My Adopted Sister’s Rage Was Only for Me,So After Rebirth I Fought Back Chapter 09

My Adopted Sister’s Rage Was Only for Me,So After Rebirth I Fought Back Chapter 09

Several months later, the court handed down its verdict.

Lily was convicted of attempted murder and ordered to pay restitution. Her preparation of the weapon, the spare key, her confirmation of the target, the repeated stabbing, and her false claim of amnesia all proved that the attack had been deliberate.

She was still crying when she was sentenced.

Again and again, she insisted that she was ill, that she had never felt secure as a child, and that she had only been terrified of losing her family.

This time, no one accepted the consequences for her because she cried. Her tears, once her most effective weapon, had finally lost their power.

Dad and Ethan also paid for their choices. Both faced consequences for obstructing emergency care, concealing evidence at the scene, and giving false statements during the investigation.

Dad lost several major business partners, leaving his company in serious trouble.

Ethan was removed from his position.

The brother who had once looked down on me and told me not to blame someone who was ill now went from person to person begging them to hear his side.

Every word on the recordings was clearer than any excuse he could offer.

Mom survived, but the injuries left lasting damage. She couldn’t stand for long, and the area around the wounds still hurt whenever she became agitated.

Only then did she understand how easy it was to call something “just a minor injury” when she

wasn’t the one in pain.

Yet whenever she called, she still fell back on the same demands.

“I have trouble getting around now, Natalie. Come home and take care of me. It’s all over, and we’re still family.”

I paid my fair share of her medical expenses, but I never went back.

I didn’t take revenge on her, I simply refused to become the daughter who had to sacrifice herself to prove she was dutiful,

Adrian and I began planning our wedding again. This time, it was a small ceremony.

We didn’t invite anyone who had used family loyalty to pressure me into ending the case. Nor did the Bennett family’s reputation dictate the guests, the dress, or the schedule.

The night before the ceremony, I personally checked the locks, the security permissions, and the emergency contacts at our new home.

Adrian didn’t mock me for being overly cautious. He handed complete control to me.

“This is your home. You decide who gets through the door.”

The next day, I walked down the aisle in a newly made wedding dress.

No one had slashed it apart. It wasn’t stained with anyone’s blood.

When I reached Adrian, I remembered my previous life.

Back then, I had believed that if I endured Lily one more time and showed her a little more

understanding, I could make it safely to my wedding.

Giving in had never brought peace. It had only convinced the people who hurt me that no matter what they did, someone would force me to forgive them.

After we exchanged our vows, Adrian slipped the ring onto my finger.

When the applause began, I didn’t turn around to look for my family. They weren’t there, and

for the first time, that didn’t make me sad.

Later, I heard that Lily continued to file appeals. She was no longer the adopted daughter the

Bennetts treasured above everyone else.

No one erased evidence because she covered her head and cried. No one pretended the harm had never happened simply because she said she couldn’t remember it.

Dad once asked someone to tell me he regretted everything. Ethan sent me a long apology

admitting that he never should have blocked the paramedics.

I didn’t respond.

Some people regret their actions because they finally understand that they were wrong. Others

only regret that the consequences eventually reached them.

My family belonged to the second group.

I no longer needed their understanding.

I didn’t need them to acknowledge how much I had suffered either.

After the wedding, Adrian and I returned to our new home.

The door clicked shut behind us.

I stood in the foyer, looked at the security panel that only I could control, and slowly turned off

the screen.

In my previous life, they had said two stab wounds were a small price to pay compared with ruining Lily’s future.

In this life, the knife finally landed on them, and at last they understood that it hurt.