Chapter 4

He spoke each word slowly. Ethan’s eyes harbored deep hatred.

He gave me a look of disgust, then stepped back, calling a doctor to bandage Serena up.

I slid down the wall to the floor.

My heart felt like it was being chiseled open with an axe.

In my agony, I finally realized that perhaps I had been wrong ten years ago.

My perceived “good intentions” were actually slow poison.

Ten years later, the poison took effect.

Neither Ethan nor I could escape it.

“Ethan, actually ten years ago, I…”

Lying on the floor, I forced the metallic taste of blood down and began to speak.

The next second, a delicate, fearful voice sounded.

“Ethan, my head hurts so much! Come over and look at me!”

Serena’s voice cut me off.

Ethan walked past me, a sneer on his face as he spoke.

“Ana Reed, you want to say you had a hidden reason back then? Do you think I’d believe it?”

“Or, to put it another way, can the leg I broke for you just magically reappear?”

His cold, mocking words were like a sledgehammer striking my soul.

I bit down hard on my lip, looking down at Ethan’s left leg, which moved with an unnatural limp. All strength left my body.

Without another word, I slowly stood up to return to the bedroom.

But Ethan mocked me again.

“Ana Reed, wrongdoers must be punished, didn’t you say that?”

“How will you apologize this time?”

“I’ll apologize with my death…”

I said calmly, my fingers resting on the doorknob.

I noticed my fingers, once slender and strong, were now dry and brittle like wood.

“Ana Reed, what did you say?!”

Ethan grabbed my hand tightly, his voice trembling with anger.

“Death? You want to use death to escape your guilt towards me?”

“I’m telling you, no way! In this world, as long as I don't want you dead, you can't die!”

Ethan spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing with fury.

I didn’t say a word, calmly letting him hold my arm.

Ethan didn’t know that everyone is subject to the natural cycle of life and death; he couldn't stop it.

“Ethan, I remember you broke a leg falling from the third story of the school building trying to pursue Ana Reed. How about we make Ana Reed jump from the third floor of the villa?”

“There’s a pool below anyway, she’ll be fine.”

After a few seconds of silent stalemate, Serena, her wounds bandaged and her eyes filled with hatred, walked over.

She gently tugged Ethan’s arm, whining.

“Ethan, just agree! Ana Reed hit my head so hard, she has to apologize to me!”

“Plus, I have a photography exhibition soon, and I still need a dramatic diving photo!”

Ethan’s grip on my arm tightened, and hatred churned in his eyes.

In that moment, I thought he would just strangle me.

But a few seconds later, he let out a cold laugh.

“Fine!”

“Let’s do it!”

“I also want to see if our little scaredy-cat, who used to be terrified of heights and water, has overcome it yet?”

That familiar nickname echoed in my ears. I clenched my fists and bit down hard on my lip, remaining silent.

Ethan, however, smiled and had the bodyguards take me to the third floor of the villa.

“Ana Reed, I’ll be waiting for you on the first floor. Don’t disappoint me with your apology…”

Forced by the bodyguards to stand by the third-floor window, my whole body trembled.

The long-suppressed metallic taste of blood seemed ready to burst forth.

“Ana Reed, hurry up! Ethan and I are getting tired of waiting!”