Chapter 4

Leo Vance’s small face immediately went pale.

But the next second, he roared at me.

“Shut your mouth! You’re not worthy of mentioning my mother!”

I raised my hand, and with a loud crack, five angry red marks appeared on his face.

I looked at him with profound disappointment.

“I am your mother’s biological sister. Your aunt.”

“The same blood runs through our veins. We were the closest people in the world. How can I not mention her?”

My gaze swept over them, one by one.

“If I’m not worthy, then neither are you!”

“Leo Vance, you are her only son, yet on her death anniversary, you embrace another woman as your mother. Are you worthy of mentioning her?!”

I then pointed at Julian Vance, but before I could speak, he cut me off.

“Enough!”

“My heir is not for you to lecture.”

“Someone, bring the discipline.”

The barbed iron whip was brought in, and the servants forcibly bound me.

Julian Vance put on white gloves, looking at me as if I were already dead.

“After all these years, have you still not learned what to say and what not to say?”

He raised the whip and lashed it hard across my back.

One lash, two lashes.

Each strike tore away a piece of raw, bleeding flesh, and my screams echoed through the villa.

After ninety-nine lashes, my back was a mangled mess of wounds.

I lay in a pool of blood, my breathing barely perceptible.

Julian Vance tossed the whip away, his voice cold.

“Take the madam downstairs.”

Leo Vance let out a cruel, maniacal laugh.

“You wretched woman! You deserve this!”

Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

Every inch of my body screamed in agony, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

His words were like sharp blades, each one a cold, gleaming knife, gouging out my heart until it bled.

I was dragged into the utility room by a maid. She spat at me and tossed me onto a wooden plank to die.

“Gold-digging homewrecker! You couldn’t wait to jump into his bed before the former madam’s grave was even dug! You deserve it!”

Not long after she left, a click echoed, and the door opened again.

Serena Wells’s hateful face came into view.

I turned my head away, unwilling to look at her.

But she leaned down, whispering into my ear like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

“I didn’t even care about your sister. As for you, I care even less.”

“You don’t know, do you? At first, Julian really was good to her.”

“It was I who framed her for still pining over her first love, which made Julian harden his heart and kill her.”

I completely lost all reason, struggling to get up and fight her.

Serena immediately stumbled and fell.

Just then, Leo Vance pushed open the door.

He walked in to see Serena on the ground.

He yelled furiously.

“Evil woman! Serena Mom came here out of kindness to put medicine on you, how could you be so ungrateful!”

I screamed, my voice raw.

“Serena killed your own mother! Are you still going to protect her like this?!”

Serena feigned sorrow.

“Clara, I know you don’t like Leo being close to me, and you’re trying every way to get rid of me.”

“But Leo’s mother died of cancer, and I was studying abroad at the time. How could I have possibly harmed her?”

With that, she covered her face and began to sob.

But through her fingers, I saw her cast a defiant smile at me.

In an instant, my entire being felt like it was boiling with rage.

But just as I gathered every last ounce of strength to make Serena pay, a bucket of saltwater was thrown squarely in my face.

The icy water streamed down my back, and instantly, a pain like a thousand ants gnawing at my flesh erupted from my wounds.

Leo Vance burst into cruel laughter.

“High-concentration saltwater, specially prepared for you! Do you like it?!”

Immense agony pierced through my flesh, and my eyes filled with profound disappointment as I looked at Leo Vance.

He was my sister’s only child. On her deathbed, my sister had even begged me to be his safety net.

His hatred for me was truly chilling.