Chapter 50 Siblings Reunited
Abigail noticed Caroline standing at the corner of the fire escape, half–hidden as if deliberately avoiding the crowd. In front of Caroline stood someone, but her position blocked most of the figure, revealing only a thin silhouette–a young man.
Caroline pulled out a wad of cash from her wallet and flung it at the young man with an air of arrogance. “Isn’t this what you want? Take it and get lost. Don’t bother me again.” Although Abigail was too far away to catch every word, the sharpness in Caroline’s tone was unmistakable.
The young man’s frail frame seemed to tremble slightly. His reddened eyes darted toward Caroline in a silent glare before he bent down and flung the money back at her feet.
Without another word, he turned and ran out of the corner. His vision blurred with unshed tears, he didn’t notice Abigail standing nearby, eavesdropping, and bumped into her.
Having just eaten a little too much, Abigail almost doubled over from the impact. She clutched the wall to steady herself, her stomach churning, and finally got a clear look at the young man’s face.
His sunken checks gave him a gaunt, almost malnourished appearance. Beneath his thick eyebrows were a pair of bright, clear eyes. Yet the furrow in his brow betrayed a somberness far beyond his years. Abigail didn’t recognize him, but something
Chapter 50 Siblings Reunited about him felt oddly familiar.
The young man quickly lowered his head, muttered a quick “Sorry,” and dashed away without even glancing back.
Still rubbing the spot where she’d been bumped into, Abigail. frowned and stared after his retreating figure. She wondered, “Why does he look so familiar?”
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Meanwhile, back at the fire escape, Caroline stomped her foot in frustration, glaring at the cash scattered across the floor. But no amount of venting eased the anxiety gnawing at her.
“Damn it! How the hell did Troy find me? He’s not after money, so what, he thinks I’d actually go back with him? In his dreams!” she fumed inwardly.
Caroline was about to reclaim her rightful place in her birth family. But when she left Yannis Villa, she hadn’t come clean to the Yannis family about the fact that she and Abigail had been switched at birth.
Caroline was afraid that once the Yannis family knew the
truth, they would go after Abigail. What scared Caroline even more was the thought that, to ensure their real heiress didn’t leave Winchester Villa, the Yannis family might stop her from reuniting with her biological family.
Thinking about all of this, Caroline gritted her teeth and steeled herself as she walked into the fire escape stairwell to make a call. “I need you to rough someone up,” she said, her voice low. “Enough to keep them off their feet for a few days.”
Chapter 50 Siblings Reunited
At the elevator, Abigail stood waiting, her mind still on the young man who had run into her. She couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she had seen his face somewhere before.
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Then, a sudden thought struck her. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through a recent investigation file. The face of a defiant, rebellious teenager stared back at her from the screen, calm and unchanging. It was Troy Yannis–her biological younger brother.
Abigail wondered, “What is he doing here? Judging by the look of it, he must have had a fight with Caroline.”
The Yannis family had never reached out to her after the truth about the baby swap came to light, and Abigail hadn’t held any expectations for them. Yet seeing Troy being humiliated and left so hopeless stirred something deep within her.
The memory of Troy’s angry, desperate face as he ran off made her uneasy. She couldn’t help but worry he might do something
reckless.
Ding–the elevator doors opened, but instead of stepping inside, Abigail bolted out of the building. Fortunately, Troy hadn’t gone far and was waiting at a nearby bus stop.
Spotting him from a distance, Abigail hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she should approach him. “Troy doesn’t even know who I am. Wouldn’t it seem weird if I just went up and introduced myself out of nowhere?” she thought, her steps faltering.
At this moment, Troy stood under the bus stop, his eyes red and
Chapter 50 Siblings Reunited
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teary. Thoughts of his mother lying on a hospital bed mixed with the image of Caroline’s sharp, cruel face, twisting his heart as if someone were gripping it painfully.
He reflected bitterly, “I just don’t get it. How could Caroline, who was spoiled like a princess for over twenty years by our parents, be so heartless? Mom’s dying, and she won’t even come back to see her one last time.” His fists clenched tightly, frustration and resentment bubbling up within him. “I can’t let Caroline have it so easy…”
Troy then spun on his heel and headed back the way he had come. But the next moment, a strong grip clamped around his wrist. Before he could react, a heavy shove on his shoulder sent him stumbling backward until his back slammed into the advertisement screen at the bus stop.
A rough–looking man in a tank top, his build muscular and intimidating, glared down at Troy with eyes brimming with aggression. “Hey, kid, was it you who stole my phone just now?”
Troy winced at the sharp pain in his shoulder and stared at the man in disbelief. “What? No. I didn’t. I’ve never even seen you before,” he blurted out, shaking his head furiously.
The man’s expression darkened, and he puffed out a cloud of smoke directly into Troy’s face, sneering, “Don’t lie to me, you little punk. It was definitely you. You’ve got that shifty, rat–faced look. Hand over my phone, or I swear I’ll beat you to a pulp.”
As he spoke, he raised a fist as big as a sledgehammer and waved it menacingly in front of Troy’s face. Troy flinched, shrinking
Chapter 50 Siblings Reunited
back instinctively. He lifted his hands in a defensive gesture, pushing weakly against the man. “I swear, I didn’t steal anything. I just got here!” he protested.
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“Oh, so now you’re trying to fight back after stealing my stuff?”
The man’s voice turned even nastier, his tone laced with disdain. “You little brat, you’ve got a death wish.”
Ignoring Troy’s protests entirely, the man swung his massive fist toward Troy’s head. The sheer size and force behind it promised a brutal impact–one that could easily leave Troy with a concussion, if not worse.
Troy instinctively tried to dodge, but the man’s other hand locked onto his arm like a steel vice, holding him in place. Panic surged through Troy as he thought, “This is it… I’m done for. No way out.” Resigned, he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable blow.
But just then, a sharp, clear voice rang out. “Stop!”
