It took everything I had just to push myself upright.
“I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I admit to it?”
Alvin gave a cold laugh, edged with irritation. “You'll never change. You do something wrong, and you never once learn to apologize. It was the same when you hit Sonia back then, and it's the same now that you drugged her. Isabella, when are you ever going to learn to bow your head?”
A laugh slipped out of me.
The wound split open again, blood seeping out, sliding down along my brow.
Bow my head to Sonia?
“Sonia wrecked my marriage, framed my brother into prison, and turned my whole life into a pile of mud. And you want me to bow my head and apologize to her? Alvin, do you really think that's possible?”
Alvin's expression shifted, the corners of his mouth pressing down. “Stubborn to the bone.”
“Looks like the punishment hasn't been enough to clear your head.”
He turned and walked toward the door, telling the bodyguard posted there, “No water, no food. Keep her awake every second, until she comes to her senses.”
The door closed.
Every time I came close to passing out, someone would throw a basin of salt water over me, the sting jolting me back into the pain.
In the end my wounds only grew worse, and with no food for so long my body finally gave out and I blacked out completely.
When I came to again, Alvin was sitting at the edge of the bed, his face cold. “Awake?”
I said nothing.
He paused. “You should count yourself lucky. Sonia and the baby are both fine.”
“Don't go near Sonia again. Or I won't go easy on you next time.”
I looked at him for a long while before I spoke, my voice level. “Understood. From now on I'll stay far away from her.”
And far away from you, too.
Alvin stared at me for a few seconds, as if trying to find some crack in my face.
My expression stayed calm, without a trace of anything extra.
He frowned, an odd flicker passing through him, though his mouth turned sarcastic. “This had better not be you playing meek again.”
Before I could answer, there was a knock at the door.
A nurse leaned half her body in. “Mr. Henson, Miss Harding has been asking for you.”
Alvin was on his feet at once, striding toward the door.
The nurse followed behind, murmuring to her colleague, “Mr. Henson really is good to Miss Harding. They say he's been at her bedside ever since she came out of the ER, never leaving her side for a moment. Miss Harding is truly blessed.”
Never leaving her side.
I closed my eyes.
I had been through all of it before.
Seven years ago, Alvin fell for me at first sight and chased me for a whole year, surprising me with something new every single day.
But what truly moved me was that car crash.
When I was brought to the hospital, the internal bleeding was severe, and I needed massive transfusions.
The blood bank ran short, and to save me he signed a waiver of liability and gave me his own blood.
He nearly lost his life over it.
Back then, Alvin had stayed at my side too, never leaving for a moment.
It was only that love, in the end, couldn't escape those words: everything the same, and yet nothing the same.
I dug out the backup phone I carried with me and dialed the number I hadn't called in three years.
“Ferris Delgado, get my brother transferred to another prison.”
“Do this one thing for me, and I'll marry you.”
The other end went quiet for a moment, then came a low laugh. “Isabella, you've finally come around.”
“One week. I'll have it handled.”
After hanging up, I opened the encrypted file the private detective had sent.
It was a recording of the “victim” from that case, talking with Sonia.
Sonia had kept the person hidden away tight; it had taken me three years just to get word of them.
Once my brother was transferred, I could send those two to hell without holding anything back.
