My Birth Parents and Husband Chose the Adopted Daughter, So I Vanished Chapter 04

My Birth Parents and Husband Chose the Adopted Daughter, So I Vanished Chapter 04

That night, when I woke up again, my hands and feet were bound.

A bomb was strapped to my chest, its timer counting down.

Fifteen minutes.

Serena was tied up not far from me.

But she didn’t look scared at all.

She looked at me and actually smiled.

“Evelyn, go on, have a guess. If we were both kidnapped, who do you reckon Adrian, Mum and Dad would save?”

I said nothing.

She slowly rested a hand over her lower abdomen.

“Oh, you don’t know yet, do you? I’m pregnant with Adrian’s baby.”

I thought of the love bite I’d seen on his neck.

Strangely, I wasn’t surprised at all.

My lack of reaction clearly annoyed Serena.

She walked over and slapped me across the face.

Then she planted her foot directly on the unhealed wounds across my chest.

Pain constricted my chest until every breath became difficult.

Her smile only widened.

“Do you know what I hate most about you? You think being a Carter gives you the right to compete with me.”

“You grew up in foster care and low-income housing. The state even chose your schools until you were sixteen. The first time you went to an upmarket restaurant, you didn’t know which fork to use. Then you came back, and suddenly everyone was calling you the Carters’ real daughter. Why should that make you more important than me?”

She pressed down harder with her shoe.

“All I have to do is cry, and they’ll punish you for me. Adrian staged the first kidnapping. Mum and Dad stood by and let those ninety-nine lashes happen.”

“You ended up in hospital time after time, and they still took me to charity galas and gave me a place in the Family. Deep down, they all know you don’t belong here.”

Suddenly, tyres screeched against the pavement outside.

Serena lifted her head.

She looked smug.

“They’re here. And this time, the bomb’s real. I’ve got the detonator. The moment I’m through that door, I’ll press it. You’ve always wanted to know which one of us they think of as family, haven’t you? Well, now you’ll find out.”

Before long, chaotic footsteps thundered outside the warehouse.

We were inside a disused warehouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Several Moretti bodyguards rushed in first.

Adrian and my parents followed behind them.

Almost immediately, all three of them looked at Serena.

Her eyes reddened at once.

“Adrian, Dad, Mum… please, help me. They hit me. They threatened to hurt my baby.”

Adrian’s expression tightened instantly.

My parents stepped forwards, seemingly forgetting there were armed kidnappers in the room.

“Let our daughter go.”

My father’s voice was tight with tension.

“Whatever you want, we can work something out.”

One of the kidnappers laughed.

“You can only take one.”

Adrian frowned.

“I’m taking them both.”

“You’re not calling the shots.”

The kidnapper pressed the muzzle against Serena’s side.

“Choose.”

After a brief silence, Adrian suddenly looked at me.

“Evelyn. Why did you run off on your own again?”

I didn’t answer.

The agitation in his voice slowly hardened into anger.

“I’m taking Serena.”

My parents didn’t object.

Adrian continued, “I’ve already checked. You set this up yourself, didn’t you? All because of that one lash at the hospital. Evelyn, Serena’s given up more than enough for you since you came back to the Carters. She was raised for this life. She’s always been far better suited to those positions than you. Even so, we made you my wife, gave you a home at the estate and let you call yourself Mrs Moretti. What more could you possibly want?”

I looked at him quietly.

His voice grew colder with every sentence.

“You’ve threatened to kill yourself too many times. Eleven, and someone saved you every time. You don’t really want to die, so this time, you’ll learn your lesson. Come home when you’ve calmed down.”

Strangely, his words didn’t hurt anymore.

All I felt was relief. Once I stopped expecting anything from them, I finally understood how much lighter I could feel.

A slow smile appeared on my face.

Adrian’s expression suddenly stiffened.

He seemed to have finally realised that this time, I truly might not come back.

Serena immediately grabbed his sleeve.

“Adrian, my stomach hurts. I think something’s wrong with the baby.”

The moment he heard the word baby, he stopped looking at me.

He bent down and lifted Serena into his arms.

My parents followed them out.

The kidnappers tied me to one of the warehouse’s support columns again.

Then they slipped out through the rear exit.

Only a few dozen seconds remained on the timer.

The System’s alarm blared again and again inside my head.

[Host! Forced extraction is ready!]

I closed my eyes.

“Use every last point I’ve got.”

[What do you want in exchange?]

“Evidence. I want everything that’s happened over the years, including today, exposed.”

“Send it to the forums, the press, the Family’s internal channels and everyone they care about. Every last one of them.”

The System fell silent for a second.

[Deal.]

The next instant, a deafening explosion tore through the centre of the warehouse.

Flames swallowed my vision.

In the distance, Adrian and my parents all turned around at the same time.

The colour drained from their faces.

“EVELYN!”

After the blast, I heard the System speak one final time.

[Extraction successful. Welcome home.]