As Ashira continued browsing, she suddenly caught sight of two familiar figures.
A young Man accompanied a pregnant woman walking in front of Ash. Isn't that Michael her stepbrother and his fiancée, who were just scammed by Ashira!
"Babe, calm down, buy whatever you want today! Just forgive me, don't get angry, be careful of affecting the baby!"
"Michael! You've been lying to me all along! Your Family doesn't have that house at all! You deliberately deceived me!"
"That one really belongs to my Family."
"Then what was going on with that group of people today! Debt collectors came right to your Family's door! They said the house was theirs! They even angered your grandmother into the hospital!"
His voice trembled slightly, a mix of confusion and panic creeping in. "Babe, I don't know what happened, my mom really spent two million to buy that house from Ash, we can transfer the ownership as soon as we find her!" he said, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. His brows furrowed, eyes darting between worry and guilt. he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her.
"That's not right!" she snapped, her voice trembling with disbelief. "Didn't your mom say that house still belonged to Ashira? That she just let you live in it so my name couldn't be added? How come now your family bought it and can transfer the ownership?"
"Babe, ah, sigh…" Michael ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Anyway, this house will be ours in the future. I'm the only son in my family, what mine will be yours! Just trust me!"
"Michael!" she shouted, eyes burning. "How do you want me to believe you!? You said before it was renovated and ready to move in, but it was just a shell! You said it was your family's property, and now debt collectors are here! I see it clearly and now your family's been scamming me all along! I absolutely cannot have this child! I'm getting an abortion right now!"
"No, no! Babe! Babe!!" Michael panicked, reaching out to grab her hand before she could storm off. His face went pale, his voice breaking as he pleaded. "Please, don't say that… you don't mean it." But the fear in his eyes said otherwise he knew she will.
Ashira stood at a corner, hearing their conversation, and couldn't help but curl her lips into a smirk.
How wonderful... how wonderful.
It's only been 18 days, and the Her Family is already this dramatic, and his grandmother is even in the hospital. She watched Michael, holding onto the escalator handrail to chase his fiancée.
With a soft, wicked whistle, she caught his attention. Michael froze. The sound cut through his panic, making him turn instinctively.
And there she was. A girl leaning lazily against the railing, eyes calm yet sharp, looking right at him like she already knew how this would end.
Isn't that…
"Ashira!"
Michael stopped immediately upon seeing her, wanting to turn back and chase her, but by now his fiancée had already run to the next floor.
"Babe!"
"Babe!!"
On one side was his wife, who was going to get an abortion, and on the other was Ashira. Michael almost wished he could split himself in two on the spot.
After weighing his options, he finally decided to chase his Step-sister, Ashira!
Damn it! If he catches this bitch and takes her to his fiancée to explain, won't that solve it? He turned around and ran vigorously upwards on the descending escalator, chasing after Ashira.
But Ashira's steps were calm. She didn't even look rushed. By the time Michael reached the top, she had already gone down the escalator on the opposite side, her figure gliding effortlessly away.
It turned into a twisted game of cat and mouse, Michael chasing her in circles around the entire mall. She'd glance back every now and then, that infuriating smirk never leaving her face, as if daring him to keep up.
And he did.
Through the aisles, across the hallways, past confused bystanders. Michael kept running. His breath grew heavy, his shirt sticking to his skin, but he refused to stop.
Finally, she led him all the way down to the underground parking lot.
The air was colder there, dim lights flickering above. The echo of their footsteps bounced off the concrete walls, her calm and teasing posture, and his desperate and uneven mind.
"Damn it!" Michael's voice cracked with rage, echoing through the cold parking lot. "Where else do you think you can run, you bitch?" Michael breathlessly cornered Ashira in the parking lot.
"You scammed me! let's see if I don't kill you when I catch you today!"
"Yea right." Ashira replied with a smirk, She glanced at Michael, then casually shut the trunk of a nearby car.
"Good thing, I had the same idea." She stepped out, gripping a baseball bat.
An internal alarm went off in Michael the moment he saw the bat.
"You motherfvcker, y-you dare to hit me!?" he stuttered, panic and rage colliding in his voice.
Before he could finish, Ashira swung the bat with a loud swing. Ashira didn't give him a chance to react. In one swift motion, she pinned Michael to the ground, her strength catching him completely off guard. With a sharp twist, she dislocated his jaw, silencing his screams before they could even start.
After 10 years of fighting for survival in the apocalypse, she had learned various combat techniques. She could send him to his grave in three seconds.
However, she was very merciful to Michael. She dragged him into a corner and beat him for half an hour, breaking all his arms and legs, using the most vicious methods, hitting only the places that hurt the most but wouldn't kill him.
Each strike echoed through the cold, empty space, blending with his muffled groans until all that was left was the sound of her heavy breathing and the thud of the bat hitting the floor.
~
Half an hour later...
Michael lay on the ground, barely alive. Ashira leaned against the car door, kicked Michael, who was like a dead meat at her feet, she bent down to pick up his phone from his pocket, and stepped on his head to call 911 for him using his phone.
"See how nice I am?" she said smile sweetly at him. "I even called 911 for you… so thank me."
Michael almost spat blood upon hearing that. Damn! If she'd just lift her foot off his head even a little, he might've actually accepted her 'kindness'.
"F–fuck you, bitch…" he managed to choke out.
Ashira clicked her tongue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk… so ungrateful," she said, her voice low and dripping with mockery. "Just like your grandmother. Rest well in the hospital."
She pressed down harder with her foot. Michael's body jerked once.
He'd be out for a week.
Ashira finally stepped back, brushing the dust off her hands as if nothing had happened. Calmly, she looked around the parking lot, her expression unreadable, and then handled the scene.
She took all of Michael's identification information, so that even if the hospital called the police immediately, they wouldn't be able to determine Michael's identity.
And while she was at it, she transferred all the money from his bank to her bank account. His phone had fingerprint recognition, so she just used his fingerprint to pay.
After doing all this, she took go to the bar street outside the parking lot. The location where she called 119 and reported it was also on the bar street.
It wasn't long before 911 arrived, and she just stood there like a bystander, watching 911 drag her stepbrother away.
She calmly stood under a lamppost and used Michael's phone to send messages to his parents. Saying he had been beaten and telling them to go to the hospital to find him.
After doing this, Ashira sold his phone to a small roadside phone shop.
Even if they called the police, they definitely wouldn't be able to trace it back within three days, and by the time they investigated Michael's whereabouts and found it was related to them, the apocalypse would have already breakout.
Ashira had an extra ₱247,509 in her account. With this money, she added another batch of supplies; she cleared out several shelves in the convenience store outside the mall and put the items into her small car.
As she was preparing to drive away, her car door creaked open, and a Man collapsed onto her car.
Ashira's eyes darkened, and at this moment, several fashionably dressed men and women walked up and helped the Man up.
"Sorry, beautiful, my friend is drunk!" One of the tattooed big men waved his hand and explained to Ash.
After they helped the unconscious Man up, the group left, chatting and laughing.
"Damn it, Roderick collapsed after just two drinks! He even said he could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk!"
"I remember Roderick used to be quite a heavy drinker!"
"Maybe getting married made him weak!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahaha!"
Laughter rose and fell.
Ashira leaned against the car window with one hand, watching the group leave. Her gaze fell on the young Man being supported in the middle.
He hung his head, his body stiff, his hand hanging by his side as his companions supported him was abnormally pale.
However, soon, the young Man woke up.
"What happened to me just now?"
"What's wrong, Don't worry you're just drunk!"
"You're too useless! How much did you even drink just now? Hahaha"
"Must be stressed at work, I need to go back."
"Go back to what? Keep drinking! We won't leave until we're drunk tonight! Hahahaha!" The group left, chatting and laughing.
And Ashira's eyes grew deeper. She lowered her head, took out her phone, and glanced at the time.