Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
“As long as Xiaoyue confesses at the station, Xiaoxue can come out.”
With a cold laugh, I pushed open my door.
Everyone turned.
“Lin Xiaoyue!”
My brother-in-law’s mother charged over and grabbed my collar.
“You little curse! You’ve destroyed your sister!”
“Go to the station right now and say you hit them!”
I shoved her off.
“Dream on.”
“What did you say?”
“Dream on,” I repeated, stressing every word. “She killed them. Why should I confess for her?”
Mom rushed over and grabbed my hand.
“Please, Xiaoyue. Tell them you were driving.”
“I’ll get on my knees.”
She actually began to kneel.
I held her up.
“Mom, kneeling won’t help.”
“The police aren’t fools. Her fingerprints are in the car. Her DNA is on the steering wheel.”
“My confession won’t change the facts.”
Dad stared.
“DNA?”
“Yes.” I looked at them. “They’ve taken samples. Skin cells on the airbag, fingerprints on the wheel. They’re hers.”
“Surgery can change a face. Can it change DNA?”
Deathly silence.
At last, they understood that their plan to make me take the blame had collapsed.
My brother-in-law’s mother sank to the floor, wailing.
“My daughter-in-law is finished. The children are finished…”
Mom collapsed onto the sofa and covered her face.
Dad leaned against the wall, looking ten years older.
I turned back toward my room.
“Wait.”
My brother-in-law’s father spoke suddenly.
His voice was calm. Strangely calm.
I looked back. His stare was dark and frightening.
“If your sister’s going to prison, you must take responsibility.”
“For what?”
“Marry Zhou Hang.”
I thought I had misheard.
“What?”
“Marry Zhou Hang,” he repeated deliberately. “You’re twins. You look exactly alike.”
“The children won’t be traumatized. And your future earnings can pay compensation to the victims.”
“It’s the only way to atone.”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Perfectly sane.”
He stood and approached.
“You put your sister in prison. You must bear the consequences.”
“Marry him, or we’ll come to your workplace every day and make sure you can’t work.”
His wife scrambled up.
“Yes! You must marry my son!”
“The children need a mother. Make this sacrifice for the family.”
I looked at my parents, expecting them to refuse.
Dad only sighed.
Mom looked at the crying children and avoided my eyes.
“Xiaoyue, perhaps… you should agree,” she whispered.
My heart sank.
“Mom, what are you saying?”
“The children can’t be without a mother.”
She wiped her tears.
“They’re right. Better to keep things in the family.”
“Just sacrifice yourself for us one more time.”
I looked at them, then laughed.
Laughed until tears came.
“One more time?”
I wiped my eyes.
“I’ve sacrificed enough.”
“My job. My permanent post.”
“Now you want me to marry my own brother-in-law?”
“I’m your daughter, not your slave!”
“How can you speak like that?” Dad frowned. “We’re doing this for the family.”
“For the family?” I laughed coldly. “Have you ever thought about me?”
“Whenever my sister wanted something, I had to give it up.”
“My toys. My clothes—I had to take them off for her.”
“Now she’s in prison, you want to give her my whole life?”
“Enough!” Dad banged the table. “You’re selfish!”
“Am I? Or are you?”
“You never treated me as your daughter. I was my sister’s backup. Your grandchildren’s nanny.”
“Now you want me to be a breeding machine too?”
Mom cried harder.
“How can you think that of me?”
“Because that’s how you’ve treated me.”
I took a recording pen from my pocket.
“Every word you just said is recorded.”
Everyone froze.
I held it up.
“Forcing me to confess. Forcing me to have surgery. Forcing me to marry my brother-in-law to pay debts. I have the recordings. Pressure me again, and I’ll give them to the police. I’ll post them online so everyone can see what kind of parents you are!”
Mom turned white.
Zhou Hang reached for the recorder. I stepped back.
“Try it. I’ll call the police right now.”
He stopped.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
I opened the door to a middle-aged man in a smart suit.
“Miss Lin Xiaoyue? I’m Lawyer Wang. You retained me.”
I had contacted him beforehand.
“Please come in.”
He entered and glanced around.
“Miss Lin, I’ve prepared the documents you requested to sever your family ties.”
He took several sheets from his briefcase and laid them on the coffee table.
“These are declarations severing the father-daughter and mother-daughter relationships. Both parties need to sign.”
My parents stared.