Hearing the sheer, icy certainty in his voice, the blond thug instantly clamped his jaws shut, terrified into an absolute, dead silence.

21

An hour later, everyone was at the police station recording their statements.

Considering that Julian, Christian, and I were still students, the police only gave us a verbal warning.

But the gang of thugs didn't get off so easily.

Sera was only fifteen years old.

She had been forced to drink by that group, coupled with child molestation.

Christian directly summoned the C family's lawyers.

His objective was simple: he wanted those thugs rot in prison.

Especially the blond one.

Chloe actually seemed to want to plead for that group.

"Christian, they are all my friends. Can't we just let this go?"

"Enough."

Christian spat out those two words in sheer fury.

In two lifetimes, this was the absolute first time I had ever seen Christian address his biological sister with such a freezing, bone-chilling attitude.

"Chloe, don't force me to slap you in a place like this."

Chloe stared at him in absolute disbelief, looking as though her face was flush with an immense grievance and nowhere to plead her case.

"What does it have to do with me? I wasn't the one forcing her to drink. She's just stupid herself and has a pathetic alcohol tolerance. She blacks out the moment she drinks. What the hell does it have to do with me?"

Suddenly, a realization struck me.

Someone like Chloe, no matter what kind of environment she was raised in, was an irredeemable, malicious piece of work.

She didn't possess even the most fundamental empathy of a human being.

Even when it came to a companion who had grown up alongside her, she could watch the other person be humiliated with complete indifference, and even casually laugh and drink with the culprits right beside them.

It was genuinely terrifying to contemplate how cold-blooded such a person was to her very core.

Julian let out a disdainful snort from the sidelines, his expression brimming with pure contempt:

"Sera being adopted by your family is truly the ultimate misfortune of her life. When she wakes up, she will undoubtedly regret it to the absolute extreme. Had she known it would turn out like this, she would have been far better off growing up in the orphanage."

Christian's face went completely pale, yet he couldn't formulate a single syllable to counter the statement.

Beside him, Chloe was stamping her feet in a wild frenzy.

"Julian, what the hell do you mean by that? Our family provided her with food and clothes. In what way have we ever wronged her?"

"Providing food and clothes makes you grand? How on earth are you going to compensate for the profound humiliation Sera suffered tonight?"

"Why should I compensate? How do you even know it was a humiliation? For all you know, she might have thoroughly enjoyed every second of it."

The moment those words left her mouth.

The freezing gazes of Julian, Christian, and myself simultaneously locked onto her face.

Because not a single one of the three of us had anticipated that Chloe could actually utter something so abhorrent.

Just how immense was the underlying malice required for someone to direct such a statement toward a fifteen-year-old girl?

Sensing the three of us glaring at her with absolute hostility.

Chloe's arrogant aura withered a bit, yet her stubborn pride still refused to concede defeat.

"What are you all staring at me for? I'm just speaking the truth."

Julian contemplated the matter for a brief moment, before turning his head to look at me.

"Clara, I hope that moving forward, you will forever maintain a distance of at least five meters from Chloe, and completely cut off all contact with her until the day you die, so as to avoid getting backstabbed in the future."

"Don't make me laugh, Julian! You treat your sister like a precious treasure, but to me, she isn't worth a single piece of garbage. And you're talking about a five-meter distance? I wouldn't even deign to exchange a single word with her."

Julian harbored zero desire to entangle himself further with her, grabbing my hand to lead me away.

"It's getting late. Let's head back home."

22

Sera finally regained consciousness the following day.

Regarding the events of the previous evening, even if I chose to remain silent, the police were bound to question her.

Following the completion of her official statement to the authorities, Sera lapsed into a profound, suffocating silence that stretched on for several days.

After explicitly seeking and obtaining Auntie Judith's approval, I approached Sera to inquire if she would like to move into the J family residence to stay for a period of time.

She agreed without a shred of hesitation.

The J family residence was immensely massive, boasting an abundance of spare rooms.

Once Sera completed her relocation, her emotional state palpably shifted toward a much brighter place.

Not long after the catastrophic incident at the lounge, Mrs. Catherine had attempted to extend a formal apology on Chloe's behalf.

However, this time around, Sera harbored absolutely zero desire to grant any forgiveness.

Consequently, her relationship with Chloe could be considered completely severed.

On a Saturday evening.

I was preparing to head out for a routine night run, only to collide head-on with Christian right in front of our iron security gates.

Originally, I intended to completely ignore his presence, but he called out to halt my footsteps.

Christian thrust a thick stack of cash in my direction.

"This is Sera's living allowance for the month. I have to trouble you to hand it over to her."

Beholding my icy silence, he rushed to offer an explanation:

"I attempted to transfer the funds to her digital account previously, but she rejected the transaction outright. I can only trouble you."

I let out a sharp, mocking chuckle:

"Do you honestly believe that with Sera residing under the J family roof, she could ever suffer from a lack of living funds?"

Christian froze slightly, lapsing into a long silence.

"Her surname remains that of our family regardless."

"Oh, so you're well aware that she shares your family name. What a pity that your biological sister only treats her like a mortal enemy to be crushed."

Leaving him with those words, I prepared to stride away.

"Chloe is Chloe, and I am myself. Clara, you seem to harbor an immense hatred toward me?"

"Do you possess a single quality that makes you worthy of my affection?"

"In what way have I ever provoked you?"

"You provoked me in my previous life."

Christian let out a sharp laugh of pure frustration.

"You despise having a brother like me, yet you adore a brother like Julian. That's why you preferred to be adopted by the J family rather than ours, isn't it?"

"Looking at how things stand today, it simply proves that I made an exceptionally wise choice back then, doesn't it?"

My blistering retort left Christian utterly incapable of formulating a single syllable in response.

As the two of us locked eyes in a tense standoff.

Julian had already emerged from the main house.

He lunged forward at a breakneck pace to position himself directly between the two of us, using his arms to completely shield me from view.

He resembled a fiercely protective mother hen shielding her chick.

While Christian stood opposite us like a predatory hawk, watching with calculating eyes.

"What the hell are you doing? Have you eaten your fill and found yourself with nothing better to do than to come throw a tantrum at our doorstep?"

Christian let out a cold, mocking smirk.

"Julian, are you a bloodhound or something?"

"Are you completely unhinged? You're the dog here, your entire family is a pack of dogs."

"If you aren't a dog, how come your sense of smell is so incredibly sharp? The exact instant any male tries to exchange a single syllable with Clara, you sniff out the scent and materialize out of nowhere."

Julian froze for a split second, before crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

"So what? Clara is my sister. Is it a crime for me to sniff out the danger and step forward to protect her?"

"Especially when it comes to individuals bearing your surname—there isn't a single decent person in that entire household of yours. Naturally, I have to keep an exceptionally tight leash on her safety."

Christian swept a chilling, dismissive glance over him, a sharp smirk curling onto the edge of his lips.

"You had better keep maintaining that exact mindset."

Following his departure into the darkness.

Julian couldn't contain his curiosity, pitching a swift question:

"What exactly did he say to you just now?"

I shook my head calmly.

"Nothing of note. He merely requested that I pass along some financial funds to Sera."

"Pff, as if anyone cares about his measly spare change. By the way, it's already this late, where on earth are you heading?"