Chapter 4Love and Hate Are Too Luxurious

A glacial cold seized me. I trembled, bile rising in my throat. I didn't know what was worse: the fury over how they'd abused my sister, or the sickening sting of their betrayal. The two most important people in my life had betrayed me, together.

My mind went blank. But Amelia, in her fog, saw me first.

My sister, who had always been so meticulous about her appearance, was now filthy, her hair a matted nest. She held out a dirty, stale bread roll to me.

"P-aul… eat…"

The tears I’d been holding back for months finally broke free. I lunged forward, a guttural roar ripping from my chest, and swung my fist at Leo's face with all my strength.

He shrieked, scrambling to his knees before me. "Paul, I know I've wronged you! I've wronged Amy! But I'm not even thirty yet! I can't spend the rest of my life tied to a… to an invalid!"

But I had offered him his freedom. He was the one who had sworn he would never leave her. Did he think he could have it all?

"Linda and I… we're in love," he stammered. "I won't challenge your position as her husband, I swear. I'll take good care of your sister, I promise. Just… just let me stay with Linda. The four of us can still be together, can't we?"

My sister had always shielded me from the world's darkness. This was the first time I had come face-to-face with such vile, selfish treachery.

I raised my hand to strike him again, but Linda slapped it away.

Amelia, terrified by the commotion, began to wail. But a primal instinct took over. She threw her frail body against the iron chain, again and again, until with a sickening crack, her ankle snapped and she broke free.

Dragging her broken leg, she threw her arms around me, shielding me with her own body.

The wooden stool Linda hurled at me crashed down on Amelia's head instead.

Warm blood soaked my hands.

Numb with shock, I fumbled for my phone to call for an ambulance. But Linda, now dressed, calmly walked over and crushed it under her heel.

I had seen her mischievous, happy, and guilty. But this was the first time I had seen such cold, calculated cruelty in her eyes.

"If you want this idiot to live," she hissed, "you will shut your mouth. Your position as my husband is secure. I'll even get the best doctors for your sister. But you will never, ever mention what you saw between Leo and me again."

My poor, confused sister didn't understand what was happening, but she clumsily tried to wipe away my tears. "P-aul, don't cry… Amy's here…"

I surrendered.

After their initial panic, Linda and Leo became brazen. Rumors of their affair spread through our social circle. People called them ungrateful parasites. The scandal even threatened the company's plans to go public.

Then, the most important thing happened: Linda got pregnant.

She came to me with a demand. She wanted a divorce, and she wanted me to publicly confess that my sister and I were the third parties who had ruined her relationship with Leo.

"Paul, if you let your pride get in the way," she threatened, her voice chillingly calm, "you will never see Amelia again."

She wasn't bluffing. I searched everywhere, but my sister was gone.

Defeated, I knelt before her like a stray dog.

In front of countless media cameras, I bowed my head and confessed my "sins," publicly apologizing to her and Leo.

"It was Amelia who drugged Leo and seduced him. It was me who deliberately sabotaged their love…"

As I read the confession they had written for me, a script full of twisted lies, my first instinct was to run. But Linda leaned in close and played a voice recording from her phone. It was Amelia, her voice weak and slurred.

"P-aul… so cold…"

I bit down so hard I thought my teeth would crack, and I read every last word.

The crowd stared at me with contempt, disgust, and morbid curiosity.

I don't know how I left that press conference. All I wanted was to see my sister, to know she was safe. But a nurse at the care facility told me that Amelia had seen the video of me kneeling. She had become agitated, demanding to go find me, and had slipped away.

The next time I saw my sister, she was a cold, lifeless body in the morgue.

She was covered in filth, her body broken. Clutched in her hand was a crumpled paper airplane, a toy I had loved as a child.

I beat the homeless men who had assaulted her until they were bloody, but it didn't change anything. I would never hear her call my name again.

I held her body and sobbed until I had nothing left.

Meanwhile, my phone lit up with headlines celebrating the fairy-tale romance of tech-world darlings Linda and Leo.

How could I not hate them?

I arranged my sister’s funeral alone. With a fruit knife tucked in my pocket, I went to their company's IPO ceremony, ready to take them down with me.

I burst in, but I was too naive. Before I could even get close, security guards had me pinned to the floor. In front of all the cameras, I screamed the truth, crying out about their shamelessness, hoping to ruin them.

But I was no match for them.

"He's suffering from a mental breakdown due to his sister's passing," Linda announced calmly to the press. "We are so sorry for the disturbance. I promise, we will ensure he never has the opportunity to harm anyone again."

They had all the power and resources they needed to crush a powerless orphan like me.

I was charged with assault and sent to prison.

When I was released two years later, the world had moved on. Linda was the revered CEO of a major tech corporation. I couldn't even get past the front gate of her company campus, let alone get my revenge.

Linda opened her mouth to say something, but my phone rang.

"Paul, I'm here."

A warmth spread through my chest, and I jogged downstairs to meet her.

As I led Maya up the stairs, I could hear arguing from inside the apartment.

"Why? Why are you just giving him half the shares?" It was Leo's voice, shrill with anger.

"Your eyes have been glued to him since he walked in! Am I invisible to you?"

"If you ever go near him again, I swear, I can have him thrown back in prison, and this time—"

The sound of a sharp slap cut him off.

"The company belonged to his sister in the first place!" Linda's voice was laced with fury. "It was Amelia who took you in when you were homeless, who paid off your debts! Without her, you'd be rotting in a gutter somewhere! After everything we did to him, aren't you afraid Amelia’s ghost will come back to haunt you?"

Hearing them mention my sister filled me with a sudden, weary disgust.

I pushed the door open. They both fell silent.

Linda’s eyes fixed on the woman whose hand was intertwined with mine. Her voice was a raw whisper.

"Who is she?"

"My fiancée."