The rain was pouring.
Deanna Miller stuck her head out and looked at the empty alley.
She had been here for hours - her hair damp against her scalp, thin clothes soaked through, barely covering her trembling skin.
The chilling cold seemed to slow her thoughts.
She looked miserable and pitiful.
Despite all this, she clung to a tall, distinguished man.
A man whose injuries were severe due to his attempt to save her.
Deanna had wrapped him tightly in a quilted jacket, but the prolonged exposure to the heavy rain had left him drenched.
He lay unconscious, lips cracked, his face pallid.
Despite her drifting consciousness, she summoned the last ounce of strength to hold him closer.
Head bowed, Deanna attempted to shield him from the rain with her body.
She had already sent out a distress signal, hoping for someone to rescue them as quickly as possible.
An unknowable length of time had passed.
Rhythmic footsteps faintly echoed from the alley's entrance.
A glimmer of hope sparked within Deanna as she lifted her head.
A bright beam of light pierced through, blinding her momentarily, obscuring the figure approaching.
The clacking of heels came to a halt before her.
"My dear sister, surprised to see me?"
The woman, heavily adorned in makeup, her lips red like berries, moved like a snake slithering its tongue.
Although those were words that could fill one with hope, they widened Deanna's eyes in sheer disbelief.
She remembered vividly that her younger sister, Maggie Miller, had been murdered by Albert Gabriel two years ago!
"Maggie... if you're alive, why haven't you come home?"
Maggie sneered, as if she'd heard a ridiculous joke. "Home? If I returned, how would you exact revenge for me? How would you disturb the peace of all those who favored you?"
As Deanna observed the hatred in Maggie's expression, sudden realizations struck her.
"You did it on purpose!
"You deliberately made me witness Albert kill you!"
"You made me put all the blame, my hatred on him!
"You were the one who arranged for me to be hunted and killed today!"
Maggie toyed with her red nail polish, glancing at her smugly. "You're not completely dim."
"Aren't you afraid that Dad will know your true colors?"
"Dad? He only sees you. When did he ever consider me as a daughter of the Miller family?"
Maggie's eyes flashed with a sinister glint; as if she recalled something, her face twisted into a triumphant smirk.
"Oh, it's a shame that he still thinks of you, an unfilial daughter who cut ties with him, yet you didn't even get to see him one last time."
Deanna trembled uncontrollably, crimson flooding her wide eyes. "What happened to Dad? What did you do to him?"
Maggie observed Deanna's trembling form with satisfaction. "He's dead!"
Glancing at her watch, she feigned surprise. "Oh, it's been a day since I left. He's probably stone-cold by now."
"You... you monster!"
Deanna pointed at her, her voice strained with anguish.
When she was facing Deanna, who was teetering on the edge of losing control, Maggie's grin grew even more audacious.
"Those who get in my way deserve to die! But thanks to you, my good sister, I don't even need to do anything. That old man happily consumed the health supplements you gave him every day. If he knew they'd cause organ failure, I imagined he wouldn't have taken those three pills, three times a day, like a beloved treasure!"
Health supplements...
They were supposed to promote well-being.
How could they be poisonous?
No...
Maggie was the one who introduced her to that clinic!
Deanna clenched her fists, suppressing a scream.
"You can't take it anymore?"
Seeing Deanna's disheveled state, Maggie felt twenty years of suppressed resentment release, a rush of liberation coursing through her.
"You're almost dead, so I'm not afraid to tell you!"
"A stupid woman like you doesn't deserve the protection of so many people!"
"Your elder brother who was sentenced to death wasn't a murderer. He found out I was alive, and tried to warn me to stay away from disrupting your happiness, but was framed by your trusted brother, Austin!"
"Oh, and it was Austin who personally rescued me. He was also the one undermining the Miller family's businesses!"
...
"Stop it!" Deanna felt her head splitting, teetering on the edge of unbearable pain.
Maggie's lips curled into a contemptuous smile. "As for your other brother..."
"I said stop!"
Her mental defenses completely crumbled.
Deanna collapsed to the ground in agony, akin to a lifeless puppet.
It was all because of her...
They were all harmed because of her.
Brandishing a gun, Maggie aimed it at Deanna's head, her laughter echoing like a demon from hell.
"You and your family can reunite in hell!"
Maggie was right; Deanna had been naive, mistaking a snake for a loved one and pushing away those who genuinely cared for her.
But she feared... feared that even in hell, she wouldn't be forgiven for a lifetime of sins.
She was afraid that they would hate her and ignore her.
"Bang!"
She was held abruptly by a suddenly conscious man.
She felt his body shudder violently and then he let out a hoarse groan.
Her tears burned a gaping hole in his heart. He lifted his hand, clumsily attempting to wipe them away.
However, he remembered that she had always hated his touch.
He retracted his arm.
"Good girl, give me a smile."
He tried to offer a reassuring smile, but the next moment, crimson blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
How could her heart be in this much pain?
Her heart felt as if it had been cruelly ripped out, thrown into a frying pan, and then discarded into a raging fire. It sizzled and crackled before it was placed back into her icy-cold body.
The last glimmer of hope in her heart was extinguished.
She panicked like a lost child, frantically trying to cover the new wound on his shoulder.
"Albert... please... don't scare me..."
But how could she fix that wound of his?
Fresh blood flowed out from the gap between her trembling fingertips.
The pain from seeing his wound cut deep into her flesh and bones.
"Albert! Albert! You can't die! I won't let you die!"
Her cries were like a wounded bird's lament, but she could only watch his life slip away before her, completely powerless.
She hated the heavens for the unfairness of fate, and for the world's ignorance!
What had she done wrong?
Why were they all killed?
He was also harmed...
Idiot...
"I know I was wrong..."
She buried her head in his neck, desperate to absorb any warmth left.
"Please, please don't die. If you die... I won't have a home anymore.."
She had never thought that this man would die.
However, at this moment, she thoroughly experienced the heart-wrenching fear.
"If you truly love each other, then you'll accompany each other in hell!"
The sound of the gun being released rang out.
Deanna's heart suddenly calmed.
Perhaps it was better to go with him.
Her palm tickled, and she looked up in a daze.
All she could make out were his deep, haunting gaze, glowing with resolve, imprinted within her.
"Live your life..."
Suddenly, an unseen force pushed her away from his back.
In an instant, there were flames behind her.
The fire roared in the rain, casting an eerie glow on her dusty face...
"Hurry, the leader is in there!"
A band of mercenaries appeared out of nowhere at the entrance of the alley, watching as she leaped into the flames.
Before Deanna's eyes, a military man seemed to stand tall and elegant, just like when they had met for the first time.
And she wished deeply that, given another chance at life, she wouldn't have chosen this path...
