Chapter 5
980words
"If I were to gouge out my own eyes, would yours also follow suit and be plunged into eternal darkness?"
He dares not gamble.
He doesn't even dare imagine that scene.
This realization humiliates and terrifies him more than any torture could.
He is no longer the high and mighty Edward Lawrence; he has become a marionette in my hands, with that invisible string tied to his pain receptors.
"Ding-dong"
The door to Jenny Isaacs' apartment opens.
She has already changed out of that blood-stained evening gown and is wearing a pure white silk nightgown, her long hair slightly damp, obviously having just bathed.
Seeing Edward Lawrence, she immediately rushes over to him, tears in her eyes, her voice both concerned and aggrieved.
"Edward! You finally came! How are you? Did you get your wound treated? I was so worried..."
Her words come to an abrupt halt when she clearly sees Edward Lawrence's current appearance.
He is covered in blood, his face as pale as a ghost, hair disheveled, with fear and despair in his eyes that she has never seen before.
He looks like a damned soul that has crawled out from hell.
Jenny Isaacs instinctively takes half a step back, the concern on her face freezing.
"Edward, you..."
"Jenny." Edward Lawrence's voice is as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing against wood, "I have something... to tell you."
He walks into the living room and, slowly, humiliatingly, kneels down on the expensive Persian carpet.
This action completely stuns Jenny Isaacs.
"Edward, what are you doing! Please get up!"
Edward Lawrence doesn't rise. He just lifts his head and looks at Jenny Isaacs with a gaze that mixes pain, shame, and pleading.
"Jenny, I'm sorry."
His lips tremble, each word seeming to take all the strength in his body.
"Three years ago... Daisy Wen's child... it wasn't a miscarriage."
Jenny's heart sinks suddenly, an ominous premonition rising from the depths of her heart.
"It was me... I didn't want the child to be born, it was me... who encouraged you..."
He tries to beautify his wording, but as soon as the words leave his mouth, a sharp pain shoots through his heart, as if that piece of glass has gone an inch deeper.
The excruciating pain makes him instantly realize that he doesn't even have the right to lie.
He has to reveal the most primitive, most ugly truth.
"No!" he painfully corrects himself, "I killed him with my own hands."
"After Daisy Wen fell down the stairs, I chose to take you to the hospital first because you had a fever. I watched her bleed to death!"
Jenny Isaacs's face suddenly turns pale.
"What... what did you say?"
"And that safety amulet, the keepsake she got for the child, I let the dog... let your Snowball chew it to pieces as a teething toy..."
Edward Lawrence's voice is already choked with tears.
"My finger that broke during the meeting, my arm that bled in the restaurant, they were all because of her."
"Because she broke her own finger, cut her own arm. She shared all her pain onto me!"
"She's gone mad! She's become a monster! She's in the villa right now, using her own life to threaten me."
"She forced me to come here, forced me to tell you everything! Jenny... Jenny, please save me..."
He crawls forward like a helpless child, trying to grab the hem of Jenny Isaacs' dress.
The living room is deadly silent.
Jenny Isaacs stands there, motionless, as if all her strength has been drained away.
The shock and disbelief on her face slowly fade, replaced by a bone-chilling coldness and disgust.
She is no longer looking at her lover.
But at trash - someone possessed by "filth" who could bring her misfortune at any moment.
"So," she finally speaks, her voice cold as ice, "all those injuries on your body were caused by that crazy woman? And you embarrassed yourself in front of all those executives because of her?"
Edward Lawrence nods blankly: "Yes... Jenny, believe me, I..."
*Slap!*
A crisp, resounding slap lands hard across Edward Lawrence's face!
Jenny Isaacs uses every ounce of strength in her body, her beautiful face contorted with rage, showing none of her usual gentleness.
"Edward Lawrence! You worthless piece of trash!" she screams, her voice piercing.
"You actually let yourself be manipulated to this extent by a madwoman! You made me lose face in front of all those people, and now you want to bring this curse to me?"
"You killed your child, that's your sin and punishment! It has nothing to do with me!"
"Get out! Take your crazy wife and get out! I never want to see you again! Don't come near me!"
She hysterically sweeps everything off the table - crystal vase, photo frames... all shattering to pieces.
Edward is stunned by this slap.
He kneels amidst the mess on the floor, looking at the woman before him who resembles a madwoman, feeling his world completely collapse in this moment.
For her sake, he had abandoned his wife and child, even stained his hands with blood.
But when he is at his most vulnerable and needs her the most, what she gives him is the most contemptuous look and the most resolute abandonment.
As it turns out, she had never loved him.
What she loved was his status as the prince of Beijing's elite circle and the glamour of being the wife of Lawrence Group's CEO.
When these things are easily shattered by a "crazy woman," he becomes worthless trash.
In his utter despair, the phone in his pocket gently vibrates.
He takes it out with trembling hands.
It's a message from an unknown number.
On the screen, there is only one sentence.
[Was the game fun? Next, it's her turn.]
