A while back, I realized that my only value and requirement in your life is to love you and sacrifice my life for you when the day comes. —By Brian
*
"Your real father is... Justin Yan!"
"No, this can't be... ahhh!"
Molly yelled out in pain before she could finish the sentence. The woman wearing a mask in one swift movement swayed her knife and cut Molly's arm leaving a deep wound. "In the past, because of your stupid father, that important mission failed miserably. My father, the best scout in the army, received wrong and misleading information which tripped up the entire team leading them in harm's way. He died on foreign soil full of regrets and remorse. Even his body wasn't recovered and brought back to his motherland. All of this," she paused with a mournful snarl, "was because of your father, a licentious greedy beast who traded important state secrets of utmost importance for giving into his low lust."
"No! This can't be true. Your words are... not right." Molly's lips trembled with shock and fear. She couldn't believe this woman's story, let alone the fact that her real father was Justin, nor the truth of the alleged failed mission.
The masked woman slowly pulled herself away from Molly and looked down upon her, "So, you don't believe me? Come, you can just ask Brian if that will help you believe. Your arrogant Mr. Brian Long ducked and protected you from every way you could have chanced upon this hideous truth because he didn't want you to get hurt. How pathetic!"
Molly immediately raised her head upon hearing Brian being mentioned. While meeting her astonished gaze, the woman continued, "When he sent Steven away from the city, he also sent Daniel because the boy was injected with the drug 'Dream' because of Steven, your dear father. Did you know about this?" With a mocking smile smeared across her face, she slowly explained, "The drug 'Dream' is so strong that no one injected with it is able to recover from the addiction. Daniel should have died quickly after several injections of this lethal drug! However, Brian, that silly man again tried to save the day, ordered Elias to research for a new drug to save his life. It took him four long years, and during these years, it cost Brian over a billion a year to inject Daniel with 'cold heart' to curb his addiction and as an antidote. Imagine who else except him could have such resources, power, and funds to make this possible?"
Molly's breath grew shallow as it became difficult for her to breathe as she tried to absorb what the woman said. Molly introspected about how all these years she had viciously condemned Brian when she heard about Daniel's addiction and that it was caused by Brian. And now, she finally understood why he had done that and the truth behind it all. Her heart broke with guilt and sorrow, with cold sweat on her forehead.
"Hey, are you okay? You look terribly painful," the masked woman asked with a wide smirk, "but this is just part of it." Evidently, some sort of pleasure appeared in her eyes as she enjoyed Molly's painful look in a sadist manner. Nonetheless, the strong hatred in her heart didn't mellow down at all. She continued, "Well, so did you know about this? About five years ago, Brian nearly kicked the bucket that night when you left him secretly."
Molly looked at the wound in her arm where a tracker was gouged out by a knife just a few moments back. Even though she didn't want to think about it, the scene in Brian's villa from one particular morning flashed across her mind. That day, she had felt a strong itch in her arm after she woke up, and she noticed a mark left behind by an injection. She then questioned Brian about that, only to be told that the injection was a poison to prevent her from leaving him.
"Molly, you can't imagine how scared Brian is just at the thought of losing you,"
the woman's mocking voice pierced Molly's ears. She slowly looked up at the woman, her lips starting to quiver uncontrollably. 'You can't imagine how scared Brian is at the thought of losing you...' she repeated the sentence to herself, and a numbing pain struck her heart.
"The political situation in Dragon Island is unstable because the young members of Long family are few. People from other families have long coveted the supreme power of the Long family," the masked woman explained patiently as if to solve every puzzle and doubt in Molly's mind, her calm voice resembling a voice over of a documentary. And this scene felt like the much-needed flashback to understand Brian who she greatly misunderstood. "As one member of the Long family, Brian bears the mission to help Eric take control over the Dragon Island. During the political handover, the family interest superseded his personal feelings. He was expected to sacrifice his own life if need be, not to mention you who was just an outsider,"
She paused for a second as she smiled and stared at Molly's pale and morose face, "However, he still didn't have the heart to give up on you. On the surface, he pretended that he regarded you merely as his plaything and that he was playing with your emotions; but secretly, he injected a liquefaction tracker into your body. Molly, how do you think he was able to find you out so quickly that night when Jeff's men kidnapped you?"
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