Chapter 388: It Doesn’t Matter Who

Half an hour later, Amina met her two brothers at the gate.

The Walton Family were civilized people. Aside from being a little shaken up, her brothers were completely unharmed.

Inside, they had been worried the Waltons would deal with them and that they’d never get out. They hadn’t expected to be released so quickly. The moment he looked up and saw his sister, the eldest brother’s arrogance returned in full force.

"See? I told you they wouldn’t dare do anything to us. After all, Amina is with their son. That old woman was just trying to scare us. I was right, wasn’t I!"

"Hey, Amina, where the hell have you been all this time? If we hadn’t gotten into a fight with them today, how long were you planning to hide? I’ve never seen anyone so heartless, ditching your own brothers to run off with a man! So, what’s their family saying now? Did they cave? That’s more like it. No girl gets to marry into their family for free without helping her own. They’re so rich, what’s the big deal about buying the two of us a house?"

Watching her eldest brother ramble on, and her second brother standing beside him, looking smug and completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation, Amina’s heart filled with a desolate sorrow.

’Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,’ she thought. ’That describes them perfectly.’

’Because they’re ignorant, they dare to think anything, dare to say anything...’

Her eldest brother was still chattering away when Amina, her face devoid of expression, handed two pieces of paper to them.

He took them and looked at her, confused.

"What’s this? Why are you showing me this? It’s not like you don’t know I barely went to school."

Amina didn’t speak, just stared at him. Her second brother took the papers and read them out loud to him, word for word.

Two minutes later, they were both dumbfounded.

"You’re breaking up with Zeke Walton? And you’ll never show your face in Veridia again? We didn’t get a single cent, and you expect us to just go back like this? Are you stupid?"

They never imagined that after causing so much trouble in Veridia for so many days, this would be the outcome.

It felt as if a fortune had just slipped through their fingers, and the pain was excruciating.

Her eldest brother grabbed her shoulders frantically.

"How can you be so pathetic? Letting a man sleep with you for nothing, and then he just tosses you aside? You’re a complete idiot!"

"Damn it, what kind of big shot bullies a little girl like that? And makes her sign some stupid piece of paper? I’m not listening to her!"

With that, he tore the papers to shreds.

"Let’s go, we’ll find our uncle! We’ll have him take us to the TV station, find reporters to expose them! We’re going to fight them to the bitter end! Use you and then toss you aside? Do they think our family is a bunch of idiots? Second Brother, call our uncle right now! We’ve got nothing to lose. I refuse to believe we can’t take them down!"

As he spoke, her eldest brother grabbed her like a little chick and shoved her forward. Amina swayed and dodged his hand.

"Brother, wake up. This is Veridia, not our village. You can’t even be the boss back in the village, what makes you think you can make waves in Veridia? Stop dreaming. Do you have any idea that you broke the law? You broke Mrs. Walton’s arm. They have concrete evidence. They can sue you for intentional injury, and you’ll both be sentenced to prison. You think tearing up the paper makes it go away? That was a copy. They have the original, and they can make countless more. I gave them my word, and that’s that. Nothing you say now will change anything. Stop fantasizing."

"And go to the TV station? Do you think they’re more clueless than you? That they’ve lived in Veridia all these years for nothing? Forget about small-time reporters; the head of the TV station is good friends with them."

What? Her eldest and second brothers froze. The head of the TV station was their friend?

"Then... then..."

"Don’t say another word. Just give up. The two of you should go home."

As she spoke, Amina pointed toward a black car across the street.

"See that car? Those are bodyguards from their family. They’ll follow you until you leave."

Only then did her brothers realize just how powerless they were.

Their beautiful dream had been shattered just like that. For people who had just woken up, it was an incredibly difficult reality to accept.

They knew that with their abilities, if they went back to the village, they’d never be able to find wives. They didn’t want to live that kind of pathetic, ridiculed life.

In a fit of rage, they directed all their resentment at Amina.

SMACK!

Her eldest brother suddenly slapped Amina across the face.

"I don’t know how you can even say that after messing things up this badly! You’re so stupid! We’re not going back, absolutely not! Even if it didn’t work out with him, there are plenty of other men in Veridia. Go find someone else. Isn’t that how it always plays out on TV? If you can’t get a young one, find a slightly older, rich boss. If you get with a guy like that, he’ll give you tens of thousands a month. In less than two years, your brother and I can go back and buy houses. We won’t buy them in Veridia, we’ll buy them back home. You just need to get us a little bit of money."

Her second brother also seemed to see a new way out.

"Exactly! What’s the difference who you’re with? It doesn’t have to be him. Our uncle knows a lot of people. Let’s go find him and have him introduce you to someone else. Amina, you’re so young and pretty, you can’t let it go to waste. You can’t just stand by and do nothing for me and your brother!"

When they were young, her eldest and second brothers had worked silently all day long. Although they never shared any particularly close moments, they still ate from the same pot and slept under the same roof. Amina had always thought their sibling relationship was normal, as normal as the ones on TV.

From what happened last time to today, she finally understood completely.

It wasn’t like that at all. It had all been her own wishful thinking.

Perhaps since they were very young, perhaps from the moment she was born, in her brothers’ eyes, she was nothing more than a tool—a tool for them to exchange for money.

Whether she lived or died, was happy or sad—they didn’t care in the slightest.

Amina had agreed to break up with Zeke Walton just so they wouldn’t go to jail, and this was her reward? To be beaten and cursed by them?

She was so angry, so disgusted by them. They were so repulsive she couldn’t even stand to look at them.

"If you don’t want to go back, then earn the money yourselves! You both have hands and feet. You’re two grown men, yet you want me to earn money for you? I don’t even know how you can say that with a straight face! Besides, what you just suggested is illegal!"

"Alright, I’ve said all I have to say. I have things to do, so I’m leaving. Remember my words: if you don’t want to end up dead, don’t go looking for trouble with the Walton Family again. I can only save you once. If you cause more trouble, you can wait for it in a prison cell!"

With that, Amina turned to leave, but her eldest brother reached out and grabbed her again.

"Where are you going? We’ve been here for so long, we don’t even have a place to stay. You’ve been eating and drinking well every day without a care for us. It was one thing when we couldn’t reach you, but now you’re right here in front of us and you still don’t care? Are you even human? Are you living with that kid? In a big villa, right? Is Grandma living with you too? Why should you two get to live in luxury while we suffer? We’re coming with you."

Amina realized everything she had just said had been pointless. It was true what they said about backwaters producing scoundrels.

Her two uncultured brothers were as unscrupulous as they come.

Amina knew they responded to a soft touch, not a hard hand. Her mood was foul, and she really didn’t want to coax them. But she had to get away.