Chapter 8
Eileen spent a week in the hospital.
On the day she was discharged, Julius personally sent a car to bring her home.
But the moment she stepped through the front door, she saw Paula lounging in the living room, dressed in silk pajamas.
Eileen pressed her lips together, said nothing, and headed straight upstairs.
She had no energy to get tangled up with Paula now.
The police had warned her that if she wanted to save her child, she had to act as if nothing was wrong and avoid tipping anyone off.
She sat quietly in her bedroom for a long time when, suddenly, Archie walked in carrying a cup.
The sight of him made Eileen’s heart soften instantly.
After all, she had raised this child herself for four years. She still–loved him.
Seeing her sitting there, Archie obediently held the cup out to her.
“Mommy, you’ve been through a lot lately. Have some water.”
Eileen smiled and drank it all in one gulp without a second thought.
The very next moment, she sensed something was wrong.
Her brow furrowed, pain twisting her features. “Archie, what
me to drink?”
Archie grinned, looking for all the world like a little devil. “Nothing. much–just water with a few pills mixed in.
“Paula said you keep trying to kick her out. She told me if you drank this, you’d get sick, and then you wouldn’t have the strength to make her leave!”
Eileen stared at the boy in disbelief, unable to comprehend that the child she had cherished for four years would hurt his own mother for a stranger.
“No–I’m not his mother. Paula is,” she thought.
A bitter smile crept onto Eileen’s lips, and in the next instant, everything went black.
Vaguely, she heard Archie’s excited voice shout, “Paula, come quick! Mommy fainted!”
When she opened her eyes again, Eileen was lying in a basement.
It was pitch dark all around, with only a faint, sinister hissing sound echoing in the gloom.
She fumbled for a light switch, and the moment the light flicked on, a cold sweat broke out all over her body.
Dozens of sleek, venomous snakes were slithering toward her, their blood–red tongues flickering in anticipation.
Terrified, Eileen scrambled backward, her face ghostly pale. Just then, Archie’s childish voice echoed through the darkness.
“Mommy, aren’t these snakes fun?”
Chapter
Eileen couldn’t even muster a reply. Instinctively, she rushed to the door, but it was locked tight–there was no way out.
In her panic, she banged her head against the wall, splitting her forehead
open.
The snakes immediately caught the scent of blood and slithered toward her in a frenzy.
With nowhere left to run, Eileen felt a sharp pain as one of the snakes bit her toe.
Its fangs sank deep into her flesh, sending waves of agony through her body until sweat poured down her face.
Then a second snake struck.
Then a third, a fourth…
The bitten skin turned from red to purple, and Eileen’s lips grew visibly paler by the second.
At that moment, the butler’s anxious voice rang out, “Ms. Wolcott, please let Mrs. Swanton out! Someone’s going to die!”
Paula curled her lips into a smile, crouched down, and hugged Archie. “Well, Archie, what do you think? Should we let your mommy out?”
“No way!” Archie shouted at the butler. “If Mommy comes out, she’ll make Paula leave. I don’t want Paula to go!”
Hearing this, Eileen, battered and bleeding, finally felt her last hope die.
Archie had been the only thing tying her to this house.
Now, even that was gone…
Eileen felt death creeping closer.
Suddenly, the basement door burst open.
Through her haze, she saw Victor rushing toward her.
When she woke again, she was back in the hospital.
Standing beside her were Victor and a little boy.
Eileen stared at the child, then looked at Victor, and in that instant, she understood everything.
“My child is back. My child is finally back!” Her heart soared with joy.
Tears streaming down her face, Eileen clung to her son and refused to let
- go.
Two days later, Victor escorted Eileen and her child onto a flight bound for Switzerland.
Before she left, Victor looked at her with gentle affection. “Go on. Take your child and leave all this behind. I’ll handle the rest.”
Eileen nodded through her tears, took her child’s hand, and boarded the plane without looking back.
