The Sister's Folly Chapter 2

My blood ran cold, yet the instinct to survive pulsed through my veins. A head-on fight was suicide. I sprinted to the window, throwing myself through it without a second thought. The impact, softened by the trampoline, sent a jolt of excruciating pain up my ankle and calf as I landed.

But there was no time to lose. I bit down hard, struggling to my feet, and sprinted with every ounce of strength towards the Thorne estate next door. I ignored the agonizing cold in my feet, the snow turning red from the raw skin and frozen blood. All I knew was I had to run, to keep running.

“Next door” was a relative term for these sprawling hillside properties. It was a good half-mile, maybe even a full mile, away. The icy air seared my throat, but I couldn't slow down. I knew too well that in the last life, there hadn't been just one intruder.

When I finally collapsed against the Thorne estate's formidable iron gates, I pounded on them, my voice hoarse. “Vivian! Open up! Help! Intruders at my house! My mom, please, save my mom!”

The iron gate creaked open. Vivian stood there, a frown etched on her face. She wore a thick, luxurious cashmere coat, but her eyes held no warmth. She looked down at me, kneeling in the snow, and spoke, her voice slow and measured.

“Fred, your acting has really improved lately.” Her tone was playful, laced with a hint of mockery.

Blood pounded in my chest, and my head spun. “Vivian! I’m not playing around! This isn’t a joke! My mom is fighting for her life!”

“Please, send someone with me to save her.”

She surveyed my battered, snow-covered state, a faint look of amusement crossing her face. “If your sister hadn’t told me you were jealous of Julian, concocting some story about a home invasion, I might have actually believed you.”

“Don’t listen to Claire! This is real!” I pleaded, desperation coloring my voice. “I already called the police, but they haven’t arrived yet. Please, my mom was stabbed, she doesn’t have much time!”

In the previous life, I didn't know if those three thugs had gone further. Mom and I fought tooth and nail, both of us brutally beaten. I was left with debilitating injuries, and Mom… Mom was gone. This time, I wouldn't let her die for me!

I fumbled for my phone, trying to show Vivian my call log to 911. She glanced at it, but her face showed no sign of belief. Instead, she scoffed. “Playing a really big game this time, huh? You actually called the police?”

“A self-inflicted home invasion? This ‘pity play’ is so convincing, I almost believed it. I have to admire your persistence.”

“Vivian! Are you insane?! It’s real!” I roared, my eyes burning, tears blurring my vision.

But my desperate cry failed to sway her. She turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm.

“Please! My mom needs help! If you don’t go now, she could die! She really could die!”

She looked down at me, her gaze chillingly indifferent. “Fred, your sister specifically told me to ignore you, to let you throw your tantrum.”

Her coldness pierced me. Before Julian, Vivian had been my childhood sweetheart, gentle and considerate. After our engagement, she had been unfailingly devoted. But everything changed when Julian entered the picture. Vivian grew distant, and even Claire began to alienate me. Both of them, in their efforts to please Julian, had done utterly foolish things. My sister, simply because another company shared the same name as Julian's beloved dog, had maliciously driven them to ruin. That was what had brought this disaster upon our family!

I knelt in the snow, utterly despairing, my pleas echoing in the cold air. “Vivian, I beg you! Just send someone to check on my house, please! Even if you want to break off the engagement, just help me!”

I was on the brink of despair. I prayed, over and over, that Vivian would show a flicker of humanity, that she would remember our past and help save my mother.

The butler, who had watched me grow up, couldn't bear it any longer. “Miss, perhaps you should send someone to look. Master Fred wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Vivian hesitated for a moment. I seized the opportunity, bowing my head and repeatedly knocking my forehead against the icy ground. Each dull thud echoed in the stillness.

“Please! Please, save my mother!”

Finally, Vivian spoke, her voice still detached. “I’ll send someone to check.”

“However, Fred, if this turns out to be another one of your self-directed schemes, you will pay for it.”

I snapped my head up, a sliver of hope igniting in my chest. Whatever it took, as long as she went! She called for a few of her guards, but just as they began to gather, her phone rang, jarringly.

It was Claire. Vivian glanced at me, then put the call on speaker.

My sister’s languid, indifferent voice drifted from the receiver. “Fred hasn’t gone to you, has he? Don’t listen to her. Someone just called me from Mom’s phone, threatening to kill her. It’s absolutely hilarious.”

I felt as if I’d plunged into an ice bath, my blood turning to slush. I hadn't imagined that the sister who once vowed to protect me my entire life could be so heartless. For a man, she ignored our mother's peril, turning a deaf ear to my desperate pleas.

Rage and fear intertwined within me. I screamed into the phone, “Claire! Are you insane?! Do we have to die before you believe us?! You saw what Mom and I went through last time!”

She scoffed. “That was just your pathetic attempt to seize control! I asked Mrs. Davis, our housekeeper, and she said everything at home is fine.”

“You’re a cruel, wicked person, Fred. I won’t believe you this time! If anything happens to Mom, it’s your own fault!”

My heart completely shattered. Mrs. Davis had been on leave, visiting her hometown for a week! How could she possibly know what was happening at home?! I was about to retort, but a cold "beep… beep" from the phone signalized that Claire had hung up.

Vivian’s face had darkened considerably. She looked at me with open disgust. “You really are lying! Guards, break his leg! Teach him a lesson!”

The guards shifted, moving to grab me. I gritted my teeth, enduring the searing pain in my leg, and roared, “Don’t you dare! When my father returns, I will make you pay!”

The guards exchanged uncertain glances. Vivian sneered, picked up a baseball bat leaning nearby, and walked over to me. She stood over me, looking down, her eyes filled with cruel amusement and mockery.

“They might not dare, but I do.”

I stared at her, despair rising in my throat. Her past gentleness felt like a fleeting dream. I couldn't believe she would do this to me. I tried to scramble backward, but she kicked me, sending me sprawling in the snow. A searing pain shot through my abdomen. Before I could even recover, she brought the bat down, hard, on my already injured left leg.

“Agh!” I cried out, my body trembling violently. The agonizing pain nearly sent me into unconsciousness. But she just stood there, cold and unfeeling.

“That’s what you get for lying to me.”

Just then, my phone rang. She bent down, picked it up, a mocking smile playing on her lips. “Let’s hear who this is.”

“Hello, is this Mr. Montgomery, the one who called 911?”

“We’ve arrived at your estate. The intruders fled during the struggle, but your mother is in very bad condition and needs immediate medical attention.”