Chapter 484: Without a Shred of Mercy

Chapter 484: Chapter 484: Without a Shred of Mercy

"Let go of me!" Melody Marsh struggled in terror. "Don’t touch me!"

Her screams shattered into a series of choked, trembling sobs. Her face, drained of all color, was as pale as a sheet. Her wide eyes, fixed and staring, held an inescapable despair and terror.

"Let me go—!"

Melody Marsh grabbed the hem of Susan Roth’s clothes, crying and pleading, "Aunt Helen, save me! Please make them let me go, okay?"

Susan Roth looked down at her condescendingly and said calmly, "Melody, don’t be afraid. The two of them mean no harm. They just like making friends with people who get good grades."

"I don’t want to." Melody Marsh shook her head frantically. "I don’t want to be their friend! Aunt Helen, can you please make them let me go? I’m begging you..."

Susan Roth put on a helpless expression and shrugged. "Melody, I can’t help you with this. After all, it’s their right to make friends."

Melody Marsh’s heart plummeted. Cold sweat and tears streamed down her face as pain, like countless silver needles, pierced her to the bone.

She was dragged into the hallway. One of them pinned her to the floor while the other stroked her face with a lewd grin. "Hey, little sister, we just want to be friends. What’s with all the drama?"

"No!" It felt like venomous snakes were coiling around her legs. Melody Marsh cried until her throat was hoarse, the feeling of suffocation nearly swallowing her whole.

"Please, let me go..." she pleaded desperately, but the devils before her showed not a shred of mercy.

Jasper Yates leaned against the stair railing, smoking. He exhaled a cloud of smoke and remarked, "What a pity."

He didn’t feel pity that Melody Marsh was about to be violated, but that he wasn’t the one doing it.

Theo Yates sat by the hot spring pool, playing Fight the Landlord on his phone. Hearing the commotion from the villa, he glanced upstairs with a disdainful look.

’So boring.’

The screams continued intermittently, and Theo Yates started to get annoyed. He pulled a pair of earbuds from his pocket and was about to put them in when he suddenly spotted two unfamiliar figures and a dog.

"Who are you looking for?" he called out.

He got no response. He only saw the two people walking briskly toward the villa’s main hall.

Remembering what was happening on the second floor of the villa, Theo Yates had a bad feeling and quickly chased after them. "Stop! Who are you looking for?"

He reached out to grab Renee Jennings’s arm, but Shadow immediately sank its teeth viciously into his hand, and Zachary Conway subdued him in a single move.

Theo Yates was pinned to the ground, unable to move.

Hearing those pained, helpless pleas, Renee Jennings’s heart suddenly clenched.

’Am I too late?’

She hurried up the stairs. Just as she rounded the corner, she saw Jasper Yates and Susan Roth standing leisurely on the second-floor landing.

"Who are you?" Susan Roth frowned, sizing her up, then turned her head to ask Jasper Yates, "Do you know her?"

He shook his head suspiciously. "Nope, never seen her."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Susan Roth asked her.

Renee Jennings ignored them and stepped directly onto the second floor.

Melody Marsh was in a terrible state. She was surrounded by two men, her black hair splayed messily on the floor. Her T-shirt had been pulled up; one man was holding down her hands while the other was trying to unzip her pants.

Renee Jennings saw her kicking her legs in despair, hoarse pleas escaping her throat. A blaze of fury shot through her heart.

She walked over and kicked the man who was pulling at Melody Marsh’s pants, sending him flying.

The other man, who was holding Melody Marsh down, heard the commotion and turned to look at her.

Renee Jennings threw a punch at his face and spat coldly, "Trash."

She lowered her gaze, pulled Melody Marsh’s T-shirt back down, fastened the button on her jeans, and soothed her gently, "Melody, don’t be afraid. It’s over now."

Renee Jennings helped her up from the floor, gently wiped the tears from her face, and smoothed her hair. "The bad men can’t hurt you anymore."

"Are you... Are you Renee?" Melody Marsh asked, her voice thick with tears.

"Yes, I’m Renee," Renee Jennings nodded.

Melody Marsh’s tense nerves finally gave way. She threw herself into Renee’s arms, choking out, "Renee, thank you... Thank you for coming to save me!"

Renee Jennings gently patted her on the back. "I’m sorry I was late."

If she had arrived just two minutes earlier, Melody Marsh would have suffered less, and the shadow left on her heart would be a little lighter.

"You weren’t late." Melody Marsh shook her head, sobbing. "Not at all. You came at the perfect time, Renee."

Susan Roth and Jasper Yates exchanged a look, panic flashing across their faces.

"What’s going on?" Susan Roth asked in a low voice.

Jasper Yates frowned. "You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

He went up to the second floor, looked at the two men, and shot them a meaningful look. Rushing toward them, he roared, "You two bastards! How dare you bully my girl! I’ll make you pay for this today!"

His words promised punishment, but he was actually telling them to run.

Renee Jennings watched coldly as Jasper Yates pushed the two men down the stairs, a smirk playing on her lips.

Susan Roth, meanwhile, rushed toward them, grabbed Melody Marsh’s hand, and started crying. "Melody, are you okay? Aunt Helen had no idea they would bully you like this..."

"That’s right," Jasper Yates sighed. "They heard you get good grades and really admire you, so they wanted to be your friend. We thought they were sincere. Who knew they were lying? Thank goodness Melody wasn’t seriously hurt."

"Yes, yes," Susan Roth added, picking up where he left off. "Thank goodness Melody is okay. Otherwise, I would never forgive myself."

Melody Marsh felt like she had just survived a disaster. Weak and drained, she leaned against Renee Jennings, lacking the energy or the will to refute the hypocritical couple.

"You had no idea they would bully Melody? Bullshit!" Renee Jennings shoved Susan Roth away and sneered, "Weren’t you the ones who told them to do it?"

Susan Roth fell to the floor with a thump and glared at her viciously. "Don’t you dare make such baseless accusations! We didn’t know!"

Renee Jennings’s cold gaze swept over the two of them. "Then let’s take a huge step back. Even if you didn’t know beforehand, you were standing right here just now. You must have heard Melody’s cries for help. Why didn’t you save her?"

"We..." Susan Roth stammered in rebuttal, "We weren’t standing here just now. We only came because we saw you arriving."

"That’s right! That’s exactly what happened!" Jasper Yates chimed in.

"Get up there!" a sharp voice suddenly commanded.

The Yates couple turned their heads to see the two men coming back up the stairs.

Jasper Yates’s expression changed. Furious, he glared at them and mouthed silently, ’Why are you back up here? Get lost!’

The two men’s faces were ashen. They climbed the stairs with their hands behind their backs, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

’Get lost!’ Jasper Yates roared silently.

Just then, from around the corner of the stairs, the dark, black muzzle of a gun came into view, making his scalp tingle and his limbs turn to ice.