After a moment, she slumped limply before finally passing out, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.
Gwen was left alone in that chair without food or water until the next day.
Gwen woke up when a nurse approached her, clicking her tongue in disgust.
“Goodness, it stinks.” She waved her hand and said with a cold smile. “Before we continue with therapy, Mrs. Clara wants me to show you something.”
The nurse pulled out her phone and played a video right in front of Gwen’s face.
Gwen’s heart seemed to stop beating when she saw Laina’s face appear on the screen. The little girl was crying on her bed, her tiny body trembling with fear.
Clara then appeared in the video. The injured side of her face was covered in thick bandages, staring at Laina with a cold gaze.
Without a shred of mercy, Clara grabbed Laina’s small hair, then pinched her arm and struck the poor child’s back until Laina’s shrill screams pierced the recording.
“Shut up, you damn brat! You’re just as annoying as your mother!” Clara snapped.
She then turned directly toward the phone camera, smiling mockingly as if she were looking straight at Gwen.
“Look, Gwen, how easy it was to make Darius hand over everything you own to me. He didn’t even do a thing while I made your beloved daughter cry in pain. Your husband and daughter are now mine. While you’re locked up forever in a psychiatric hospital.”
“LAINA! DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!" Gwen screamed hysterically. She thrashed about frantically until the leather strap binding her cut into her wrists. Fresh blood began to flow freely.
Seeing Gwen’s shattered state, the nurse let her guard down. She set the syringe filled with a high-dose sedative on the nightstand, then turned away indifferently to fetch an extra rope from the corner cabinet.
That was a fatal mistake. Driven by rage and a mother’s instinct, Gwen tore the skin on her hand, using her own blood as lubrication to force her hand free from the belt’s grip.
Rip! Her hand was free.
Before the nurse could fully turn around, Gwen snatched the syringe from the nightstand and plunged it directly into the nurse’s neck. The sedative was forced out completely, leaving no residue.
The nurse’s eyes widened before she finally collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
Gwen’s breath was ragged. She immediately grabbed the phone containing evidence of her son’s torture, then snatched the cell key from the nurse’s waist.
Quickly, she opened the isolation room door, ran down the corridor, and fled through the hospital’s rear emergency exit.
She managed to reach the house she had long since abandoned via a secret path.
The house, once built for her small family, now loomed coldly before her.
The atmosphere was silent. Darius’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Based on information she’d overheard from the security guard’s conversation, Darius was out having dinner with Clara to comfort her over her miscarriage, and all the staff were off duty.
Gwen ran into the room she recognized. “Laina? Sweetheart, it’s Mom!”
Silence. No answer.
Gwen checked the messy bedroom, but Laina wasn’t there. Her daughter’s tattered rabbit doll lay abandoned on the floor leading to the main bathroom. A sense of foreboding struck Gwen’s chest like a sledgehammer.
She walked slowly toward the bathroom. The heavy wooden door was slightly ajar, revealing cold steam creeping across the floor.
The sound of water overflowing from the bathtub was rhythmic, splashing against the tiles with a torturous tick... tick... tick... sound.
“Laina?” Gwen’s voice barely came out.
Gwen pushed the door all the way open. Her eyes widened instantly, and her breath caught in her throat.
Inside the large bathtub filled with overflowing water, Laina—her little daughter—had drowned. Her favorite white dress spread out in the water like the wings of a fallen angel. Her soft black hair partially covered her face.
“No… no, sweetheart… wake up…”
Gwen collapsed to her knees. Her hands trembled violently as she reached for her daughter’s tiny, ice-cold body. She lifted Laina into her arms. Water drenched Gwen’s entire body, but she didn’t care.
Gwen’s tears flowed uncontrollably, wetting Laina’s pale face as she pressed the small body to her chest.
Her heart stopped for a moment when she felt a faint pulse from her daughter’s chest.
“Sweetheart, Mom knows you won’t leave me…” Her tears began to flow freely again.
In a panic, she laid Laina down on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, then began compressing her daughter’s chest to perform CPR.
“Please, Laina… come back to me…”
Cough!
Laina’s tiny body suddenly jerked. Her little chest rose and fell roughly as a spurt of warm water came up from her throat. Laina coughed with all her might, inhaling the cold night air into her lungs, which had momentarily stopped working.
“Mommy ... M-Mom...” The voice was very weak, almost a whisper, but to Gwen, it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her entire life.
Laina’s drooping eyes slowly opened, staring intently at her mother. Though her lips still bore a bluish tint, the warmth of life began to creep back into her skin.
“Oh my God... Thank you...” Gwen immediately scooped up Laina’s body, holding her so tightly as if afraid her daughter would be snatched away if she let go.
“Mom, Laina’s scared…” Laina’s sobs broke out in Gwen’s embrace. Her body was shivering violently from the cold.
Gwen kept whispering soothing words, assuring her daughter—and herself—that this nightmare would end.
“Don’t worry, Sweetheart, Mom won’t let this place torment you anymore,” Gwen whispered softly.
Her heart was resolved, fueled by vengeance, to make Darius regret it.
Carrying Laina and holding her daughter’s head close so she couldn’t look around, Gwen made her way toward the kitchen.
She grabbed a gas can and poured it without hesitation all over the living room.
Standing in the front doorway, Gwen struck a match. “Goodbye, Darius,” she whispered . She dropped the lit match onto the floor, already soaked in gasoline.
Whoosh!
The flames licked rapidly, devouring the curtains, creeping up the walls, and greedily consuming the entire house. The heat spread, driving away the cold.
Gwen didn’t look back. She stepped out onto the porch, walking away from the house as it crumbled, consumed by the fire.
