Chapter 12
“Definitely not mine.” Ethan stared at the bloody mass in his hand, the last trace of delusion shattered.
“Lena, I pitied you for being orphaned as a child and treated you like my own sister. I thought I wronged you that night, so I spent everything I had to make it up to you. I even-
He closed his eyes in torment, a single tear slipping free.
-even hurt Wendy for you, over and over. I drove my son to his death and forced Wendy to leave!”
When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with nothing but remorse.
“I was harsh with her because I thought she was targeting you, because she disobeyed me. I just wanted to teach her a lesson! Lena, your greatest sin wasn’t targeting me–it was harming my son and touching my Wendy!”
Lena lay weakly on the ground, still reaching for Ethan. “Ethan, I was wrong! I admit it! I’ll apologize to Wendy! I’ll leave on my own! Please, save me-
I’ll die!”
Ethan looked down at her pathetic state, his gaze devoid of emotion, only endless revulsion.
“Die?” He grinned, the expression sinister. “You wish it were that easy. I want you to live in agony!”
Ethan called for a doctor to immediately perform suturing and stop the bleeding.
As for anesthesia? Ethan didn’t even mention it, and the doctor didn’t dare suggest it.
The suturing process was long and excruciating, each stitch designed to make Lena beg for death.
By the time the doctor finished, she was completely drained, barely clinging to life.
But her torment had only just begun.
Ethan turned to the men still kneeling on the ground and pointed at Lena, who lay like a lifeless dog. “Everything you did to Wendy–do it to her. Ten times worse.”
The men froze for a second before their eyes lit up with vengeful anticipation as they looked at Lena, who had abandoned them moments ago.
“Yes, Mr. Caldwell!” They lunged at her with malicious grins, pinning her down.
“No! Ethan, save me!”
Crack!
One man smashed a liquor bottle and forced the jagged edges into Lena’s mouth, twisting it violently. “Bitch! How do I compare to your boyfriend, huh?” Another picked up a shard of glass and stabbed it into her chest. “This is all your fault, you vile woman! You deserve this!”
“Tsk tsk.” A third man licked his lips, his hand creeping under her skirt. “Such slim legs…”
His lecherous gaze crawled over her body, eyes gleaming with depravity. “I’ve never tried a woman who just had a C–section. Bet it’ll feel amazing!”
Covered in blood, Lena mustered the last of her strength to push the men away and crawled toward Ethan on her knees.
Her words were slurred from pain and sobs. “Ethan! Beat me, curse me I’ll take it all! But I’m your sister! You can’t let these men ruin me!”
“Ethan!” Tears streamed down her face as she played her final card. “Remember when we were kids? I was so scared of thunder, you’d hold me all night and tell me stories… Once upon a time, in a valley between two great mountains, there stood an old chapel. And in that chapel lived a priest who swore he
could calm the thunder itself…”
“Enough.” His voice was ice.
He looked down at her with frigid detachment. “Do whatever you want–just don’t kill her.”
He turned and walked away without a backward glance, deaf to the screams behind him.
