Blood

"If you refuse, then..." His fingers tightened on the grip of the bat, swiftly swinging it in one direction - towards Selina's stomach.

"No!" Rosanna and the rest shouted, watching the bat's barrel approach Selina's abdomen. However, Master Liam halted at the very last second before the bat could touch Selina's stomach.

"This is just a warning. Hurry up and smash the old man's knee. If you don't, then this time it will be for real. Also, don't even think of tricking me. I need to hear the nice bone fracturing sounds, fresh and crisp to my ears. I can even set up speakers there just to make sure I don't miss the amazing old bones splitting apart." Master Liam warned.

With the end cap of the bat scraping against the ground, Rosanna turned her attention to Michael and the bat that was tossed over earlier. Her narrowed eyes squinted for a minute before it closed and a sigh escaped her mouth.

"I'll do it." Rosanna lowered her head. "I'm so sorry, Grandpa Lun. I don't want to do this, but I can't watch Selina get beaten." She bent down and reached for the bat on the floor. Her hair scattered down on one side, blocking Master Liam's view of her quick movements.

As she reached down to grab the bat, her other hand swiftly found its way to the back of her earring and pressed it twice. With the limited amount of time she had to delay the attack process, she purposely let the bat slip out of her hand.

"Sss." She faked a hiss and wrapped her other hand around the wrist of the hand she just used to pick up the bat.

"Quit faking. If you continue to act like this, I cannot guarantee your daughter's safety. What? Having some tricks up your sleeves now? I don't care if your arm is broken or your wrist is slit, I need to hear some old bones being slammed by a bat. If you dare play any damn more tricks to delay time, you will not only not be able to find Lia, your daughter will follow Lia's footsteps."

Master Liam exclaimed, patting the end cap of the bat against Selina's abdomen as a final warning. Selina appeared frail, however her eyes remained as sharp as before when looking at Master Liam.

"If you have the guts to use a woman as your hostage to force others to inflict harm on another being, why don't you have the damn gut to face your failures instead?" Selina's voice sounded soothing, but her words eagerly pricked Master Liam's weak spot.

"What are you saying? Do you have a death wish?" His displeased attitude immediately showed on his expression.

"Selina! Don't anger him!" Grandpa Lun shouted. However, at the same time, Michael, Rosanna and Eric remained silent while observing the situation.

"I am only speaking the damn truth! What? Is the truth so cruel to you that you don't have a damn gut to face it? My mom never loved you from the beginning, so you two wouldn't have ended up together regardless of whether my dad appeared in her life. Didn't you end up marrying someone else as well? If you married someone else, this means your heart had long belonged to another person!"

Selina continued speaking, ignoring Master Liam's displeasure. "Your wife gave birth to Antonio! And what were you doing before your wife died? Did she die from a natural cause or did someone murder her? If it was any one of us who murdered your wife, then you can take our lives as revenge or hand us over to the authorities!"

"But the fact that we did not kill her nor were we ever involved in her death just proved my point that you are only shifting the damn blames of your wife's death onto others. Did you think that you are alone because of us? No! Your hunger for power was what led you to make all those mistakes in killing many innocent individuals."

"You killed so many people for the sake of obtaining more power, but what for? Did you not have enough power before? You did, but you wanted more because you were greedy! My mom just happened to be the one you fancied and have the power you've desired for. So why make it sound as if you are all that generous? You have broken apart so many families that karma struck you back. Why are you dwelling on the fact that others are happier than you?"

"Quit blaming all your faults and insecurities on another individual and suck up everything you've done that got you to where you are today. How are any of the things that happened in your life have anything to do with other people? You find all these excuses as conveniences for you to not take an ounce of responsibility. Is it anyone's fault that you didn't know your own wife was ill? No."

Selina said everything in one breath. After she finished what she wanted to say, she took a deep breath and stole a glance at Master Liam.

Seconds later, Selina's vision flipped sideways. She groaned in agony, coughing a few breaths out of her throat. Master Liam struck the bat against her knees, releasing her hair in the process. When she fell forward, he struck again, right onto her abdomen.

Blood seeped through her clothing, tainting it red in the next minute. "Did you think you can get away with this bullcrap?" Selina muttered, giving him an eery smile.

"Did you think you're so smart? You -" Stunned by her sudden change of expression, Master Liam couldn't speak the words he had on his mind.

With her palms against the ground, she borrowed strength from her hands and pushed herself up to jump at Master Liam. Her movements were smooth and fierce, totally different from how Selina normally acts. Right before she struck at her target, she took out a dagger that she had kept hidden all along in her shoes.

"Master Liam, do you remember that village you conquered two decades ago? You wanted to take away the girl from that small family because she had extraordinary senses that you found useful. So, you killed the whole village of people just to kidnap and train that little girl. Do you finally recognize who I am now?"

She shoved the dagger deeply into Master Liam's abdomen. As his followers attempted attacks on her, she shift and dodged all incoming attacks. Since she had Master Liam as her hostage, none of his followers dared lift another finger at her.

"Weren't you dead?" Master Liam struggled to break free, but his efforts were in vain. Her grip was strong and he was trapped. The table has turned.

"Of course you wish I was dead, but let me tell you...I will not die before you do. My life was saved by Lia. So, I'm making a trade with you. One life for one..Tell me where Lia is." This time, it wasn't Selina's voice that came out of her mouth - it was Number 2.