CHAPTER 201

"Stop!" The more Madeline listened, the closer she was to losing her temper. She couldn't hold the discomfort in her anymore and she finally interrupted Luke's story, "Enough! I don't want to hear it anymore! Your stepmother's behavior isn't how a person should behave!"

She wasn't known as someone good at scolding people. She wasn't going to scold anyone at the moment because all she wanted to do was beat them up now.

If she could meet Luke's stepmother right now, she wouldn't hesitate to seize the opportunity to beat the said woman up, even at the cost of imprisonment.

Never had she held such resentment against someone; it was deeper than the resentment she held against Phoebe and Isabel Taylor.

Madeline found it difficult to accept everything that Luke told her. His words not only stung her heart, but also caused her body to ache as she cried out again, "How could she do that to you? The things she did were inhumane!"

"You're right. She's an animal." Agreeing with her statement, Luke dug his nails into his palms in an attempt to use the pain to distract him from reliving the nightmares. "Maddie, after everything I've told you just now, I want you to know that I lied to you. Getting bullied doesn't mean you are inferior to anyone. The bullies are the ones who shall be d*mned instead. Therefore, you can pursue your true love as you like. Sebastian Hart is nothing compared to you. He shall even count himself lucky to have you! All the things I've told you before were a lie. I said those words because I thought you would have sympathy for me after listening to my story and end up marrying me. Please don't take them seriously."

As she was taken aback by him coming clean, Madeline struggled to find a proper response. "This is

what you're trying to tell me by sharing your story?"

"Of course!" He explained further, "I was worried that you believed my words and would look down on yourself. I don't want to see you putting yourself in a vulnerable position when you are dealing with Sebastian. You have to remember, it was a lie after all. You are too good for him. On the contrary, he doesn't deserve you. You'll always be the best, or else I wouldn't have come all the way to see you. Nobody on Earth can even be compared to you."

"I understand. Never once had I thought about myself not being compatible with someone." Looking at Luke, Madeline hesitated before she asked, "Do you mind sharing what happened after Logan and you went back to Capitol?"

"Sure." He readily agreed to the request. "Why not?"

"Tell me, then. I asked around to find out about your wellbeing after you left, but there's still so much I don't know," Madeline stated, to which Luke asked, "What do you want to know? I will tell you everything."

"Stop!" The more Madeline listened, the closer she was to losing her temper. She couldn't hold the discomfort in her anymore and she finally interrupted Luke's story, "Enough! I don't want to hear it anymore! Your stepmother's behavior isn't how a person should behave!" Madeline pondered for a moment before she bombarded him with questions. "How have you been? Revenge must be very tough, isn't it? Did you struggle with your life there?"

Even though she bombarded him with questions, he only answered with a "no". As he remembered something, he sneered, "I bet you can't even imagine how dramatic the things were going on in the

household. Speaking of which, do you know my father has a b*stard child?"

"I've heard of it." She nodded as she confirmed his guess. "I heard that he is younger than Logan, but older than you. Your father had him by cheating on your mother." Belongs to © n0velDrama.Org.

Luke made an elaboration on Madeline's statement. "To put it simply, my stepmother was a nobody, but the sc*mbag father of mine considered her his true love. They believed they were made for each other, but my grandparents forbade my father to marry that b*tch. Since they failed to fight against their will, my father was forced to marry my mother for the sake of both families in the end. My mother's family began to lose their influence when my maternal grandparents passed away. Following that, my uncle got involved in a scam and had to flee the country. Not long after that, my father married his mistress right after my mother passed away. The b*stard was brought into the Adams Family together with his mother, which caused me and my brother to suffer from a nightmare. The mistress would torment us with every method she could think of over and over again. We were lucky to escape from death's hands every time."

When she heard about the tragic ordeal of their childhood, Madeline was fuming with rage. "What about your father? Didn't he do anything to protect you? You're his own flesh and blood, after all!"

"All the sc*mbag could see was his mistress. My brother and I are nothing compared to them." Luke sneered at the thought of his father being biased. "The mistress is his true love and the b*stard is their child, while they are the true family that he had always longed for. On the contrary, Logan and I are merely a token of his shameful past where he couldn't make his own choice, and the proof of him betraying his true love. He did not care about our well-being at all. Instead, he wants us dead to make room for his b*stard."

An ironic smile formed at the corner of Luke's lips. "Thanks to my mother, she left us a bequest and

took precautions to have it notarized at the notary office. If Logan or I can't make it to eighteen, the bequest will be donated to charity. If not, my father and his mistress would've found a way to get rid of us when we were young."

The blood drained from Madeline's face as her anger grew. "It is inhumane for parents to harm their children! How shameless of your father!"

"There, there." Patting Madeline's back, Luke comforted her. "I had moved on a long time ago, so there's no need to get mad on my behalf."

Taking a deep breath a few times, she finally calmed down, but her emotions were still seething within her. "Back when my master was still alive, he would always tell me that there were injustices everywhere, and a lot of people were suffering from it. Even though we can't help every person in the world, we can still do our best to assist them. However, I couldn't even save Logan and you from your family…"

In the end, not only strangers couldn't be saved, she even failed those whom she was close to.

"Don't think so lowly of yourself. You've helped us a lot." Luke put his hand around Madeline's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Back then, if you didn't save Logan and me, we wouldn't have made it till today, Maddie."

"B-But I wasn't there with you when you were plotting revenge against your stepmother…" The guilt devoured her mind entirely. "I should have followed you two to Capitol…"

"You should have indeed." Luke said firmly, "If so, I wouldn't have turned up at your room and made a move on you that night."

"Excuse me?" Madeline gaped at his sudden confession.

"Marrying you was not a necessity." When Luke was confessing to Madeline, his tone was honest. "I want us to not be separated, so I didn't mind if you wanted to be my wife or not as long as you're with us. Yet, you told me the Taylors forbade you to leave and follow us to Capitol. Then, a friend told me that it is natural for a wife to follow her husband everywhere. If we are married, we will not be separated."

Her eyes widened with realization. "S-So, you tried to—"

"Yes. That was why I proposed to you, but you rejected me. So, I thought that if you were pregnant with my child, you would have to marry me." Luke shrugged as he recalled the past. "I didn't expect my plan to backfire. You have been mad at me and ignoring me since then. Logan even tried to take me with him so that I could stop laying my hands on you."

Madeline was too shocked to form a response and after a while, she decided to clarify her stance. "I was never forbidden to follow you; it was just that I must go back to my family after your revenge."

"It's the same for me." Luke stood his ground and didn't waver one bit. "Logan told me that it would be dangerous for you to come with us. We can come back to find you anytime after we are done with our business. Yet, you made it clear that you will go back to Worrick once we have gotten rid of my father and my stepmother. What's the difference if you can't stay with us?"

"What you mean to say is that as long as I'm staying at Capitol, you don't mind if I don't marry you? We can stay being siblings, right?"