Chapter 188 Lunatic
Sebastian began to feel an unexplainable discomfort when he saw Madeline and Logan embracing each other.
His eyebrows were knitted as he subconsciously wanted to pull the two apart. On second thought, it seemed like a good thing that she was releasing her emotions like this. She had always kept her emotions hidden and would habitually suppress it even if something were to happen. He felt that he shouldn’t stop her at this point.
And so, he decided to only stand there.
For more than 10 minutes that Madeline was in Logan’s arms, she cried with all her might, venting all the grievances that had piled up inside since her separation from him.
Her head seemed to have cleared after all the tears that she shed.
She finally stood up straight in embarrassment as she couldn’t help reaching out to wipe her tears that had soiled his chest.
He lowered his gaze before taking a step back to avoid her touch. “It is okay,” he said. “It will get dry in a while.”
She nodded at that and turned to look at Sebastian. Her voice sounded even more hoarse than it already was. “Is Luke in… our house now?”
Sebastian nodded. “Yes.”
Madeline then requested, “Can you pass him to Logan?”
He nodded again and reassured her, “Like I said, this is your matter to handle and I will respect your opinion.”
“Let’s hand him over to Logan.” She suddenly felt like the cloud in her sky had disappeared after crying in Logan’s arms.
Luke might be a scoundrel, but he was still Logan’s only younger brother and family. For Logan’s sake, it was impossible for her to do anything to Luke.
After hearing her decision, Sebastian nodded and instructed Quinton, “Bring Luke here.”
“Yes, Young Master!” Quinton nodded before leaving the room.
Luke was soon brought to the living room where everyone was waiting.
His clothes were a mess and there were injuries on his face. It was obvious that he had been through quite a lot.
As soon as Logan saw the Harts’ bodyguards bringing Luke in, he quickly walked to Luke.
Madeline noticed that his left leg was dragging the ground when Luke came walking toward them. He didn’t seem to dare use force on that leg.
She suddenly recalled the time Luke talked about how his perfect brother had become a cripple and she was instantly hit by an excruciating pain like no other. It felt as though someone had stabbed a knife through her chest. The tears that she tried so hard to swallow came welling up again.
Luke felt a little uncomfortable seeing his older brother here. He never wanted Logan to see the embarrassing state he was in.
Regardless of everything else, he only had himself to blame for underestimating Sebastian.
Luke thought he had flawlessly carried out his plan and that no one could track down where he had taken Madeline to. He didn’t expect Sebastian’s men to have found him so quickly. He almost felt like he had been slapped in the face because of that.
As a self-proclaimed super hacker, he had hacked all the surveillance on the roadside. He had thought that no one could find him and Madeline that way, but Sebastian just had to go and give him a one-of-a-kind surprise.
He had lost. It was an utter defeat for him.
Logan only took a few steps forward before he came to a stop. His cold eyes looked at Luke, and he growled, “Come here.”
Hearing that, Quinton motioned for the bodyguards to release Luke, in which he trudged to his brother’s side. “Luke…” he pitifully called out.
Logan’s harsh voice then commanded, “Kneel.”
Luke pursed his lips at that, and with a bend at his knees, he was kneeling on the floor.
Kneeling down was no big deal to him.
He didn’t care about the trivials because he was willing to do anything as long as he could get Logan to not be mad at him.
Seeing that Luke had done as he said, Logan’s gaze turned to Quinton. “Please untie the rope on his wrists.”
Luke’s hands were tied up behind his back then.
Quinton looked to Sebastian and after getting a nod from the boss, Quinton went forward and got down to free Luke from the rope.
Luke’s arms were already numb from staying in the same position for so long. After the rope was loosened, he subconsciously moved his arms to get the blood flowing again.
Logan continued to look at him coldly. “Take off your shirt,” he commanded.
Luke looked up at him, but he quickly lowered his head before taking off all the clothes on his torso, leaving nothing behind.
“Hand me your belt,” the elder brother continued.
And Luke did as he was told. He removed the belt from his pants and passed it to Logan.
The moment the belt was in his hand, Logan unceasingly raised the belt and whipped it against Luke’s back.
Sebastian might have said that he would respect Madeline’s wishes and she had passed Luke to Logan without saying a thing, but there was no way Logan could pretend that all of this hadn’t happened.
They owed Madeline an apology. Logan could never face his conscience if all he did now was bring Luke home.
Even if he was striking his most beloved brother, anyone who had done wrong had to be punished.
Logan especially had to punish his brother for hurting the one person he shouldn’t have. He put all of his strength, anger and disappointment into the first whip that landed on Luke’s back.
The thin but tough leather belt immediately tore open a long slit the moment it met Luke’s back. As soon as the flesh split open, fresh blood came gushing out and trickled down his back.
Luke’s body staggered at that, but he remained kneeling at the same spot without even raising his head.
The moment Logan saw how the belt tore into his younger brother’s skin and how blood came flowing out of his wound the next second, Logan could feel his heart constrict as he grew soft-hearted.
Despite that, he went on with his second stroke. His arm felt weaker than it was during the first whip, leaving only a blue-black line on Luke’s back. His flesh didn’t tear open this time.
The third whip followed soon after. And it went on and on…
Luke had only lowered his head with his back still straight at first. However, with every beating that he got, he eventually fell forward. The only reason he didn’t fall flat on the floor was because he managed to put his palms on the floor to hold himself up in time.
It hurted like hell, but he never made a sound from the first whip he received. He never begged for mercy, either.
He wasn’t afraid of pain.
He was never afraid of pain.
He was only worried and scared.
He was scared that his brother would get angry at him, and look at him with that pained, disappointed gaze of his.
He knew that he had done wrong. He should have never done something like that to Madeline.
Luke didn’t even know why he would suddenly do that to her…
Perhaps, he really was a lunatic…
Luke closed his eyes as he took in the increasing pain, but still, he didn’t make a sound.
Oddly enough, he wasn’t the first person there who couldn’t stand it. It was Madeline.
Madeline was suddenly reminded of her childhood when she saw the bruises forming each time the belt landed on Luke’s blood-stained back.
She was a mere 12-year-old girl when she struggled for 2 years to stay alive in Worrick.
Suddenly, she had fallen sick. The measles that she had contracted was an infectious disease that resulted in a high fever and rashes all over her body.
Due to the fact that it was an infectious disease, Dan had instructed someone to dump her off at a hospital, and he never bothered with her after tha—
No. Madeline knew that no one would have bothered with her even if it wasn’t an infectious disease.
She remembered how her ward was in a constant state of silence. The doctors and nurses seldom went to her ward because of the risk of being infected. Other than the times when medical personnel would go make rounds in her ward and bring her medicine, it was always dead silent.
