Chapter 3
When I opened my eyes again, the sting of antiseptic filled my nose.
Mr. Brown, the butler, sat by my bed holding a thermos. “Ma’am, you fainted yesterday. I brough you here. This is your favorite oatmeal–eat it while it’s hot.”
I took it from him, my fingers icy. Brown was the only one in the Hayes family who still showed me kindness.
I pulled out my phone and opened the visa app. The status read: “Under review. Expected approval in three days.”
I had planned to wait for the visa, then take my brother and leave this suffocating city. Suddenly, the door burst open. Ryan stormed in, his eyes bloodshot as he clutched my throat. His voice was savage, almost feral. “Sophia’s missing! Was it you? Did you kidnap her out of jealousy?”
“I didn’t…” My throat tightened under his grip, choking me.
“Didn’t?” He slammed me against the wall, shoving his phone in my face.
On the screen was Sophia’s bracelet, found in the mansion garden. “Who else but you would hurt her? Your brother’s still in the hospital. If you don’t hand Sophia over, I’ll pull the plug on his ventilator right now!”
“Don’t touch Aaron!” I struggled, but he was far too strong. He dragged me outside, shoved me into his car, and drove straight to an abandoned warehouse near Chicago.
In the center of the warehouse yawned a bottomless snake pit, the cold air hissing with serpentine sounds, making me tremble all over.
Ryan tied a rope around my waist and suspended me above the pit. If he let go, I would fall straight in.
“Tell me where Sophia is!” He slashed a lock of my hair with a knife. “If you don’t, I’ll feed you to the snakes!”
I stared at the writhing mass below, my mind going blank. I hadn’t kidnapped Sophia, but he wouldn’t believe me. Aaron was still in the hospital. I couldn’t die.
In desperation, I remembered Sophia once saying she liked to take photos at an old factory on the outskirts of Chicago. Through gritted teeth, I blurted out an address: “She’s… at the abandoned factory outside Chicago!”
Ryan immediately sent men to check.
Half an hour later, they returned with news. They had found Sophia there–lying on the ground, her abdomen wrapped in bloody bandages, her face pale as death.
Ryan rushed to scoop her into his arms. Sophia opened her eyes, pointed at me, and sobbed, “Ryan… it was her… Evelyn sent them. They kidnapped me and… they cut out my kidney!”
“What?” Ryan’s head snapped toward me, his eyes murderous.
He stormed back, slashing the rope that held me. I crashed to the ground, my bones splintering in pain.
Chapter 2
3:59 am PPD
He ground his foot onto my hand, his voice colder than ice. “Evelyn, you dared touch her kidney? Then I’ll take your brother’s in return!”
Before I could explain, he ordered me locked in the warehouse and carried Sophia to the hospital. I pounded the door, screaming, but no one came.
It was deep into the night when Brown slipped in, his eyes red. “Ma’am, Ryan… Ryan had you brother’s kidney taken out to give to Sophia.”
“What?” My vision went black. I nearly collapsed, but Brown caught me and shoved a medical report into my hands. On it was Aaron’s name. Diagnosis: “Acute renal failure, postoperative hemorrhage.”
I ran to the hospital like a madwoman. But at the ward entrance, guards stopped me.
Through the glass, I saw Ryan standing inside. Sophia lay in bed, her face glowing with health. And my brother… my brother was covered in tubes, barely breathing.
Ryan stepped out, his voice icy. “Evelyn, this is what you owed Sophia. If you dare touch her again, I’ll double it on your brother.”
3:59 am P P DD
