Chapter 1

My words were like a bucket of ice water, dousing the last glimmer of hope in my mother’s eyes.

She stopped struggling and looked at me. Her whole body was trembling. “Zayne Luke... H-He’s your younger brother…”

“I know.” I nodded and turned my gaze back to my phone.

“Y-You’re not human!” My mother finally mustered all her strength to scream these words. Tears streamed down her face like beads falling from a broken string.

Willa Sutton rushed over as well. She grabbed another piece of canvas cloth, soaked it in water, and wore an expression of resolute grief and indignation.

“Susan, don’t beg him! He’s already gone mad! We’ll go in ourselves! Zayne, move out of the way!”

She tried to push me aside so she and my mother could rush in together.

I sighed, feeling a bit impatient.

“How troublesome.”

With a quick backhand grip, I pulled my mother behind me while simultaneously stepping sideways to block Willa’s path.

They were both frail women. There was no way they could budge me an inch.

“You’re not going in.” My tone left no room for argument.

“What right do you have to stop us?! The person in there is your own younger brother! My brother-in-law!” Willa cried out as she pounded her fists against my chest.

I let her keep hitting me as I took out my phone and opened the top-up screen.

“I’m out of tokens. Wait while I top up 100 dollars.”

Right in front of them, I calmly completed the payment.

The sight of that completely shattered their psychological defenses.

“You monster! That’s your little brother in there!” My mother collapsed to the ground as she stared at me in despair.

I ignored her and simply pulled two lengths of thick hemp rope from the toolbox beside me.

Under their terrified stares, I tied Willa’s wrists to the railing nearby.

“Mom, if you want to save him, go save him yourself. Don’t take Willa with you,” I said coldly.

My mother completely broke down. “Zayne! You’ll get what’s coming to you! You beast!”

Willa shouted frantically too. “Let me go! If we don’t go in to save them now, it’ll be too late!”

The fire was growing fiercer. Several muffled explosions rang out from deep within the factory. We could hear sounds that indicated that the structure was collapsing.

The golden rescue window was slipping away second by second.

In another hour, not even a bone fragment would remain, let alone a human being.

My mother seemed to realize this as well. Her angry curses turned into pleas.

“Zayne… my boy… I beg you… I was wrong…” She knelt on the ground and pressed her forehead to the gravel.

“As long as you go in and save your brother… our family’s assets, my shares in the factory, all our savings… will all be yours!

“I’ll draw up a will right away and transfer the money immediately! I won’t keep a single cent. It’s all yours!”

When I heard this, I looked up at her. My eyes softened slightly.

“All of it?”

“All of it! Every last cent!” My mother saw a glimmer of hope and nodded frantically.

I stroked my chin, as if carefully weighing the pros and cons of the deal.

A few seconds later, I nodded.

“Alright.

“Then, transfer the money first, and have a lawyer come over to draw up the will.”

The blood drained from Willa’s face. She looked at me as her eyes filled with contempt and disgust. “Zayne, I must have been blind before! You’re nothing but an ungrateful wretch!”

My mother was once again enraged by my cold-bloodedness and let out a piercing scream. “You money-grubbing demon! That’s your biological brother’s life!

“By the time we’re done with all this, it’ll be too late!”

I listened coldly to their curses and was just about to say something.

Suddenly, several fire trucks roared up the street with their blinding emergency lights.

In the end, a kind-hearted passerby had called the fire department after all.