Facing Yvonne York and Mason Lawsonâs expectant gazes, Drake Lowell just let out a cold snort.
To everyoneâs surprise, Drake Lowell shook his head and answered, "Tsk, donât you two try that crap on me! Let me be straight with you. Iâm not interested in little girls like your daughter! I only like older women, get it?!"
Drake Lowell wasnât lying. He really didnât like young girls like Joyce Lawson. He thought this new generation of girls were all spoiled rotten, with too much fight in them!
âTheyâre generally high-maintenance and have bad tempers! Not only do they refuse to cooperate, but theyâre always threatening to kill themselves. If you run into a really stubborn one, theyâll risk everything in a heartbeat!â
âTheyâre really willing to try and take you down with them!â
âRisking my own life over something like that? No way. Not worth it!â
A few days ago, the three Lowell brothers had gone to 1602 and kidnapped a young girl named Maisie Lynch. The girl threatened to kill herself every day. Not only did she refuse to cooperate, sheâd almost bitten a piece clean off of one of his brothers. Drake still felt a chill just thinking about it...
So, he still preferred Yvonne York. âSheâs older and has been married,â he thought. âSheâll be more open-minded about that sort of thing. After a few half-hearted struggles, sheâll probably just go along with it.â
Yvonne York never expected Drake Lowell to say that. She froze as if struck by lightning.
Her body trembled, and despair slowly colored her gaze.
Seeing this, Drake Lowell simply tossed Gregory Lawson from his shoulder onto the floor.
Gregory Lawsonâs head hit the ground first with a dull THUD. He started wailing in pain again.
Drake Lowell paid no mind to whether Gregory was alive or dead. He walked up to Yvonne York, grabbed her chin, and said with a lecherous grin, "Why donât you come back with us brothers? As long as you serve the three of us well, Iâll spare your family. How about it?"
Drake Lowellâs eyes were filled with lust and mockery, as if he was certain Yvonne would agree. He continued, "Alright, enough with the playing hard to get. Isnât it tiring? Weâve got food and drinks over at our place. We wonât treat you poorly!"
Drake didnât understand what there was to hesitate about. âGiven the current situation, as long as the snow doesnât melt, Building 4 will be our kingdom. Following us three brothers and living the good life has to be better than staying here, right?â
He felt Yvonneâs indecision was completely unnecessary!
Meanwhile, Drake Lowellâs older brother, Titus Lowell, stood silently to the side, watching Drake deal with the Lawsons.
âHe also felt that they really did need a woman at home to cook and clean.â
âThe three of them were grown men, and their apartment was always a mess. A couple of days ago, Leopold Lowell had eaten something cold, gotten an upset stomach, and thrown up right on his quilt. The duvet cover still hadnât been washed. It was just lying there, making the whole apartment stink.â
âThat Maisie Lynch girl theyâd kidnapped refused to do anything. All she did every day was cry and look for ways to fight back. It seemed she really didnât care about her life anymore. Beating her was useless, so they just had to keep her tied up.â
âIf they wanted to find a woman who knew how to serve men, this Yvonne York was without a doubt the most suitable candidate.â
âAs for the younger Joyce Lawson, Titus had considered her at first.â
âBut Titus was a good judge of character. He had noticed that when Joyce transferred the money to them earlier, she had been remarkably calm and composed, not screaming or panicking at all. A woman like that looked like she wouldnât be easy to handle!â
âTaking Joyce back would probably be even worse than dealing with Maisie Lynch!â
âBesides...â Titus narrowed his eyes as he sized up Yvonne. âSheâs in her early forties, has a decent figure, and even though her face is a bit slack... well, with the lights off, all women are the same...â
âIf they could get Yvonne to willingly serve the three of them, they could live quite comfortably in this apocalypse.â
Staring at Drake Lowellâs ugly face and yellow teeth right in front of her, Yvonne felt a wave of nausea.
âIf Iâm taken away by the three of them, Iâll never make it back alive!â
She instinctively turned to look at her husband, Mason Lawson, her gaze pleading for help.
Mason Lawson was still curled up on the floor, his eyes looking somewhat vacant.
Titusâs kicks had beaten the fight out of him. He had no intention of resisting now.
When he saw his wife looking at him, Mason hurriedly averted his gaze, instinctively avoiding her eyes.
âOf course, he didnât want these two robbers to take his wife. He had his pride! He didnât want to be a cuckold!â
âBut he also knew he couldnât fight them. It would be like an egg smashing against a rockâa pointless sacrifice.â
âRight now, he had no other choice but to let Yvonne suffer.â
Seeing this, Yvonne cursed Mason in her heart. âWhat a useless piece of trash! He canât even protect his own wife!â
She turned to Titus Lowell and said through gritted teeth, "Impossible! I wonât agree! Y-you can just forget it!"
âIf Iâm taken away by these two vicious thugs, God knows what will happen to me!â
âOnce their food runs out in a few days, maybe theyâll just eat me as emergency rations!â
âBetter to die here now than be dismembered and eaten later! At least Iâll leave a whole corpse!â
Seeing her defiance, Drake Lowell didnât get angry. He stood up, walked over to Gregory Lawson, and, copying what Titus had done earlier, kicked him hard in the stomach.
Gregory first went rigid for a moment, then he began to writhe on the floor like an electrocuted maggot, clutching his stomach.
The searing pain from his abdomen nearly suffocated him. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and even the rag in his mouth couldnât muffle his agonized cries.
Hearing her sonâs screams, Yvonneâs eyes widened in fury and grief. She couldnât take it anymore and let out a loud "WAH!" of anguish.
Yvonneâs crying was too loud. Fearing she would alert the neighbors, Titus Lowell immediately frowned and stepped forward.
He raised his hand and gave her two sharp slaps across the face. SLAP! SLAP! "Bitch! Shut up!" he yelled.
The two slaps cut off Yvonneâs cries. She was seeing stars from the impact, staring blankly at Titus as a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth...
Mason Lawson didnât dare to cry. Watching his sonâs body curled up in pain, his heart ached, and in his desperation, he started banging his head on the floor, making a THUD, THUD sound.
He pleaded softly with Titus, "Please, let my son go... Gregory is my only son... Iâm begging you..."
Joyce Lawson quietly watched the farce unfold. She saw her parents crying anxiously for her brother and felt her grandmotherâs panicked, frantic struggles behind her, but for some reason, she felt nothing at all.
In fact, she even felt a little like laughing.
Thinking about how her parents and grandmother had been ready to sell her out just moments ago, she couldnât help but mutter, "Serves them right... Itâs all karma..."
Hearing Joyce say this, the grandmother behind her trembled slightly.
A surge of anger rose in her heart. âThat damn girl Joyce! Her brother is hurt, and she dares to make sarcastic remarks!â
So, Joyceâs grandmother began to viciously pinch the soft flesh of Joyceâs waist with her bound hands.
The two of them were tied together back-to-back, and the grandmotherâs hands could just reach the small of Joyceâs back.
Joyceâs grandmother was already furious and anxious about her precious grandson getting hurt. At this moment, she couldnât care about anything else and just wanted to vent all her anger on Joyce.
Whenever she got a hold of Joyceâs flesh, she would pinch it hard, cursing inwardly as she did so: âYou damn girl! This is all your fault! You useless waste of money! If you werenât so worthless that the kidnappers didnât even want you, would your brother be suffering like this?! Iâll pinch you to death!â
Joyceâs grandmother had been a farm laborer for many years. Despite her age, she was quite strong. Now, using every ounce of her strength, she pinched so hard that Joyce felt like the flesh was being ripped from her body.
Feeling the waves of sharp pain in her waist, Joyce couldnât take it anymore. Using the hand the kidnappers had untied, she reached back and grabbed her grandmotherâs hand that was pinching her relentlessly.
Before Joyceâs grandmother could react, Joyce seized her thumb and viciously bent it backward.