Chapter 278

Emily Ward only needed one thing. Family.

That line of Liana Jabbar’s kept pounding in Magnus Specter’s head. Again and again. Like a dull hammer beating on bone.

He gathered his nerve, stepped forward two more paces, drew a long breath, and said, low and stiff, “Sister Emily, come back with me. From now on... from now on, I’ll look after you.”

“Heh...”

Emily let out a small laugh, thin and bitter, full of mockery for herself. She didn’t turn her head. “You? Look after me?”

“It’s not that you need me to.” Magnus swallowed, then said it straight. “It’s that I want to.”

He moved closer again and reached for her arm.

“Don’t touch me!!”

Emily suddenly flung his hand off, like his fingers burned.

Magnus let out a faint sigh. He grabbed her arm again.

“I said don’t touch me!”

This time she barked it out and tore herself free once more.

Magnus froze where he stood.

For a moment, his mind went blank.

There was no answer to this. None at all. Unless he could somehow give her back a younger brother.

Otherwise... just like Liana had said...

After living two lives, Magnus still didn’t know how to chase a woman. Never had. At most, he had only dared act the way he once did with Ashton Honda, and even that had ended with him slamming straight into a wall.

Being able to walk up and grab Emily’s arm twice already—that was his limit.

What now?

Force her?

He didn’t dare.

He still remembered forcing that kiss on Sophia Reid. He’d taken a bullet for it. In the end, it had only shut her up for a few days. After that, she was still the same as ever.

Magnus stepped back two paces and dropped onto the edge of the hospital bed. By habit, he pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and sat there in silence.

Right now, if Emily wanted to curse him, hit him, beat him bloody—even that was fine.

As long as she would go back with him, anything could be talked through.

He just couldn’t bear to let her leave.

“Go.”

After a long while, Emily stared out the window and murmured the word in a calm, hollow voice. “Don’t come looking for me again.”

Magnus quietly drew on the cigarette. His tone was steady, not fast, not slow.

“If you leave, then we leave together. Otherwise, I’m not going back.”

“Impossible.” Emily answered without even a pause, hard as iron. “Stop dreaming.”

...

More than twenty minutes later, the red glow of the Super Fire Crystal on Emily’s body slowly faded away.

Her face was blank. Cold. She turned and walked out.

Magnus sprang off the bed and followed behind her.

Emily stopped dead in her tracks.

“Don’t follow me. It’s useless.” She spoke without turning back. “I already said it. I will not go back with you.”

Magnus lowered his head and acted like he hadn’t heard a word.

Emily walked a few more steps.

He still followed. Quietly. One step behind her.

That finally got under her skin.

She spun around and shoved hard at his shoulder with both hands. “Magnus Specter! I’ll say this one last time. Stop following me!”

All at once, Magnus shot out a hand and seized her wrist.

Emily struggled hard, instantly raising her other hand to smack at his shoulder, trying to shake him off.

Magnus slowly summoned a Super Fire Crystal from his space.

With one hand, he gripped her small hand tight, pressed the Super Fire Crystal into her palm, and helped her crush it together with him.

Then he released her wrist and took half a step back.

His face stayed calm.

“Sister Emily, I understand why you hate me for killing your brother. So whatever you do to me, I won’t blame you. But today, no matter what, you’re still coming back with me.”

“Magnus Specter! Don’t you think you’re being too overbearing?”

Emily stepped forward in fury and shoved his shoulder again.

“On what grounds? Huh? Why should I listen to you?” Her voice kept rising, each word sharper than the last. “Who do you think you are? What are you to me? Why should I do anything you say?”

Her eyes were already red.

“Do you even understand? You killed my brother with your own hands! Do you understand that? You killed him! You—”

Magnus let her vent.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t dodge.

Didn’t speak.

He stood there and took every shove, every word, every bit of her rage.

Only when she was a little worn out, standing there breathing hard, chest heaving, did Magnus reach into his pocket again, pull out another cigarette, and take a deep drag.

Then he lifted his eyes and looked at her flushed little face.

“Sister Emily. Come back with me...”

“Impossible!”

The bit of anger she had just burned out came roaring back all at once, lit again by that one sentence.

“Magnus Specter! How many times do I have to say it before it gets through that skull of yours? I cannot go with you!” she shouted. “You killed my brother! Do you hear me? You killed my brother! I cannot go with you! Can you even understand human words?!”

“When I came out...”

Magnus looked into her wide, furious eyes and drifted for a second, almost dazed.

“When I came out, Sister Liana told me there was one way. She said if I used it, you’d definitely come back with me.”

Emily glared at him, breathing fast. “What way? No way will work. None. Unless you kill me too and carry my corpse back!”

Magnus looked at her and said quietly, “Sister Liana told me... since I was the one who took your family from you, then I should give you a family member back.”

Emily froze.

Just a little.

But it was enough.

She already vaguely understood what he meant.

And the moment she did, panic stirred in her chest.

Not fear.

Not quite.

It was a strange feeling she had never known before, something sour and hot and unsteady, spreading through her limbs and making her heart stumble.

“Sister Emily...”

For the third time, Magnus took hold of her arm.

Then, with his other hand, he drew the pistol from his holster, clicked off the safety, and pressed it into her palm.

He pushed down on her fingers, making her wrap them tight around the grip.

Then he let go and stepped back half a step.

His voice was low and even.

“I’ll give you one minute. Either kill me and avenge your brother... or come back with me, and let me take care of you from now on.”

Magnus drew in a slow breath and closed his eyes.

In the darkness behind his eyelids, he could feel it—the slight shift of shadow, the tiny stir in the air.

Emily was raising the gun.

Slowly.

Aiming it at his head.

He wasn’t trying to act tough.

He had no choice.

He really had been pushed to the wall. There was no other move left.

The hatred of having a blood relative killed wasn’t something a few soft words could smooth over.

The only person who could lay that hatred down was Emily herself.

Still, Magnus had faith she would not pull the trigger.

For more than a week now, Emily had slept fully dressed, her sidearm always still on her. He had gone in to see her several times. Every single time, she’d had more than enough chance to shoot him.

But she never had.

So now, Magnus believed she still wouldn’t.

He was forcing her to choose.

To choose whether to keep gripping that hatred—or let it go.

Emily’s hands trembled violently.

Again and again, she clenched hard around the pistol grip.

Again and again, her fingers loosened.

Tears flooded her big eyes and spilled down without stop.

Inside her head, scene after scene rose up—all of them her little brother, all of them from years ago.

“Sis, don’t be scared. Dad’s gone now. From here on, I’ll protect you and Mom.”

“Sis! Did some bastard at your school bully you? Wait here. I’m going right now—”

“Sis, I got a girlfriend. Help me check if she’s any good, yeah?”

“Sis, just go to college and don’t worry about a thing. I never liked that damn school anyway. Once I get out there and make big money with the boys, I’ll buy you a villa for your dowry. Then let’s see who still dares look down on our family...”

...

No matter how many faults Kevin Ward had carried, he was dead now.

And what Emily remembered, what kept tearing at her heart, was still the good in him.

Everything in her mind was him.

From childhood to youth.

All of it was before the drugs.

Kevin Ward had been a good brother.

It was drugs that ruined him.

He was not the one at fault.

The fault was the drugs.

Emily squeezed her eyes shut hard, shaking her head like she wanted to throw those memories out and couldn’t.

Pain split through her chest.

She broke down and cried out loud.

Then—

Bang!

The gunshot cracked through the air.

Across from her, Magnus’s blood burst out and splashed all over her face, all over her body.