My Family Played Poor While Spoiling My Sister? Sorry, I’m the Real Heiress! Chapter 04

My Family Played Poor While Spoiling My Sister? Sorry, I’m the Real Heiress! Chapter 04

Everyone sprinted toward the roof.

Harper was pinned against the safety railing by a gaunt, wild-eyed man. A knife was pressed to her throat, drawing a thin bead of blood.

His eyes darted wildly, and he muttered under his breath in a ceaseless stream. “It’s time… the ritual… it has to start now. A pure offering… the gods promised… they’ll heal me… grant me eternal life…”

“Mom! Dad, save me! I don’t want to die!” Harper shrieked, thrashing and soaked in tears.

Mom’s knees buckled, and she crashed to the concrete. “Please don’t hurt my daughter! Name any price, and we’ll pay it!”

The hostage-taker ignored her, pressing the knife deeper. “I need a pure maiden for the sacrifice to gain immortality!”

Harper screamed again.

In that instant, Dad spun around and seized my wrist tightly. “Lorelei. Take her place.”

I froze. “What did you say?”

“I told you to replace her.” He repeated the demand, dragging me toward the man. “Sir, calm down. Let my daughter go. You want a maiden to die alongside you? Take her instead!”

I stared at the man who’d raised me for eighteen years, ice spreading through my veins. “Would you truly go this far for Harper?”

Mom turned slowly to face me. Her reddened eyes burned with unyielding resolve. “You’re only our adopted daughter. We sheltered you for eighteen years. Out of gratitude, I beg you—save your sister.”

The crowd shrank back, phones still raised, recording every second. Their silence wasn’t sympathy—it was complicity.

The unstable man at the railing grew impatient. “Quit arguing! I will count to ten. If you don’t decide, I jump with her! Ten…Nine…Eight…”

Dad squeezed his eyes shut, his jaw tightening in a performance of anguish.

White-hot pain burst through the back of my head. My vision blurred. Through the haze of pain, I saw Dad grab a loose brick with one hand and seize my arm with the other, dragging me toward the railing. “Don’t blame me. You owe Harper this, from eighteen years ago.”

He shoved me straight toward the man with the knife, then lunged forward to snatch Harper into his arms. “It’s alright, baby. Daddy’s here.”

Harper buried her face against his shoulder and wailed. Once they reached safety, he never glanced back at me again.

Before I could process the betrayal, the man looped an arm around my neck from behind. He inhaled deeply against my skin. “A replacement… you’re even better… purer. Yes… you’ll do. Together we ascend.”

He raised the blade already stained with Harper’s blood. His eyes bulged, and his mouth stretched into a grotesque grin. “Are you ready? The sacrifice begins now.”

Wind rushed over the rooftop edge. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.

Just as the knife hovered an inch from my throat, a familiar, amused voice cut through the chaos. “The performance has gone on long enough. Careful not to truly traumatize my baby sister.”