Chapter 1209:
Frank’s composure shattered as well, his cries turning messy and desperate. “Brad, I’m begging you,” he pleaded through tears. “Just give me one chance — one chance to fix everything!”
Brad sat opposite them in silence, his face unreadable, showing no trace of sympathy or hesitation. No matter how desperate their voices became, he offered nothing in return — not a word, not a glance.
Frieda finally snapped, her sobs twisting into rage-filled accusations. “How could you do this?” she screamed. “My own child turning against me! Heartless people like you deserve to rot in hell!”
Brad finally met her gaze, his eyes cold and steady. “A mother who abandons her own child,” he said flatly, “deserves hell far more than I ever could.”
Frieda let out a shrill cry and shook her head wildly. “I told you already — I had no choice! Not even one!”
“No choice?” Brad echoed, a bitter, humorless smile tugging at his lips as his voice turned razor-sharp. “You threw me away as a baby — was that no choice? You ignored me for thirty years — was that no choice? And siding with foreign enemies, betraying your country, hurting your own people — was that no choice either?” He leaned forward only slightly, yet the authority of a seasoned battlefield commander flooded the tight space, making the air feel heavy and suffocating.
“Every ‘no choice’ you keep hiding behind was paid for with other people’s blood, loyalty, and lives,” Brad continued coldly. “Saying it so casually is an insult to those who truly had no options and still honored their vows.”
Cold sweat trickled down Cillian’s forehead as he made one last attempt to reason with him. “Brad, blood is thicker than water — we’re still family,” he urged. “You could ask for mercy on our behalf, get us a chance to redeem ourselves.”
“Family?” Brad cut in, a flash of long-buried pain slipping into his voice before it hardened again. “You left me behind without hesitation. Grandpa was the one who raised me alone while you vanished. And when I was in the military, bleeding and fighting just to stay alive — where was this so-called family then?” His eyes settled on Frieda, whose face had gone deathly pale.
“The moment you aligned yourselves with Ares and began supplying weapons to our enemies,” Brad said, his voice stripped of all feeling, “you ceased to be my family. From that point on, you were nothing but criminals and dangers to this nation. As for the execution —” he leaned back, speaking as though discussing something entirely trivial — “that is justice. The law reached its conclusion based on your own actions. I have no authority to interfere, and even if I did, I would not use it.”
𝘋ow𝗇𝗅𝘰𝘢𝖽𝘢𝘣𝗅𝗲 𝗣𝖣𝗙𝘴 𝗈ո g𝗮𝘭nо𝗏𝗲𝗅𝗌.𝖼o𝗆
He deliberately looked away from their broken expressions and fixed his gaze on the blurred world rushing past the window.
Inside the transport, silence settled, broken only by Frieda’s suppressed weeping and Frank’s panicked, unintelligible murmuring.
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