The Unexpected Inheritance

1
A sudden windfall, and I was a lottery-rich, nouveau-riche caricature overnight.
Three days later, my wife was kidnapped.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom of three million dollars.
I refused to pay.
My wife's parents, in a fury, clawed and scratched at me, screaming that I was a heartless monster. To save a little money, I was willing to sacrifice my own wife's life. My own parents pleaded with me to pay the ransom, to buy my wife's safety.
I refused again.
A few days later, having received no money, the kidnappers released her anyway.
She was covered in bruises, bleeding from between her legs, and had completely lost her mind. The moment she saw me, she launched herself at me like a rabid animal, trying to bite me. The feral look in her eyes was one of pure hatred, as if I were the man who had murdered her entire family.
Looking down at my torn and bloodied shoulder, I stated with cold indifference, "This marriage is over. I'm divorcing you."
CRACK!
My father-in-law's hand cracked across my face. His eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "You bastard! Are you even human?"

In the living room, a crowd of relatives from both sides of the family stared at me in disbelief.
Sarah had been tortured into this state. Not only did I show no sign of sympathy, but I was also demanding a divorce. In their eyes, I wasn't just inhuman. I was worse than an animal.
Ignoring the furious glares from the Hall family, I continued to speak to Sarah in that same cold tone. "My lawyer will handle all the details of the divorce."
"Aaargh!"
A shrill, piercing scream ripped from Sarah's throat. She swept everything off the coffee table in a frenzy, then stormed into our bedroom. Our wedding photos, the makeup Id bought herall of it was smashed to pieces.
I watched her rampage with unnerving calm.
"My poor, sweet daughter," her mother, Mrs. Hall, cried, rushing to wrap her arms around Sarah. Tears streamed down her face, a torrent of grief.
"Agh ahhh" Sarah struggled violently, her features twisting into a grotesque mask of madness.
Mrs. Hall tried to restrain her, but Sarah's strength was manic. She shoved her mother to the floor and then, unbelievably, grabbed a heavy wooden chair to bring down on her.
The room erupted in shocked cries as people scrambled to intervene.
Mr. Hall bellowed, "Sarah, that's your mother!"
For a split second, her movement paused.
The next moment
THUD!
The chair crashed down onto Mrs. Hall, who writhed on the floor, howling in agony. But Sarah, seemingly lost to all reason, began kicking her mother's writhing body. She only stopped when Mr. Hall finally managed to tackle her, pinning her arms.
"Mom!" Sarah's younger brother, Leo, rushed to help his mother up. "Sarah, are you insane? Why would you attack Mom?"
Sarah didn't answer, just thrashed wildly in her father's grip, too weak to break free.
The onlookers could only shake their heads in dismay. She was perfectly fine before the kidnapping, and now she was a raving lunatic.
Inevitably, all eyes turned to me. They had found their monster.
"Do you see this, Alex?" one of them spat. "Because you wouldn't pay the ransom, the kidnappers tortured her until she broke! She's your wife, and you cared more about money than her life. You're not a man."
"Even an animal isn't as cold-blooded as you!"
"Marrying you was the biggest mistake of her life."
I didn't argue. I didn't defend myself.
My own mother begged me to take back my words. She believed I was in the wrong for not paying the ransom. And now, with Sarah in this state, to demand a divorce? It was like pushing her off a cliff.
I just shook my head. "The divorce is final."
"You monster!"
Mrs. Hall's grief and rage exploded. She lunged at me, nails bared like claws. I sidestepped her, and she stumbled, falling flat on her face and knocking out a front tooth.
"My tooth"
"Mom!"
"Alex, this is all your fault! I'm going to kill you!" Leo charged at me, his face contorted with rage.
I simply lifted my leg and kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him sprawling.
That was the spark that ignited the powder keg. In an instant, a dozen of Sarah's relatives swarmed me. I was hopelessly outnumbered. Within seconds, I was on the floor, curled up, trying to protect my head as fists and feet rained down on me.
A few moments later, I staggered to my feet, blood streaming from a cut on my forehead. I pulled out my phone to call the police, but my father snatched it from my hand.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Calling the cops."
The Halls froze. They had all taken a piece of me. If I called the police, none of them would walk away clean.
"Honey, what's wrong?"
Suddenly, Sarah collapsed, unconscious.
Mr. Hall frantically called for an ambulance. At the hospital, after a series of tests, the doctor delivered another shock: Sarah was pregnant.
"Doctor, terminate the pregnancy," I said immediately.
"What did you just say?" my father stared at me, his face a mask of disbelief.
The Hall family was equally stunned. They thought they had seen the depths of my cruelty. Now, my decision had shattered their understanding of how heartless a person could be.
Refuse to save his wife, and now refuse to save his child.
"Alex, have you lost your mind?" Leo screamed, grabbing my collar. "That's your baby in my sister's womb, and you're telling the doctor to get rid of it?" He looked like he wanted to tear me limb from limb.
"Sarah is insane," I explained calmly. "What right does she have to be a mother? It's better to end it now than to bring a child into a world of suffering."
"You son of a bitch!" Leo's fist connected with my jaw.
"You animal!" Mr. Hall lunged as well, his reason gone.
Doctors and nurses rushed in to separate us. "This is a hospital! Please control yourselves! Who is the child's father?"
"I am," I said.
"Sir, could you please come with me?"
"Alex, don't you dare make a decision you'll regret for the rest of your life," my mother pleaded, terrified I was serious.
"You're a man," my father said, his voice low and dangerous. "You have a responsibility as a husband and a father. Sarah might not be like this forever. What if she gets better? You'd better think very carefully about what you do next."
A few minutes later, I returned.
They all stared at me, their faces tense. My mother asked me what I had decided.
I told them I had signed the papers, authorizing the doctor to terminate the pregnancy.
The words hit them like a lightning strike. For a few seconds, they were frozen. Then, Mr. and Mrs. Hall charged at me like wild animals. This time, I didn't let them touch me. I took two steps back.
"If any of you lay a hand on me," I warned, my voice like ice, "I will call the police immediately. If you're not afraid of going to jail, go ahead."
"You bastard!" my father snarled, then turned and stormed out.
"Alex you you foolish boy," my mother sobbed, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe her own son could become so depraved over money. "I hope you don't regret this." Then she, too, was gone.
The Halls were seething but didn't dare touch me.
"You murderer!" Mrs. Hall shrieked. "You killed her baby without her consent! We'll sue you for murder!"
"Be my guest," I said with a careless shrug, and walked out of the hospital.
On the way home, I called an old friend, Marco, a former MMA champion who now owned a gym.
"Hey, kid," he said. "My guys looked into it for you. The kidnappers are all local crew. And they're tight with your brother-in-law, Leo. Same gang."
"They got spooked after they messed with your wife, so they went to ground. My boys are looking for them. I'll call you when they're found."
"Thanks, Marco." I hung up, my eyes narrowing.
Leo was a hothead and an idiot. All brawn, no brains. He wasn't smart enough to orchestrate this kidnapping on his own. He was probably just the contact. The real mastermind was someone else.
Could it be Sarah herself?
To find out, I needed to talk to those kidnappers.
Next, a childhood friend in the... collections business called me. He told me he'd checked with a few other loan sharks. Leo was keeping two live-streamers as mistresses. To maintain his big-spender image, he'd borrowed half a million dollars.
"Leo's unemployed. Who would lend him that kind of money?"
"He put up his family's house as collateral."
"No wonder he's been dripping in gold lately. Do me a favor, check if anyone else in his family is in deep with loan sharks."
"On it."
At first, I thought Leo was just a pawn in this scheme. But now maybe I had underestimated him.
The next morning, Mr. Hall called, his voice a furious roar. He told me to get to the hospital. Sarah had woken up, found out the baby was gone, and was now on the roof, threatening to jump.
"Okay, got it," I said, and hung up. I closed my eyes and dozed for another few minutes until my father kicked my door open and hauled me out of bed.
"Your wife is about to jump off a roof, and you're sleeping?"
"She's not going to jump. It's an act."
"You monster," my father hissed through gritted teeth.
When I got to the hospital, it was just as I'd expected. Sarah was standing near the edge of the roof. But she wasn't jumping.
"Sarah, honey, Alex is here! Whatever you have to say, say it to him! Just don't do anything stupid!" Mrs. Hall was a mess, her eyes swollen from crying.
"Don't you dare provoke her," Mr. Hall whispered menacingly in my ear. "If anything happens to her, I'll kill you."
I walked over. Sarah seemed to have regained some of her sanity. She stared at me with pure despair.
"Alex, why did you let the doctor kill our baby?" she wailed.
"Everyone saw you. You're insane. You're not fit to be a mother."
"I'm not insane! It was because you wouldn't pay the ransom! They kept torturing me! I can forgive you for what you did to me, but how could you be so cruel as to murder your own child?"
"The kidnappers wanted too much. If I paid, I'd be broke."
My words enraged her family, but they kept their distance.
"You're not human! You're worse than a monster! You're a cold, heartless demon!"
"Are you going to jump, or what?"

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