Half her body was already over the railing.
Wallace's eyes split red and he roared：“Jacqueline! Stop!”
He charged over and kicked me square in the chest without hesitation.
The force sent me rolling across the ground. Something warm surged up my throat, and I spat out a mouthful of blood.
Wallace pulled Adeline into his arms and held her tight.
“It's okay, Addie. I'm here.”
I lay facedown on the ground, staring at the blood-smeared shard of jade bracelet in my hand, and suddenly the whole thing felt absurd beyond words.
The phone in my pocket buzzed again.
I dragged it out with trembling fingers.
The me from seven years ago had sent one final message：
【I understand now. Thank you for the warning.】
【But I won't give up on Wallace. And I won't let that future version of me die on the operating table.】
I stared at those words and let out a dry, bitter laugh.
Right. The Wallace of seven years ago—the man who would have plucked the moon from the sky and handed it to Jacqueline Sullivan. How could he possibly cheat on her?
I gripped the railing and hauled myself to my feet.
Wallace turned his head. His gaze cut like a blade：“Jacqueline, you're vicious to the core. You want someone dead that badly? Then go die yourself.”
He pointed at the decommissioned freezer room beside the rooftop access.
“Lock her in there. Without my order, nobody lets her out.”
Several bodyguards rushed forward and dragged me toward the iron door that radiated a bone-deep cold.
I didn't struggle. I let them shove me inside.
The iron door slammed shut with a “bang,” swallowing every last trace of light and sound.
The freezer room was minus twenty degrees.
I was wearing nothing but a thin hospital gown, my back pressed against a wall crusted with frost.
My body temperature was draining away, bit by bit.
I took out my phone and used its last sliver of battery to send a scheduled email to my lawyer.
Then I opened that post on the online forum.
【No need to wait anymore. I'm already dead.】
I closed my eyes and felt life pulling away from me in the cold, slow and quiet.
He carried Adeline back to the ward and spent the whole night comforting her.
It wasn't until noon the next day that he remembered the woman he'd locked in the freezer.
“Go let Jacqueline out.” He sat on the sofa peeling an apple for Adeline, his tone barely more than an afterthought as he told his assistant, “A whole night in there should've taught her a lesson. Have her come kowtow to Addie and admit she was wrong, and we'll call it settled.”
Bill left to carry out the order.
Ten minutes later, he came crashing back into the ward, face white as paper, voice shaking so hard the words barely held together.
“Mr. F-Farley……your wife……your wife is gone!”
