I took two steps back, avoiding my sister's hand and spoke calmly, "I'm not here to force a marriage. Briella's decision to cancel her engagement with me and marry Santiago instead has nothing to do with me."

"I'm here to be the bait to catch the psychopath."

Miranda's face turned pale in an instant.

Before she could say anything, Megan slapped me in the face. Her expression was complicated, with a hint of panic mixed in with anger.

"I warned you not to use a major murder case involving dozens of innocent lives as a trick to manipulate our sympathy!"

She took a deep breath, her face regained its coldness and her voice became even more ruthless.

"You're just like that brother of yours — heartless and immoral!"

"He betrayed Margot and ran away with the money."

"Afraid of being wanted, he secretly gave false testimony, slipped a note into the victim's hand and faked his own death."

"I've already told you, that person is definitely not that bastard Timothy, but that idiot Margot, really took it seriously. She was so drunk that she didn't even bother investigating the case!"

The crowd cheered up.

"Isn't Timothy the scumbag who ran away with the money back then? His passionate videos were all over the second-hand websites and you don't even need a dollar to watch them, hahaha!"

"A despicable man like him disrupted the investigation of a murder case. He deserves to die."

I clenched my hands as my heart ached as if it was being torn apart.

Three years ago, Timothy Arnaut discovered that Santiago was faking amnesia and acting insane.

However, Timothy went missing before he could hand over the evidence to me. Before he went missing, he was drugged and bullied for a whole night. The passionate video of the incident was put on a second-hand website and sold for less than a dollar.

At that time, he begged Margot, his fiancée, with red eyes, to help him with the lawsuit.

But on the day of the trial, Margot, a top and zero-defeated lawyer, sat in the plaintiff's seat, playing with her manicure from beginning to end, without saying a word and soon -- declared to have lost the lawsuit.

On the day she came out of the court, she put away her attitude and sneered, dropping a sentence, "This is what you get for bullying Santiago."

"This time we're just showing your video. Next time, we're going to sell you on the black market to be the Afronia people plaything."

That day, Timothy, who had never shed tears before, hugged me and cried for a long, long time.

The next day, he disappeared.

I spent three years searching for him, but Margot always faced it with ridicule. "He's just playing missing and wants me to find him. He wants to play as he pleases. I wonder how long he will last."

Until ... the victims of the psychopath dismemberment case were discovered in an abandoned basement in Everbloom.

In my mind, the system finally reported Timothy's death.

My brother died at the hands of a psychopath.

And the system also determined my ending.

For ten years, I had been trying to conquer family and love, but failed every time. So, the system asked me to perish and leave to the original world.

But at least, I wanted to use my death to seek justice for that poor victim.

***

Briella walked over with a sullen face and warned me. "Since you insist on going against us, then as you wish, I will cancel our engagement."

I nodded, pulled my phone out of my bag and made a statement.

[I, Sergio Muller, cancel my engagement with Briella Landau.]

I raised my phone and showed them.

"Is this okay?"

Miranda, Megan and Briella were shocked to see my behavior and stood there in a daze.

Briella looked at me in disbelief, then she gritted her teeth and continued. "Okay, then I'll have to abort the baby in my belly, so you don't have to use the baby to bother me later."

I glanced at her flat belly and gave a bitter smile, "Fine."

She never wanted the child anyway.

That day, I saw her message page and saw her complaining to her best friend that she hated the child. She had even scheduled an abortion surgery and was planning how to deceive me.

If that was the case, then forget it.

As soon as the words fell, Briella's face turned red and she looked broken and aggrieved.

She rushed over and grabbed my shoulder. "What nonsense are you talking about! How could you have the heart to ask me to abort this baby? Don't you treasure the baby in my belly the most?"

It was not surprising that she was so shocked. She saw how much I was looking forward to the birth of this child.

In order to take care of her pregnancy with peace of mind, I resolutely gave up the invitation from the research institute to hire me as the person in charge and resigned to become a househusband.

Briella liked to eat raw vegetables and meat. So, I drove for three hours into the village before dawn to buy vegetables picked that day.

Even though I was a scientific researcher who spent most of my time in the laboratory and in the field, I was willing to take the time to pray for the safety of the mother and baby every day.

However, I knew, the child was born in unwanted and disgust situation.

Such a life was sure a torture for him.

Her eyes were full of brokenness as she held onto my hand -- completely ignoring her purpose of coming here.

She insisted on me taking back what I had just said.

Just then, a cry came from behind.

It was Santiago, his voice was trembling and sharp. "Briella, didn't you promise to marry me? Why are you holding his hand? Why is he wearing a suit?"

"Sergio, did you ask me to come here just to let me see Briella betray me? I hate you!"

He turned and rushed to the road, crying.

Megan yelled and Miranda slapped me in the face.

"Why did you call Santiago here? You have to drive him crazy to be happy, right?"

"If anything happens to him today because of you, I'll never let you go!"

"Briella, stop him!"

Briella suddenly shook off my hand and I fell backwards.

My trousers were torn by stones and my knees was scratched, leaving bloodstains.

I sat on the ground, smiling bitterly, watching their backs as they ran towards Santiago. I had seen such a back view too many times.

I did have a good time when I first came back to this home.

It was a time when Miranda smiled and cooked for me and Megan would take me to play video games after school while Margot would drag me to play with her favorite doll.

But everything changed the day I started dating my neighbor’s Briella.

Santiago began to go crazy.

He cried and shouted -- saying I was scaring him, I was going to send him back to his biological parents' house.

He pointed at me, tears streaming down his face and shouted hysterically, "He said, why does he have to live that kind of life? Why does he have to be beaten and scolded, but I can live a good life in his place? He doesn't accept it, he wants me to live a miserable life too!"

At first, Miranda, Megan and Margot would reason with him.

Miranda whispered. "That's impossible! Sergio wouldn't say that."

Megan also explained. "He's a good kid. He wouldn't say that."

Margot said, "Santiago, you must have misunderstood Sergio."

But over time, Miranda and Margot finally sided with Santiago.

They would scold me with a cold face when Santiago cried.

"Are you done yet? You have to bully Santiago. You're only happy when you see him scared like this, aren't you?"

"If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have taken you in. You've brought our Muller such a disaster."

At that time, Megan would still rush out to defend me.

She said I was volunteering, helping those who were suffering from domestic violence.

"How could a kind-hearted boy like Sergio say such words?"

"Mom, don't be too biased."

She took me away from home and went on a trip to relax.

Later, on my birthday, Santiago went crazy and refused to let me celebrate my birthday.

My sister picked me up directly. She ordered a birthday cake for me and bought me a new sportswear with her own salary.

She said, "Tomorrow is your birthday. I'll take you to watch a game. Don't think about those messed up things."

She patted my head and said with a smile, "I'll always believe in you and stand by your side."

But everything stopped on the second day.

That day, I took a leave of absence to go home, thinking of giving Megan a surprise. But I was blocked at the entrance of the alley by my adoptive father, Jack Olsen, who had just been released from prison.

It was a dark old alley with peeling paint on the walls and a damp, musty smell.

He dragged me into the corner and cursed, "You little bastard, how dare you call the police to arrest me? I'll teach you a lesson!"

I struggled and he kicked me down.

He snatched the cake from my hand and stomped it hard on the ground. The cream mixed with mud looked like a pool of dirty blood.

I was dizzy from the beating and my clothes were torn.

At that moment, I felt like I was back in that old hell.

When I woke up, I covered my wound and ran to find my older sister.

She was sitting at the door of the ward.

I rushed over and cried to her. "Megan, help me ...."

But before I could finish my words, she slapped me in the face.

That was the first time she hit me.

She grabbed me and dragged me into the ward, making me kneel in front of Santiago's bed. She gritted her teeth and scolded me, "I didn't expect you to be so good at pretending! You actually had the guts to bribe that old bastard to bully Santiago!"

My face was full of tears and I cried and shook my head. "It's not me... It's really not me ...."

However, she didn't believe it. She just looked at me disappointedly and said coldly, "I never thought that scumbag would teach you such a shameful thing."

"Now Santiago has gone crazy because of you! Sergio, you'd better feel guilty forever and spend the rest of your life apologizing to him."

My mother stood aside, looking at me expressionlessly.

Even Briella had a cold expression, saying, "You've disappointed me."

Later, she spent almost every day with Santiago, saying it was to apologize on my behalf.

I had always assumed my adoptive father was lying and seeking revenge against me. Until I overheard Santiago talking on the phone with a friend.

He laughed proudly.

"Haha, I'm fine. Just one act and he'll be finished. That old bastard, just give him some money and he'll cooperate."

"I told you, who the hell is he to steal my family? As long as I cry a few times, the whole family will believe me."

I felt completely numb when I learned the truth.

I came back to my senses.

I propped myself up against the wall, stumbled to my feet and turned to walk to the hotel. But before I could take a few steps, Megan ran over and grabbed my arm.

She roared in anger. "You deliberately called Santiago here, which made him sick again! He almost got hit by a car just now and he's scared out."

"You must come with us to the hospital and kneel down in front of his bed to apologize!"

"Wait until he wakes up and then we'll decide whether to let you go!"

I struggled as Megan dragged me into the car.

The voice of the police came from the earphones. "The person suspected to be the psychopath has disappeared. You're on standby. You don't need to go into the hotel."