What an expensive word.
Even he didn’t dare claim to love anyone, not truly.
14:33 Wed, Feb 5 LI
68%
For a fleeting moment, a thought crossed his mind: maybe he should confess to Hannah someday. Maybe he should tell her, “I love you.
But he quickly brushed the thought aside.
“What makes you so different from them?” Christopher asked, his voice flat.
“Are you prettier than they are? Smarter? Or is it because you’re poorer? No family, no parents, just a lonely little orphan–so you think that gives you the right to love recklessly, without limits?”
Evelyn stared at him, her heart pounding so hard it physically hurt.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
How could he take the love she gave him–so raw and real–and reduce it to nothing?
She tried to collect herself, searching for the perfect words. She had read enough romance novels to know how to turn the tide.
“Christopher, that’s not what this is about,” she said, her voice softening.
yo
“They only want your money–your little bunny, your precious Hannah.”
“Especially Hannah,” she spat, her tone dripping with venom. “She tricked you into marrying her. Does she even know who she is? Does she even deserve to stand by your side?”
www
“You’re one of the most successful men in the world, Christopher. Your wife should be someone extraordinary, someone born to greatness.”
“And me…” Evelyn hesitated for a moment. She wanted to tell him she was special, that she had been destined since birth to be the star of this world.
Instead, she straightened her back and said, “If you choose me, you’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted.”
“But if you don’t…” Her voice dropped, trembling with rage. “You’ll end up with nothing.”
14:33 Wed. Feb 5 — ti
”
Christopher stared at her, his expression unreadable.
In his eyes, Evelyn looked like a madwoman–delusional and desperate.
Without another word, he turned and walked out, not bothering to acknowledge her
anymore.
“You’ll regret this, Christopher!” Evelyn screamed after him, her voice hoarse and hysterical.
At the sound of her words, Christopher’s steps faltered for a brief moment.
Hannah had once asked him the same question.
If Evelyn left, would he regret it?
He smirked to himself.
Regret what, exactly?
20
I’d always known Evelyn was a little unhinged
That’s why I made sure to warn Christopher about her.
I figured, this was just a small matter–nothing more than a fleeting fling. Christopher should have been able to handle it on his own. It wasn’t something I needed to worry about.
But things spiraled completely out of control
I never imagined Evelyn would go so far as to have Tessa kidnapped.
And what I absolutely couldn’t tolerate–what made my blood boil–was that she ordered a group of lowlifes to assault Tessa.
By the time I arrived at the abandoned factory on the outskirts of Westhaven with my security team, Tessa’s clothes had already been ripped off.
111
14:34 Wed, Feb 5
94.67
Those thugs… their methods were beyond despicable.
They had brought her here after kidnapping her, to this filthy, abandoned factory.
Then they tortured her in the most vile ways imaginable.
They beat her with belts, slapped her with the soles of their shoes, shaved off all her hair, and left her completely exposed and humiliated.
When I burst in, Tessa was on the verge of breaking.
I immediately took off my coat and wrapped it around her trembling body.
“Help me… please help my baby…” she whimpered, clutching her stomach desperately.
Only then did I realize she was pregnant.
I rushed her to the hospital–my family’s private clinic, with the best doctors on staff.
But when Dr. White came out of the emergency room, pulling off his surgical mask, he looked at me and asked, “Miss Winslow, who is she? Where’s her husband?”
“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice low and tense.
I hadn’t reported Evelyn’s kidnapping of Tessa to the police. It involved Christopher, and I didn’t want this to explode into a public scandal
“She has a severe heart condition,” Dr. White explained. “She shouldn’t have been pregnant in the first place. We need to terminate the pregnancy, but the father needs to sign off on the procedure.”
I paused, thinking quickly before asking, “How is she now?”
“She’s stable for the moment,” Dr. White replied, his tone grave. “But she’s been physically assaulted, severely traumatized. If you’d brought her here any later, we’d be dealing with a double fatality.”
Rage coursed through me.
14:34 Wed, Feb 5
<
I had always known Evelyn was dangerous, manipulative.
I even knew that she was planning to fake her own death to stage some dramatic “chase–me–to–the–grave” storyline for Christopher.
But I never imagined she was capable of orchestrating something like this–kidnapping Tessa and letting those vile men do such horrible things to her.
“Dr. White, hold on,” I said, stepping out into the hallway. I needed to make a call.
Today was the very day Evelyn had planned to fake her death.
Honestly, when she first proposed the idea, I’d been more than happy to let her go through with it.
Life had been dull lately, and if Evelyn wanted to add a little drama, I was curious to see
how it would play out.
I’d even considered helping her.
But now? That was off the table.
When I called Christopher, he answered almost immediately.
“Hannah, Evelyn’s been in a car accident,” he said, his voice filled with a strange mix of
excitement and amusement.
“I’m on my way to the hospital right now. Ha! If she wants to play this game, I’ll play along.”
Suddenly, everything clicked in my mind.
If I hadn’t intervened, this is how things would’ve played out:
Christopher would’ve gotten a call telling him Tessa had been kidnapped, assaulted, and lost her baby.
He would’ve dropped everything and rushed to her side, devastated by what had
14:34 Wed, Feb 5
C
J
At the same time, Evelyn would’ve gone through with her staged death, ensuring Christopher missed her “final moments” because he was with Tessa.
Evelyn’s plan was clear.
She wanted Christopher to feel overwhelming guilt–to believe he had failed her in the worst possible way.
She wanted him to regret everything.
To be consumed by remorse for the rest of his life.
In Evelyn’s twisted script, Christopher wouldn’t even care about the fact that Tessa had
been assaulted.
Instead, he would focus entirely on Evelyn’s death, blaming himself for not being there.
And in the end, Evelyn expected Christopher to lose control–to spiral into a frenzy of revenge on everyone she deemed responsible for her suffering.
She thought she could manipulate him, even in death.
21
I said, “Tessa ran into some trouble.”
Then I briefly explained what had happened.
Christopher broke.
He said he’d come over immediately.
