Chapter 4
“Jessica, what happened to you?!”
Before I could reach Jessica, Liam rushed in from outside, his face etched with frantic concern, his eyes smoldering with rage.
It was the exact same expression he’d had the day Jessica attempted suicide.
Back then, I desperately tried to explain, but Liam kicked me away.
My head slammed against the coffee table, blood gushing.
He didn’t even seem to see it, cradling Jessica in a helpless panic as he rushed her to the hospital.
As he left, he warned me: “Alice, if anything happens to Jessica, I’ll make you pay with your life.”
When Liam returned, haggard and worn, there was no emotion in his eyes.
“Alice, we’ve spoiled you rotten all these years, letting you lose all sense of proportion.”
“From today on, you’ll go to the place where Jessica lived, experience the hardships she endured, and hopefully, you’ll become a little kinder.”
But Jessica had lived in a village not far from the city.
I, on the other hand, was sent to the mountains, thousands of miles away.
Thinking of that pain, I bolted.
But Liam called out to me: “Alice, don’t you have anything to say?”
“Woof woof woof… Woof woof…”
I shook my head, retreating in a panicked mess.
But Pippin was still next to Jessica.
I had no choice but to force myself to call him.
“Pippin, come back.”
Knowing Liam’s personality, if he found out Pippin had bitten Jessica, he’d surely kill him.
I was terrified.
I was pulling Pippin away when Liam clamped his hand around my throat, pinning me to the ground.
“Still playing innocent?”
“It seems two years in the mountains haven’t taught you anything.”
“Alice, Jessica is kind and gentle; she’s always spoken highly of you to me. What more could you possibly be dissatisfied with her about?” I’m not dissatisfied with her!
It was Jessica who wouldn’t let me go.
I frantically pounded on Liam.
But he not only didn’t let go, he also had someone restrain Pippin.
Furious, I screamed with a sudden burst of courage.
“You never believed me!”
“I never did anything, but you never believed me!”
“Liam, just kill me, please let Pippin go, I beg you!”
I was sobbing hysterically.
I couldn’t imagine the cost of losing Pippin.
Liam, however, put Pippin in a cage and told me with a smile: “If you chase after me, I’ll let him go.”
He drove Jessica to the hospital.
I ran wildly behind them.
Eventually, my strength gave out, and I fainted.
When I woke up again, I was locked in a dog cage by Liam.
Pippin was perfectly fine, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I knelt, begging Liam to let us go, but he refused.
“You’ve hurt Jessica again and again. Do you really think you can get away with it so easily?”
Liam was going to punish me again.
But Pippin was also trapped, and no one could save me.
My heart turned to ash.
I couldn’t fight off sleep any longer.
In my dream, I was back in the mountains.
During the day, I was treated like livestock.
Plowing fields, cutting hay, herding sheep—endless heavy, exhausting work.
The slightest hesitation earned me a lashing.
At night, I was chained up like a dog, guarding doors house to house.
The owners would feed me stale, rotten food.
The food was impossible to swallow, but I couldn’t complain, or I’d be beaten again.
And then there were… some masked men. They would show up when I was resting.
“Get away!”
“Let go of me, don’t touch me!”
“Please, I beg you!”
“Don’t hit me!”
Outside, dogs barked incessantly.
I couldn’t help but whimper, thrashing around.
I felt an icy hand on my forehead.
My body seemed to feel a little better.
Those hateful people also disappeared.
Drowsily, I heard someone shout.
“If anything happens to Alice, I’ll make you pay with your lives!”
Liam also said he’d make me pay with my life.
I shivered in fear: “Don’t make me pay with my life!”
The voices instantly softened to a gentle murmur, and I relaxed slightly.
“How is she? Is she okay?”
“This particular illness is mostly gone now.”
“But…”
The conversation trailed off.
“But the old wounds, and the sickness in her heart, are likely hard to heal.”
“Mr. Hayes, you’ve been with Miss Jessica for so long, didn’t you see the scars all over her body?”
That’s right.
My wrists and ankles couldn’t hide them.
I instinctively flinched.
But then I heard a voice very much like Liam’s, speaking huskily: “These… how were these caused?”
The conversation continued, but it seemed to drift further away.
I could only faintly hear: “Imprisonment… whippings… burns… chains…”
I was terrified.
I curled into a tight ball, covering my ears and screaming: “Stop talking! Stop talking!”