Chapter 5

“It’s really you! Why did you come back alone? Lin and I went to get you yesterday but didn’t see you. Where did you go? If you hadn’t come back soon, I would’ve reported you missing, haha!”

Jiro pulled Elara in front of him and looked her over. He saw his once beautiful sister now looking so weak, and he choked up. “You’ve been through so much…”

No one knew Elara’s innocence better than Jiro. When Elara was born, she had heart disease. Her mom was the caretaker in the Cortez family back then. Coincidentally, Wena also had a baby at the same time. The babies looked so similar. To save Elara, her real mom, Miela, made the hardest choice of her life. She swapped the two babies and quit her job after leaving the hospital.

Because of her guilt and the swap, Miela gave Tricia the best life she could. The Albert family was very poor. To help Tricia study, Miela made Jiro drop out of school to work and earn money for his sister.

Jiro grew up in tough conditions. When Tricia wanted a fancy bag and asked for money, Jiro finally stood up for himself and argued with his mom.

As an older brother, he cared deeply for Tricia, but he couldn’t handle her endless demands. Plus, he knew her vanity would eventually cause trouble.

During their fight, Miela finally told the whole truth. Tricia, who was hiding outside the room, overheard everything. And that’s how things went down.

Elara had no idea about this. She had to unfairly carry the burden of her mom’s mistake.

Elara knew how much Jiro cared for her. She knew she only had him and her five-year-old son left in her life. “I’m okay, really.”

She tried to dry her tears, not wanting the person in front of her to worry.

“He was so excited to see you yesterday that he made a fuss and wouldn’t sleep when you didn’t show up. He must have finally gotten tired and gone to bed,” Jiro said quickly. “You should go in and see him. He’ll be so happy to see you when he wakes up.”

Elara nodded and walked towards the rickety house.

“Elara, you’re really here!” Luka appeared with a group of people. He gritted his teeth and said, “I knew you’d come back for that little brat!”

When Jiro saw who it was, he instinctively shielded his sister. “What are you doing here? Elara’s been held for five years. She’s already paid her debt. What more do you want?”

“Debt?” Luka sneered and walked closer. “She’ll never pay for her sins. Even if she dies and goes to Hell, she’ll keep paying for what she’s done.”

Jiro eyed the crowd warily. “I won’t let you take her away. Luka, you know her well. You should know she’s innocent.”

Jiro’s words made Luka’s face turn angry. “I trusted her because I thought I knew her. That’s how I ended up looking foolish at parties. She’s trashy, shameless…”

Hearing the insults, Jiro clenched his fist and went straight for Luka’s face. But the bodyguards behind Luka easily blocked him.

The bodyguards in black quickly surrounded Jiro and started beating him up.

Jiro had strength from his construction work, but he was outnumbered and couldn’t fight back.

“Stop hitting him. Please, I’m begging you! Come at me and let him go,” Elara cried, kneeling in front of Luka. She felt powerless but kept pleading.

She grabbed Luka’s pants and begged, but he just kicked her away. “You’re such a disgusting little brat.”

Luka signaled for the bodyguards to take Elara away but let them keep beating Jiro. He wanted all of Elara’s supporters dealt with.

Elara looked at Jiro on the ground, trying to protect his head. She struggled to pull the bodyguards away and shouted, “Stop hitting him, please! Let my brother go!”

“You! Over there! You’re a bad guy! You can’t hit my uncle!”

Suddenly, a childish voice interrupted the scene.