The Path of No Return

When I was seven, Dad brought Queenie home.She said that she liked my room, so I was kicked out and sent to sleep in the guest room.Every day, Dad personally drove her to and from school.During parent-teacher conferences, he chose to go to her class instead of mine.Eventually, I became known to my classmates as a bastard with no parents.Aunt Caroline had complained on my behalf before, saying that Dad shouldn't be so biased.However, Dad just said matter-of-factly, "Queenie lost her parents when she was young. What a poor child—how could I not take extra care of her?"He seemed to have forgotten that I had lost my mother at a young age too.Meanwhile, Queenie, whom he'd called obedient and well-behaved, had come into my room on my birthday and stolen the necklace that Mom had left me.I caught up to her at the top of the stairs on the second floor. She raised the necklace in front of me with a sinister expression. "You want this necklace, don't you, Yvonne?"I clenched m

Sunlight slanted over the corpse. The air was filled with an indescribable stench of decay, so intense it was suffocating.My skin had taken on a sickly grayish-green hue, swollen beyond recognition.The exposed muscles in my wounds had decomposed into a thick, viscous fluid.Time seemed to stop at that moment.Dad's gaze fell upon the barely distinguishable human form before Aunt Caroline. His pupils constricted. He looked like he'd been struck by a hammer. He was deeply shocked. "That's impossible," he mumbled in disbelief.Stumbling forward, he reached out to touch me but shrank back abruptly. "How could this… No… This isn't real…"Aunt Caroline stumbled to her feet and went up to him. She grabbed his arm weakly and demanded, "No matter what, Yvonne is still your daughter. She is Julia's flesh and blood, her only descendent! How could you be so cruel?"Dad pulled his arm out of her grip and shouted in defiance, "Yanis Winchester told me that he had let her out! She escaped fr

Dad quickly put down the box and ran out of the room.Yannis was Dad's assistant. They were around the same age.Dad went up to him and asked, "What happened to Queenie?"Seeing Dad's concern for Queenie, I felt a pang of envy. I was jealous of how she could gain Dad's affection so easily.She didn't even need to do anything for Dad to be so devoted to her. He loved her more than he loved his own daughter.Then again, I couldn't blame him.Head lowered, Yannis said, "Ms. Anderson has been kidnapped. The kidnappers want to speak to you."Hearing this, Dad hurried toward the door. Right before he exited, he turned and asked darkly, "Yannis, did you really let Yvonne out of the basement?"Yannis' eyes flashed briefly with panic, but he quickly masked it. "Yes, Mr. Linnus. I'm sure of it!"Dad gave him another look before leaving.Actually, all he needed to do was check the footage from the surveillance cameras in the basement. He would know, then, that I had never left the basem

"Why would you do this?" Dad asked, gritting his teeth.Yannis suddenly yelled hysterically, "Linnus Corporation was supposed to be mine! You took it away from me and killed my mother. I've been lying in wait by your side for many years just for a chance to get my revenge!"I thought that Dad would kill him right then and there, but he just said, "You are just an illegitimate bastard. You have no right to claim Linnus Corporation."Then, he turned and signaled to someone outside the door, ignoring Yannis' cursing.A team of police officers swarmed in.The plot twist was so sudden that I could barely process it.I'd spent that night staring at the moon, lost in thought. I didn't know that he had done so many things.I had forgotten how calm and meticulous he could be when he wanted.He just never wanted to be meticulous when it came to me. He didn't want to admit that I was innocent when it came to Mom's death.I followed him back to the Linnus residence and watched as he stumb