My Ninety-Nine Dads

However, after only taking a few steps, I saw Macy and her three followers blocking the entrance to the alley.

She stood up from the wheelchair, stretched her body a little, and walked slowly toward me.

“Didn’t you say you’d be my servant? Your boss hasn’t even left yet, and you’re already running off. Are you messing with me, Ariel?”

“Sorry… you didn’t call me…”

“Whether I call you or not, you stay behind me like a dog!”

Macy pulled out her phone and pointed the camera at my miserable face.

“Come on, apologize again. Say, ‘I, Ariel, am trash. I shouldn’t have forgotten to be Macy’s dog.’”

I bit my lip and stayed silent.

That only made Macy more excited.

She immediately started a new round of torment.

Ice-cold bottled water was poured over my head. My soaked uniform was tugged and ripped apart by them. Then, they smeared lipstick messily all over my face.

Macy held up her phone, laughing arrogantly.

“Come on, smile and say, ‘Thank you, Macy, for teaching me a lesson.’ Otherwise, I’ll call the police and let your shady dad have a nice little chat at the station.”

My mind instantly went blank.

I stared at her in disbelief.

Did Macy know about them?

Since I didn’t dare gamble on it, I could only keep trembling uncontrollably and repeat her words in a hoarse voice.

“Thank you, Macy… for teaching me.”

Only after I repeated it dozens of times did Macy finally smile in satisfaction.

Then she kicked me once before leaving.

“If you’d behaved this obediently from the start, wouldn’t this have been easier? From now on, wait for me here after school every day, got it? Whatever I tell you to do, you do it!”

“Okay.”

Then she left with her followers.

Instantly, I was the only person left in the alley.

After who knew how long, I slowly crouched down.

On the ground lay a completely soaked math test paper.

The bright red hundred written on it was painfully eye-catching.

Desperately holding back the tears threatening to spill over, I reached down to pick up my books and papers from the muddy water.

However, the moment I looked up, several men were standing at the entrance of the alley.

At the front was James, and behind him were several more of my dads.

Every single one of them had dark expressions on their faces as they stared at me in silence.

The air in the alley felt completely frozen.

…

After a long while, James crouched down and used his rough fingers to wipe the blood from my face.

“Who did this?”

I turned my face away, not daring to look at the fury in his eyes, and quietly said, “No one… I accidentally fell.”

“Fell?”

Dad Number Five, Paul, suddenly grabbed the math textbook that had been trampled into the muddy water.

He pointed at the filthy shoe prints on it while roaring, “This is from falling? This is someone stomping you into the ground!”

Dad Number Three, Eric, pushed up his glasses, the look behind the lenses sharp as knives.

“Ariel, tell us. As long as you say the word, we’ll blow up all of South City and kill those people.”

I bit my lip tightly.

I couldn’t tell them.

Daniel Fuller was rich and powerful. Macy said even the South City police listened to her family.

My dads were all wanted criminals.

I couldn’t drag them into prison.

Stubbornly, I shook my head, but tears still lingered in my eyes.

Second after second passed.

Finally, James sighed softly and gently held my ice-cold hand, his grip carrying a force that couldn’t be refused.

“Ariel, do you remember when you were five years old, and that fat kid from the next street stole your candy? You cried all night after coming home.

“The next day, his whole family moved out of South City.

“Your dads aren’t good people. But in this family, we have one rule.

“Whoever touches you dies.”

The wind in the alley instantly seemed to disappear.

As I looked at my dads silently surrounding me, I could see the rage and heartache in their eyes being suppressed to the absolute limit.