New York University Medical Center.
"Your son has been resuscitated. If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself when he wakes up. But first, you must detain her."
*"One should pursue a routed enemy with unrelenting courage, not seek false fame ."*
Adam reminded him again.
"Daddy~! I'm scared~!"
Esther was truly panicking now.
She was never a high-IQ criminal to begin with. The reason she had been able to manipulate everyone for so many years—surviving from Russia to America, moving from one adoptive family to another, destroying any household that didn't meet her expectations—was entirely due to her childlike appearance, which deceived everyone.
As she accumulated experience, she honed her acting skills and developed a ruthless streak.
Now, faced with Adam, who wasn't fooled by her appearance and relentlessly pursued the truth, she had no options left except to cry out for her "daddy" or flee.
But she hadn't gotten John yet, so she wasn't willing to run. She still wanted to ask him one thing: **"Am I beautiful?"**
If the answer was no, she would break his legs before exterminating his entire family.
Yes!
Despite looking like an eight- or nine-year-old girl, Esther was actually 33 years old. Due to a rare medical condition, her body never matured, leaving her trapped in a child's form while her mind continued to grow. This disconnect between her physical body and soul gradually warped her psyche, making her extremely violent.
Back in Russia, before she was institutionalized, she had seduced her adoptive father. When he rejected her, she slaughtered his entire family—seven people in total.
After escaping from the psychiatric hospital, she fled to America and repeated the same tragedy. This time, however, she was smarter. She staged a fire and burned her adoptive father and his family alive when he refused to accept the "real" her.
Then, she returned to an orphanage.
Not long ago, the Colemans, under the influence of a reckless psychologist, decided to adopt a child. Before they even stepped through the orphanage doors, Esther had already set her sights on them.
Watching from the second floor, she used her years of experience to craft a sales pitch. She presented herself as a lonely yet optimistic girl who loved to paint. Within just a few words, she had broken through the Colemans' defenses. Under the forced smile of Sister Abigail, she left the orphanage with them.
On the way home, she began learning sign language, pretending she wanted to communicate with her deaf-mute sister to win favor with the Colemans.
Everything was going perfectly.
With her vast experience, Esther seamlessly integrated into the Coleman family.
Kate, who had been struggling with depression over her daughter's death and her husband's affair, seemed to be letting go of her past grief. That night, she even wanted to reward her husband with some passion.
But Esther, who had been eavesdropping the entire time, lost her mind.
From the very beginning, her target was John. She wanted to replace Kate and become the lady of the house.
That night, she creepily woke up her deaf-mute sister, Max, pretended to be scared, and barged into the master bedroom—effectively interrupting the Colemans' intimate moment.
Over the following weeks, she secretly read Kate's diary, studied her thoughts, and orchestrated a series of "accidents" to drive her insane.
- She uprooted the flowers Kate had planted in memory of her deceased daughter and gifted them to her.
- She deliberately crushed her own arm in a tool vise, then accused Kate of violently breaking it.
- One morning, as Kate was dropping the kids off at school, she released the parking brake while Kate was distracted, causing the car to roll down the slope with Max still inside. She then handed Kate's hidden alcohol stash to John.
- During therapy, she fooled an incompetent psychologist into siding with her, making both the therapist and John turn against Kate.
When Sister Abigail, sensing something was wrong, visited their home and had a private conversation with Kate, Esther knew she had to act fast.
As soon as Sister Abigail left, Esther pushed Max into the road, causing Abigail to swerve and crash.
Then, as the injured nun crawled out of the wreck, Esther—now wielding a hammer—finished her off.
Danny, Kate's son, realized something was wrong and tried to find evidence that Esther was a murderer. Before he could, she trapped him in his treehouse and set it on fire. Though he barely managed to escape by jumping, he fell and was severely injured. While unconscious in the hospital, he nearly became another one of Esther's victims.
Her methods were brutal but not particularly clever. There were too many flaws.
For example:
- The car had been parked on a steep slope. If Kate truly hadn't engaged the parking brake, how had the vehicle stayed put in the first place?
- Esther's self-inflicted arm injury was obviously different from one caused by being pulled. Any competent doctor should have noticed.
- And now, she had brazenly stormed into the ICU to kill a patient—inside a hospital filled with witnesses. Even if Leonard was the only one who saw her directly, a simple investigation would reveal the truth.
Until now, all the men she had encountered were like John—so easily swayed by her manipulative cries of "Daddy" that they ignored all the warning signs.
But Adam wasn't falling for it.
Seeing John hesitate, Esther grew even more frantic.
"Daddy~! I want to go home! Let's go home~"
John met her pitiful gaze, and his heart softened again. He reassured her, "Alright, we'll go home."
"No!"
Adam intervened. "She must be detained until your son wakes up. Leonard, call the police!"
"Enough! Do you even know what you're doing?"
John was furious.
"Of course I do—I saw it with my own eyes! What about you?"
Adam shot back, "With all this evidence staring you in the face, you won't even take a moment to verify it? Are you sure the person lying in the ICU is really your son? Or do you have some unspeakable secret preference?"
Ignoring John's darkened expression, he turned to Leonard. "Call the police. Now!"
"O-Okay!"
Finally snapping out of his daze, Leonard bolted to the front desk to make the call.
Realizing the situation had turned against her, Esther shot Adam a venomous glare before dashing toward the exit.
"Trying to run?"
Adam had been watching her closely and wasn't about to let her escape.
With near-elite speed, he overtook her in an instant. Reaching out, he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her clean off the ground with a strength far beyond that of an average adult.
"AHHHHH!"
Esther lost all composure, flailing and scratching wildly. She even twisted her face around, trying to bite his arm, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"Let her go!"
John, seeing his beloved daughter struggling, was overwhelmed with doubt—but still couldn't bear to see her suffer. He rushed forward, trying to save her.
"You idiot."
Adam was speechless. Even at this point, John was still acting this way? Adam was seriously considering calling Juno over to diagnose him.
Without much effort, he shoved John against the wall, pinning him there with sheer strength.
"Oh my God!"
By the time Leonard returned with hospital security, they were met with a shocking sight:
Adam, holding a screaming Esther in one hand while effortlessly restraining John with the other.
---
(End of Chapter)