He doubled over, laughing so hard he nearly fell over. His dogs joined in, even starting to sing “Chrysanthemum Terrace” as if mocking my shattered pride. But in that moment—tied up, face down, powerless—I still had one last ounce of fight left. I kicked. Hard.
My foot landed square on Tommy’s shin. He lost his balance and crashed to the floor, the back of his head slamming into the ground with a nasty thud.
“You bastard!—” He clutched the back of his head, wincing in pain.
“You dare fight back?! I swear, I’ll kill you right here and now and no one will say a damn thing!”
Raging, he scrambled to his feet, grabbed a dining fork and aimed straight for my neck. He stabbed down. Blood bubbled up the moment the fork pierced the artery in my throat. But then—
“Wait! Tommy!”
The steward's voice cut through the chaos, panicked and breathless.
“She’s here! Miss Wilson just arrived—she’s asking for the Great-Grandfather!”
They froze. Because none of them realized the person she was looking for—the real great-grandfather—was the same person they were torturing and humiliating.
“Clean this mess up! Fast!” the steward barked. “You can’t ruin your good-boy image in front of her! If the old man’s unhappy, your whole dream of marrying into the Wilson Family goes up in smoke.”
Tommy’s face changed instantly. He dropped the fork like it was on fire and nodded furiously.
“Right, right! Gotta get the old man’s approval. We can deal with him later.”
The steward pointed toward the back garden.
“There’s a dog cage in the shed. Toss him in there.”
I was dragged across the courtyard like a corpse. My body screamed with every movement, but no one cared. The others rushed to clean up the blood, hide the mess. Even Oliver’s body was unceremoniously dumped in a trash bin.
A few minutes later, Sandra walked into the house with a bag of cat treats in her hand. Her eyes lit up in surprise the moment she saw Tommy.
“What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming until later.”
Tommy gave her a soft, affectionate smile, voice dripping with fake tenderness. “I missed you too much. I couldn’t wait any longer. I just had to see you... and meet Great-Grandfather, of course.”
Sandra blushed, clearly eating it up. She playfully flicked his nose. “You’re still so sweet and thoughtful.”
She looked around the room, puzzled. “But... where is Great-Grandfather?”