I stared at the kidnapper with shock. He kept talking.
“You hurt Miss Walter, made her leg get hurt, and she almost lost the baby.”
“President Wilkinson said you must learn your lesson and say sorry to her!”
The child looked scared and cried in pain.
My chest tightened hard, and I quickly dropped to my knees.
“Sir, sir, I beg you, please let the child go. She’s still so young. If anything must happen, do it to me. Don’t hurt the child. She’s innocent!”
The kidnapper held the stick in his hand and weighed it.
“President Wilkinson also told me to break the child’s leg.”
“He said she’s the most important to you, so you’ll remember this.”
“Hit my leg!”
I shouted it out, my voice shaking and breaking.
“Hit me! Don’t touch the child!”
The kidnapper laughed loudly.
“Fine, then you take it for her!”
Right after that, the stick came down again and again.
The sound of bone snapping was very clear.
The severe pain burst out at once.
I almost couldn’t make a sound.
Everything turned white.
I carried the child, unable to even shout, only clenching my teeth as my body shook without control.
Adrian.
“You don’t deserve to be a father!”
“I regret marrying you. I regret loving you!”
Just as I was about to pass out, police sirens sounded in the distance.
I didn’t know where the strength came from, but I lunged forward and knocked the kidnapper down.
The kidnapper lost balance from my hit, his foot slipped, and he fell to the ground.
The police rushed in and held the kidnapper down.
I couldn’t think about anything else.
“Hospital… go to the hospital…”
Before they pushed me into the operating room, my leg had already gone completely numb.
I held on to my last bit of strength and called a number.
“Come to the hospital and take the child.”
I didn’t dare leave the child outside alone while I went through surgery.
I couldn’t let her fall into Adrian’s hands again!
When I woke up, before I could recover, a hand was already wrapped tight around my neck, pressing my body into the hospital bed.
I couldn’t breathe at all.
I struggled without thinking.
By my side, Adrian’s voice speaks in a low tone, holding back anger.
“Eloise, you are truly heartless.”
His face was very near mine, his eyes red with visible veins, anger hard to hide.
“To deal with Amira, you would even use such horrible ways?”
“Pay someone to kidnap her?”
“Do you know, if I had not found out in time, Amira could have almost died!”
He says each word slowly, his teeth pressed together.
I look at him blankly and say in a tired voice, “Do you have proof? Why do you think it was me?”
Adrian’s face turned even colder. “What proof do I need?”
“Besides you, who else would go after Amira like this?!”
He said it right away, without any pause or doubt.
When it came to Amira, Adrian never easily trusted me.
The corner of my lips lifted a little with sarcasm. “Your old secretary, or that model you were with before, or maybe even Amira herself.”
“Eloise!”
He cuts me off at once, his face turning red.
“You are just being unreasonable! I have never planned to let Amira take your place!”
“As long as you choose to live peacefully with her—”
“The role of Mrs. Wilkinson is always yours!”
“Why do you not understand what I mean?!”
By the end, Adrian had been nearly yelling.
It felt like from start to finish, every issue between us had been blamed on me.
It felt as if I gave way, then everything could turn fine.
I looked at him.
I faintly saw that once lively and warm young boy leaving me behind.
Childhood sweetheart had only been a fated ending.
Adrian had still been blaming. “Now, Amira is still pregnant; the baby has done nothing wrong.”
“You are also a mother, how can you be this cruel? You even pay people to take her?!”
“What if the baby was lost?!”
I gave a soft laugh. “Adrian, in your view, even an illegitimate child matters more than me, right?”
Adrian’s face had gone stiff.
My voice had been steady. “She was only nearly taken.”
“What about me? My leg was shattered. You not only show no concern, but came in and grabbed my throat, do you only feel satisfied if I am dead?”
Adrian’s expression had clearly shifted.
“What are you saying?”
He had slowly eased his grip without noticing; his eyes had moved to my wrapped leg, as if he wanted to pull the blanket up and look.
But before his hand could reach it, a faint voice had suddenly sounded from behind.
“Adrian.”
Amira had been standing by the doorway, her face white, her body shaking.
She had dropped straight to her knees in front of me.
“I am sorry, everything is because of me…”
“Sister-in-law, if you want to be angry, be angry at me, you can strike me or yell at me…”
“But can you allow me to deliver this child?”
“The doctor says my uterine wall is very thin; if I cannot keep it this time, I may never become pregnant again…”
As she had spoken, her body had kept shaking, looking very low and pleading, “After the child is born, you can end me or harm me, I accept it.”
“I have never wanted to take what belongs to you, truly…”
She had kept hitting her head toward me like she had lost control.
Adrian had rushed over almost at once, gently helping her up.
“What are you doing?!”
His voice had softened, showing clear worry. “Why are you bowing your head to her?”
Adrian had held her, as if he were holding something that could break easily.
When he had looked at me again, his eyes had been as if he was seeing a stranger. “Amira is already in this state; you still cannot accept her?”
He had looked at my leg with disappointment. “I almost felt pity for you; I almost believed your act of hurting yourself.”
“Believe whatever you wish.”
My voice had been very soft. “I will not be concerned about you anymore from now on.”
“Adrian, you and Amira can do anything you want.”
Adrian had not expected I would speak like that.
He had stared at me, as if checking whether I was just acting out.
But I had shown no feeling, no anger, and even less sadness.
His eyes had turned messy for a second.
His heart had felt like something was pulling it hard; he had kept feeling that if he closed his eyes, I would be gone.
He had wanted to say something, but before he could speak, Amira, in his arms, had lost consciousness.
Adrian had no longer paid attention to me; he had lifted her and hurried out.
When he had reached the doorway, he froze.
With his back facing me, his tone had softened a bit, “It is better if you understand it yourself.”
“Mrs. Wilkinson…”
“There is always only you.”
At that moment, the phone had shaken.
It had been a message sent by Liliana.
[The divorce is already finished, and the asset split is also settled.]
[Your belongings, I have asked people to move them to your new home.]
Only then had I breathed out, slowly pulling the IV needle from the back of my hand.
I had called a number.
“Let the plane land on the hospital rooftop.”
The person on the other side had quickly said yes.
I had stood up, and pain had torn through my leg.
But I had not stopped.
Step after step, I had walked outside.
Inside the plane, the private doctor had just given the baby an injection.
She had cried until her small face had turned red.
But the moment she saw me, the tears had suddenly stopped.
She had reached out her arms, moving into my embrace.
I had softly pressed a kiss on her forehead.
“Even without a father, your mother still lets you grow up as the happiest baby.”
My tone had been very firm.
“I also become myself.”
“No longer another person’s wife, another person’s Mrs.”
“Only Eloise Pearson.”
