Chapter 142: She refused to become his scapegoat.

[Back to Marco’s Private Room]

Gen could feel the last of her strength slipping away.

Her vision blurred, her head throbbed from where Marco had repeatedly slammed it against the wall, and warm blood trickled down the side of her face. Every breath she took became heavier than the last.

She knew she didn’t have the strength to stop Marco any longer.

Just when despair threatened to consume her, the door to the adjoining room swung open.

Thomas and Paul walked out.

"D-Dad..."

The word barely escaped her lips.

For a split second, Gen couldn’t believe she had called him that.

She had stopped believing in heaven the day justice failed her.

The day her mother died.

The day her own father walked free after taking her mother’s life and shifting the blame onto her.

That day, Gen had accepted that she was completely alone in this world.

Her mother had been the only family she had ever known.

The man standing before her was nothing more than a stranger who shared her blood.

Yet, of all people, fate had brought Thomas here at the very moment her life was falling apart once again.

But Gen knew him better than anyone.

He wasn’t the kind of man who would rush to save his own daughter.

He would stand there and watch her suffer if it meant protecting himself.

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

If I’m going to die tonight...

...then I’ll drag him down with me.

If exposing Thomas meant avenging her mother and saving the man Clara respected, then her death wouldn’t be meaningless.

Don’t give up, Gen.

Summoning the last bit of strength left in her battered body, she forced herself to speak.

"D-Dad..."

A tear rolled silently down her cheek as she looked at him.

Thomas froze.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

"G-Gen..."

His voice trembled as if he had just seen a ghost.

Marco frowned before turning to look at Thomas.

"You know this woman?"

That brief moment of distraction was all Gen needed.

Ignoring the dizziness threatening to make her collapse, she pushed Marco away with all the strength she could gather.

Marco staggered back a step.

Before he could react, Gen’s trembling hand reached for the nearest liquor bottle on the table.

Without giving herself a chance to hesitate, she swung it with everything she had.

Crash!

The glass bottle shattered against the side of Marco’s head.

"Argh!"

Marco let out a howl of pain as blood streamed down the side of his face.

The impact sent him stumbling backward, clutching his head in agony while broken shards of glass scattered across the floor.

Breathing heavily, Gen tightened her fists.

Even if she couldn’t escape... she would never let him violate her without a fight.

Thomas and Paul stood frozen in disbelief.

"H-Holy shit..." Paul stammered, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "Did... did she just hit Marco? Karlo’s right-hand man?"

Paul might have been working as the middleman between Thomas and Marco, but he had never been directly involved in murder or violence. Watching Gen smash the liquor bottle over Marco’s head until his skull split open and blood poured down his face left him utterly horrified.

Thomas, meanwhile, was too stunned to react.

His mind had gone completely blank.

When Marco’s body finally collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud and his agonized cries abruptly ceased, the color drained from Thomas’s face.

His legs nearly gave out beneath him.

Gen slowly lowered the broken bottle still clutched in her trembling hand.

Her hollow eyes shifted from Marco’s motionless body to Thomas.

"Dad..."

The single word snapped Paul out of his daze.

He turned sharply toward Thomas, his face filled with disbelief.

"W-Wait... she’s your daughter?"

Thomas opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"I... I..."

His thoughts were a tangled mess.

"Holy shit..." Paul muttered, clutching his head in panic. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Fear overtook him. Without another thought, he turned to run.

Bang!

The private room door suddenly burst open. Marco’s armed men stormed inside, surrounding the room within seconds.

Their guns were immediately raised. Every muzzle pointed directly at Gen, Thomas, and Paul.

"I-I’m innocent!" Paul cried, instantly throwing both hands into the air. "I didn’t do anything!"

Thomas quickly followed suit.

"Y-Yes! We’re innocent!" he shouted frantically. "She... she’s the one who attacked him!"

Without a second thought, he pointed at Gen.

"She hit Marco! It has nothing to do with us!"

Gen let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

She had expected nothing less from the man who had abandoned her long ago.

This time, however... she refused to become his scapegoat.

She slowly looked up at him, her eyes frighteningly empty.

"What are you saying, Dad?" she said in a calm voice. "Didn’t you tell me that once you got the sample, we had to get rid of him?"

The room fell silent. Every pair of eyes instantly shifted toward Thomas.

Thomas’s pupils shrank.

"W-What are you talking about?" he shouted in panic. "When did I ever—"

Before he could finish, one of Marco’s men rushed forward and pressed the cold barrel of a gun against Thomas’s temple.

Thomas froze. His entire body began trembling uncontrollably.

Gen merely watched him. There wasn’t a trace of guilt in her eyes.

She felt no sympathy for the man who had murdered her mother... nor for the man who had traded his humanity for money.

"If anything happens to the boss..." the armed man growled, tightening his grip on the pistol, "I’ll kill every single one of you."

Just then, another guard knelt beside Marco.

"Don..." he called, his voice suddenly uneasy.

The room turned toward him.

"I... I can’t find his pulse."

He checked again.

Nothing.

Marco had already lost too much blood.

Now his body lay completely motionless.

A wave of alarm swept through the room as the horrifying realization sank in.

Marco... was dead, and so were the people who were responsible for it.