The sound of the door slamming back against the wall was deafening. Lin Yue stood framed in the doorway, a figure of absolute devastation.
Tears had carved paths through Lin Yue's face, but her eyes held a clarity more terrifying than any scream. They fixed on the two figures on the bed—Chen Hao, exposed and ashamed, and Bai Lian, suddenly innocent and clutching the sheets to her chest.
A low, guttural sound escaped Lin Yue's throat. She moved, not with speed, but with the terrifying momentum of a collapsing building.
She rushed across the plush carpet, bypassing Chen Hao entirely, and swung her hand with all the accumulated force of five years of neglect, duty, and now, crushing betrayal.
Smack!
The sound cracked across the silent, luxurious room. Bai Lian's head snapped back, a crimson mark blooming instantly on her cheek.
"You shameless wretch!" Lin Yue spat, trembling, her voice raw.
Chen Hao was momentarily stunned, his mind catching up to the scene. His pampered, devoted Baby had just been struck by his haggard, tedious wife. Rage, instantaneous and blinding, overwhelmed him.
"Lin Yue! You bitch!" Chen Hao roared, shoving himself off the bed. He reached Lin Yue, his hand catching her shoulder and pushing her with savage force.
Lin Yue, already weakened by exhaustion and shock, tumbled sideways, hitting the floor hard. Before she could gasp, Chen Hao was over her, his face twisted into a mask of pure hatred.
"How dare you lay a hand on her?!" he bellowed, kicking and punching her sharply in the side.
"You think you can come here and ruin things? Get out! Get out!" He kicked her again, hard and swift. Lin Yue curled in on herself, a choked sound trapped in her throat.
Meanwhile, Bai Lian burst into theatrical, high-pitched sobs. "Brother Chen Hao! No! Stop, you're hurting her! Big Sister, please, I beg you, just leave! Don't let him do this!"
She wrapped her arms around Chen Hao's waist, feigning desperation while her eyes, over his shoulder, remained cold and fixed on Lin Yue's writhing figure.
Chen Hao after beating Lin Yue, breathing heavily, his chest heaving with exertion. He delivered a final, contemptuous kick aimed at Lin Yue's abdomen.
He spat towards Lin Yue before turning back to Bai Lian, whose sobs intensified into shuddering gasps.
"Are you alright, Baby? Did she hurt you?" Chen Hao pulled her close, stroking her hair with sickening tenderness. "Don't worry about that trash. She deserved that. You are the only thing that matters."
Bai Lian leaned into him, her voice muffled by his shoulder, still playing the virtuous role. "I'm fine… I just feel so guilty, Brother Chen Hao. This is all my fault. If I hadn't gotten involved, you wouldn't have had to…"
Lin Yue lay on the floor, battered and broken, watching the sickening scene of two scumbags comforting each other.
Her body ached, but the pain was distant, secondary to the chilling sight of her husband's complete lack of humanity.
He hadn't even glanced at her since the attack. Then, a sharp, internal twist of agony pierced the numbness in Lin Yue's lower abdomen.
She groaned, a sound too deep for a breath. Her hand instinctively reached down, and when she moved it away, her fingers were slick with warmth. Beneath her, a dark pool began to spread on the pale carpet, soaking into the fibers.
Blood.
Chen Hao, finally tearing his gaze from Bai Lian, glanced down. His eyes caught the dark red stain. But instead of panic, his face contorted into something even darker than rage—contemptuous fury.
"What is this?! You dared to get pregnant with a bastard child?!" he shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her slightly towards him. "You disgusting thing! It can't possibly be mine, after how long I've been avoiding you! You cheated on me, didn't you, you pathetic worm?!"
He started kicking her again, not just in rage, but in cold, purposeful fury, aiming at her stomach. "I should have known you were worthless! Get rid of it! Get rid of this trash!"
The pain was overwhelming, drowning out the sound of Chen Hao's curses and Bai Lian's high-pitched, fake wails. Lin Yue's vision swam, black tendrils creeping into the corners of her sight.
Suddenly, the brutal kicks stopped. With a final, disgusted curse, Chen Hao stormed towards the door. "I'm done with this show! Call the lawyers, Bai Lian! I want her out of my life tomorrow!"
The door slammed shut, leaving Lin Yue bleeding and half-conscious on the floor, and Bai Lian standing alone.
The moment the lock clicked, Bai Lian's performance ceased. She straightened her dress, a cruel, predatory smile replacing the tears. She slowly walked toward Lin Yue's crumpled figure.
"Pity," Bai Lian murmured, her voice now flat and chillingly controlled. She crouched down, grabbing Lin Yue's blood-soaked hair and yanking her head back, forcing their eyes to meet. "Such a shame. Five years wasted on this marriage."
Lin Yue's eyes were fading, but the fury in them was still a living thing as she stare Bai Lian intently with murderous gaze.
"Did you really think Brother Chen Hao loved you?" Bai Lian chuckle, her voice like grinding ice.
Bai Lian then click her tongue twice and gloat "He was always mine. Since we were teenagers. We dated secretly right under your nose Big Sister and you live in dark until today."
Bai Lian look at Lin Yue like she was look at a pathetic waste and feign pity and said "Oh Big Sister, since you are dying let me tell you some truth so that you can die in peace."
Then Bai Lian pinch Lin Yue's face and confess venomously "Remember your wedding day? You were alone on your wedding night?..."
Bai Lian chuckle and continue "Because I called Brother Chen Hao to my side and we spend together that night...tsk tsk tsk... I pity you big sister... dumped like a fool on your wedding night"
Bai Lian's fingernails dug into Lin Yue's cheek, drawing fresh blood that mingled with the tears and sweat.
Bai Lian throw away Lin Yue's head in disdain and clean her hands with handkerchief as she touch something filthy.
Then Bai Lian throw away the handkerchief and continue with a calm and gloating tone "Your whole life, in one word, is, pathetic, Big Sister. It was so satisfying.
Bai Lian crouch again beside Lin Yue and said excitedly "You know, big sister... My mother and I made sure Father hated you. Remeber your school expulsion?..." She chuckled and gloat "We bought off your homeroom teacher, accused you of sleeping with Shen Ming, and got you expelled so you could never finish high school."
She laughed—a short, sharp, triumphant sound. "We even made Chen Hao believe those cheating rumors back then, just to ensure his parents would forever disapprove of their marriage."
She glanced down at the pooling blood between Lin Yue's legs, her smile widening. "Oh, and the child? Brother Chen Hao is right. It wasn't his. It was a bastard."
Bai Lian sigh and feign pity "How foolish of you to think that Brother Chen Hao would look at your worn-out body besides the man I pick up from the streets to touch you while he was with me."
Then, Bai Lian leaned in, dropping her voice to a vicious, final whisper "And your precious mother's accident? That wasn't an accident. My mother arranged it. She needed that bitch gone so she could marry father..."
Bai Lian chuckle darkly and whisper venomously "And the most interesting thing is that our father, Lin Aiguo, was the one who planned that accident."
Bai Lian paused, savoring the final secret. "And one more thing, Big Sister... Lin Aiguo isn't my stepfather. He's my biological father. He always has been."
Bai Lian chuckle and said "Who would think that I'm the true and legitimate daughter of Lin family and you?... you are nothing just a bastard like your bastard child..."
Bai Lian paused and take a deep breath and moist her throat with her saliva and continue with a bright smile "Oh, yeah! This scheme of you getting pregnant with a bastard. I learnt from my mother, she also made your mother back then pregnant with another man like I did, and you came into this world..."
Bai Lian laugh cruelly like a mad woman and said "You know, the most exciting part was that our father... oh sorry... my father... knows this too because he was the one who drugged your mother back then and sent her to an unknown man's room.. thrilling right?"
Lin Yue's world dissolved. Betrayal from a husband, hatred from a stepsister, and now, the murder of her mother, sanctioned by the father who had raised her.
A primal, untamed strength surged through Lin Yue's dying body. Her eyes snapped open, blazing with terminal rage. She lunged, her bloody hand shooting out, wrapping around Bai Lian's throat in a death grip.
Bai Lian shrieked in surprise. As Lin Yue's fingers clamped down, blood from her wounded hand smeared across the exquisite jade pendant hanging around Bai Lian's neck—the jade pendant Lin Yue's mother had left for her, the relic Bai Lian had cunningly stolen years ago. The dark red blood, the symbol of Lin Yue's final moments, marked the stolen treasure.
Bai Lian wrestled free, coughing and sputtering. The shock quickly turned to a fierce, selfish desire to eliminate the problem.
She began to beat Lin Yue's head repeatedly against the floor. Lin Yue's grip weakened, her eyes fluttering.
The last sensation Lin Yue registered was the dull thudding of her skull on the marble and the sound of Bai Lian spitting near her ear. "You're pathetic," Bai Lian hissed.
As Lin Yue's consciousness faded into a swirling vortex of agony and darkness, she faintly heard Bai Lian's high-pitched voice giving a chilling order into a phone: "Clean up Room 1089 immediately. Dispose of the mess in the mountains."
In that final, agonizing moment, as Lin Yue's breath left her body, Lin Yue's mind screamed one last promise, a vow carved from the depths of her soul, fueled by hatred and absolute reluctance to die like this.
If I get a chance… I swear I will repay Chen Hao and Bai Lian a hundred times over for every drop of blood and every tear I shed today!