4
Before I could even feel happy, I heard them discussing:
“Caleb Thorne truly went berserk for his beloved. He wasn’t even going to bother, but when he heard the associate touched Seraphina’s face, he set up the whole scheme to kill
everyone, just to get revenge for her.”
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“I heard he even decided to cooperate with the police to protect Seraphina.”
At this point, only one hour remained on the countdown.
I was pushed into the emergency room. Looking at my haggard reflection in the mirror, at my battered and bruised body, I suddenly started to laugh.
Turns out, all it took to make Caleb Thorne turn over a new leaf was a Seraphina Hayes.
And my five years of sacrifice? Utterly worthless.
I was so tired.
The doctors set my limbs, but they couldn’t stop shaking their heads and sighing. “You absolutely mustn’t exert yourself, or you could… at any moment.”
I knew my own body.
I was dying.
Ignoring the medical staff’s protests, I forced myself up, pushing my wheelchair,
intending to see my parents one last time. Just as I left the ward, I received a call from
Caleb Thorne.
“Come to City Hall to sign the divorce papers. I’ll be working as a criminal consultant for the police from now on, and I need to give Seraphina a formal status.”
“As compensation, I’ll transfer the villa to your name.”
I shook
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my head. “No need. There will be no divorce. Only widowhood.”
“Elara Vance, you’d better know when to stop!”
“Seraphina being bullied by those people is all your fault. I had my men save your life, and you repay kindness with ingratitude? Elara Vance, why don’t you just go die?”
Surprisingly, my heart wasn’t overly sad. Only an anticipation of impending release.
I spoke in a weak, breathless voice, “Soon. I’ll be dead soon.”
“You’re utterly unreasonable!”
I hung up the phone and continued heading home, but my wheelchair caught on a pebble. I tumbled onto the asphalt road, chair and all, scraping my knees and elbows badly.
I gasped in pain. A pair of high heels appeared before my eyes. Seraphina Hayes stood looking down at me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, big sister. I was in a hurry to reply to Caleb’s message and wasn’t watching where I was going.”
I ignored her. Time was running out.
But Seraphina deliberately kicked my wheelchair further away, then stumbled into the grass herself, simultaneously pleading pitifully.
<
“Big sister, I didn’t mean to block your way. Please, don’t hit me!”
A swift blur rushed past. It was Caleb Thorne, catching Seraphina just in time. Not even
her clothes got dirty.
“Elara Vance, do you have a death wish? How many times are you going to hurt
Seraphina?”
Caleb frowned and shoved his SnapChat screen in front of me. Someone in the message
thread had alerted Caleb.
“Caleb, your wife is really something. She posted on the dark web under her real name,
saying Seraphina Hayes is your true love, telling everyone to kidnap Seraphina if they want to threaten you.”
“Seraphina’s personal information is now all over the place.”
I kept shaking my head. “It wasn’t me.”
My defense only fueled Caleb’s rage.
But I truly hadn’t done it. Why did he never believe me, every single time?
Caleb fiercely squeezed my neck. “It seems you really won’t listen until you’re forced!”
Before he finished speaking, his men called.
“Caleb, we’ve detected a location moving towards you guys. They’re coming for Seraphina!”
Hearing this, Seraphina clutched Caleb’s clothes, her eyes fragile and pitiful. “Caleb, am I going to die?”
Caleb’s reply was decisive. “If anyone’s going to die, it’s her first!”
A gunshot shattered the calm. Seraphina went limp in Caleb’s arms. He instantly panicked, immediately pulling Seraphina into hiding.
“Don’t be scared, Seraphina, I’ll take you somewhere safe right now!”
But the opposing party had come in force, relentlessly pursuing them.
Caleb couldn’t bear to see Seraphina suffer even a scratch, so he deliberately stepped in
front of the associates and enemies.
“The information on the dark web is all false. It was my wife, Elara Vance, who fabricated
those lies to protect herself. Seraphina Hayes has nothing to do with this. If you’re looking
for someone, go find my wife.”
“Whoever finds her first, I’ll listen to them.”
The other side was swayed by Caleb’s words.
“It seems Seraphina isn’t very useful. The truly valuable one is Elara Vance.”
“No, that’s not…”
Everyone around was running. I crawled on the ground, reaching for my wheelchair.
I just happened to be in front of Caleb. As he took his long strides, he subconsciously kicked me away.
“Don’t block the way! Get lost!”
My previously injured rib cage violently ruptured, and large gushes of blood poured out. The pain was excruciating, but Caleb remained completely oblivious, even stepping on my hand as he rushed away.
Seraphina’s voice drifted from ahead. “Caleb, aren’t we going to save big sister Elara?”
Caleb’s tone was chillingly cold. “She deserves to be left here!”
“It’s already merciful that I didn’t just shoot her myself.”
It felt like a sharp sword piercing my heart. My eyes stung, but I realized my tears had long since dried up.
Someone in the chaos grabbed me.
“I’ve got Caleb Thorne’s wife!”
But the next second, the person was shot dead.
This happened repeatedly. After a while, I no longer remembered who was holding me.
That person dragged me to an unfinished building, dangling me upside down from a hundred meters high, then called Caleb Thorne.
“If you don’t come now, your wife is going to die by my hand.”
He drew a knife across my neck, and blood immediately gushed out.
But when Caleb Thorne saw my gruesome state in the video, instead of anger, he
laughed.
“Actually, our marriage is fake. You can do whatever you want with her.”
In that instant, I felt as if I’d fallen into an ice cave.
The kidnapper was enraged. In a fit of anger, he cut the ropes holding me, and I plunged from the hundred-meter-high building.
Listening to the terrifying whoosh of air, I felt no fear at all.
The system appeared just a second before I hit the ground.
“Time’s up. Punishment beginning.”
“Host will lose all memories of this world. No one will remember you.”
“Would you like to leave here and select the next mission?”
