lily. You can't even control your own body."
Lily's face turned ashen.
"I'm sorry! It's all my fault! Please, just let me go!"
Realizing her situation, she submitted once more.
She had always been fastidious about cleanliness; she couldn't bear being so filthy, so utterly degraded.
"Let you go? Then who will absolve us?"
Julian looked down at Lily with contempt.
"It's because of you that we lost Tara. We will never let you go."
