Chapter 6
Jack spun around to push the door open, but found it bolted shut.
Just then, Vito came bouncing over and clung tightly to his leg.
“Dad! Play with me with the toy cars!”
Jack didn’t hesitate. He quickly picked up the boy and set him aside, then pounded on the door shouting:
“Samantha! Are you okay? Samantha!”
“Stephanie! Why did you lock the door? Open it!”
Stephanie’s evasive reply made Jack panic even more.
“Jack, just play with the boy now! Didn’t he bring his toy cars up to find you?”
Those words sent Jack’s heart plunging into a bottomless void.
Stephanie was inside the room. How could she know what toy the boy had brought?
Just as he frantically called the butler for the key.
Someone moved faster than him.
A dark gun muzzle aimed at the locked iron door and fired three rapid shots: bang! bang! bang!
Jack stared blankly. “Uncle?”
Dozens of black–suited bodyguards kicked the iron door apart.
A thick black coat enveloped me completely.
Yet Jack still saw.
He saw my mottled skin,
the humiliating words carved into flesh, the bruised stomach, and the bloody lower body.
Jack froze as if struck by lightning, turned to stone where he stood.
Samuel didn’t utter a word, merely snorted coldly before rushing me to the hospital.
But Jack trembled violently, as if sentenced to death.
Rumors always claimed the Martinez family’s true protector was their youngest uncle.
Though young, his influence reached everywhere, with deep ties in both legal and illegal circles.
Because family patriarch Raymond forbade official heirs from touching gray businesses.
Stephanie owed her life to Jordan, which was why Jack had been chosen by Katherine.
Only then did he become the heir of the Martinez family in this generation.
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Rumors said Uncle had a woman he’d loved for ten years, delaying his marriage.
If that woman was Katherine…
Stephanie stared at the bullet holes on the iron gate, terrified.
Grasping at straws, she shot Taotao a meaningful look.
Mother and son clung tightly to Jack’s pant legs.
“Big sister has such… special taste. We tried taking normal maternity photos, but she demanded artistic embellishments–ah!”
“Waaah–waaaah!”
Jack kicked them both aside with one swift motion, utterly impatient.
Stephanie’s heart–wrenching sobs brought no comfort this time.
Donna and Ronald were restrained by Samuel’s bodyguards.
The perpetrators found themselves encircled by black–suited guards, their pleading eyes turning to Stephanie.
“Stephanie, say something! You promised we’d be safe…”
Others glared with venom:
“That little slut must’ve used dirty tricks to climb her way up! Selling nude photos daily back in school–disgusting wh–Ah!!”
Jack’s fist shattered the woman’s front teeth.
Eyes bloodshot, he smashed everything breakable in the studio, roaring in
anguish:
“Didn’t you know?! Didn’t Stephanie tell you all?!”
“Her gambler father forced her to pose nude here! Standing all day! enduring cruel mockery–just for his booze money!”
