When the Sacrifice Became the Reaper Chapter 08

When the Sacrifice Became the Reaper Chapter 08

Chapter 8 Ties Severed

Back in tenth grade, Isabelle had her thugs corner me behind the school’s woods. Evan appeared out of nowhere, pulled me close, and whispered, “You owe me plenty. Be nicer to your creditor from now on.”

Marcus performed the surgery, which was a success. A month of rest would finish the recovery.

Evan seized the chance to demand I visit him every day, just as he had once blackmailed me into copying class notes in the name of life-saving gratitude.

Afterward, the Walker family rushed to the hospital to drag me home.

Marcus’s eyes were red. “Mom and Dad were fooled by that girl, Elena. Let’s be a family again.”

“Family? I can’t afford one like yours.”

Whatever thin thread of affection remained had snapped the day they left me to fend for myself on the operating table. All the injustice I’d swallowed over the years surged up again. “Do you think dumping Isabelle will wash you clean, that no one will ever learn what you’ve hidden?”

Marcus frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ve already guessed,” I said softly. “How many organ deals for the rich did Leon broker with your help? You know the number. Come on, Brother-eight years of med school plus a stint in Germany? Ordinary families can’t afford that. Money doesn’t grow on trees. My advice: turn yourselves in. The sooner you confess, the sooner you’re out.”

Linda’s face twisted. “You’re here to exact revenge! You won’t quit until the whole family is dead!”

Marcus had enjoyed every benefit the Walker family provided; he simply couldn’t watch our parents go to prison.

“Elena, without evidence, no one will know-just keep quiet,” he pleaded, gripping my shoulders. “We share the same blood. Let’s forget the past, okay?”

I couldn’t decide whether he was naïve or stupid. “Even if I stay silent, Leon won’t. Secrets always seep out.”

With that, I walked away without looking back.

Richard and Linda chose not to surrender. They were caught at the customs checkpoint trying to flee and, like Leon, received the death penalty.

I attended the trial.

Watching them sentenced felt like something vital slipped out of my body and vanished.

Soon after, Grace told me Isabelle had relapsed, escaped during discharge, and-dazed-was struck and killed by a car.

When the news broke, Marcus asked if I would visit our parents’ graves with him.

I refused.

Some people were simply unfit to be parents.

One year later, I guided my company to a successful IPO.

On listing day, Evan took me to the shore and proposed, saying, “Elena Walker, will you be my one and only?”

Memories flooded my mind; tears filled my eyes as I nodded.

“I will.”

When he brought me to the Gu family, he introduced me to everyone as his wife, grinning like a victorious general.

Everything went smoothly. The Gu family, far from blaming me for the Walker scandal, told Evan to treat me twice as well for all I’d endured.

We held the ceremony in the chapel we had dreamed of as teenagers, and Marcus showed up.

It had been almost two years since I last saw him.

He offered me a bank card. “I donated the money our parents left. This is my savings-only fifty thousand, but it’s clean. I failed you as a brother. I can’t undo the past. I’m leaving for Westland in a month to volunteer. I hope you and Evan find happiness.”

“I will.”

Yet, I didn’t take the card. “I’ve started a new life. I don’t want any ties to the Walkers. Not even you.”

Since then, I haven’t heard from Marcus again.

But at last, I have a family of my own.