When Ariadnie regained consciousness through the stabbing pain, the doctor beside her said, “Fortunately, the baby in your womb is safe.”
He asked gently, “Do you want us to inform your family?”
Ariadnie’s lips were drained of color. “No need. I don’t have a family.”
The doctor had just walked out when she heard Reagan’s choked voice outside the room. “I really didn’t mean it, Rasper. The brakes failed… You won’t blame me, right?”
Rasper’s cold voice followed. “I don’t blame you.”
Ariadnie forced herself upright and rushed to Reagan, swinging a slap across her face.
“You deliberately hurt me and then fled the scene. I’m calling the cops!”
Reagan looked utterly shocked, trembling all over. “It’s all my fault. The brakes malfunctioned… It’s all on me…”
Ariadnie raised her hand again, but Rasper grabbed her wrist in a vice-like grip. “Ariadnie, she said she didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident. There’s no need to be so aggressive.”
“I’m aggressive?” Ariadnie let out a cold laugh. “She tried to fucking kill me!”
Tears filled Reagan’s eyes, making her look pitiful. “It’s all my fault. Ariadnie, you can hit me or punish me however you want…”
Ariadnie’s pale lips curled into a cold smile. “No wonder—you’re the daughter of a mistress. You really know how to put on a show.”
Reagan burst into tears and bit her lip hard. “A-Ariadnie… How could you say that about me?”
Ariadnie turned away, grabbed the water pitcher from the bedside table, and splashed it straight over Reagan’s head.
“Just looking at you makes me sick!”
Rasper clamped down on her arm, squeezing hard enough to crush bone. “Enough!”
Ariadnie didn’t back down. She looked him dead in the eyes. “I want her in jail!”
She picked up her phone, but Rasper snatched it away. His gaze was cold as ice. “She hit you, yes, but she’s still your sister. You’d really send her to jail? You don’t need to file a report. No one in all of Houston will take this case.”
Gripping the hem of her dress until her fingers hurt, Ariadnie finally asked, “Rasper… After three years, what exactly am I to you?”
He lowered his gaze, voice low. “Of course, you’re my girlfriend. Don’t worry. I’ll punish her.”
He explained, “I won’t let her leave the house for a day.”
Ariadnie suddenly laughed and laughed until tears spilled down her face.
“That’s your idea of punishment?”
His brows tightened. “Enough. Just rest here for the next couple of days. I’ll take her home first.”
The day she was discharged, Ariadnie walked straight out of the hospital and got into a cab.
Soon, she realized the route was wrong. “You’re going the wrong way.”
But the driver didn’t respond.
A chill ran through her. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
The next second, the driver slammed on the brakes, whipped around, and jabbed a syringe of anesthetic into her arm.
Then, her vision went black.
When she opened her eyes again, her hands and feet were tied tightly. Before she could make sense of anything, a bucket of ice water crashed over her head.
The freezing cold shot through her entire body, making her curl up involuntarily.
A second bucket followed, the sudden splash startling her. Then a third.
Her blood felt like it had frozen solid; her body shook violently.
But she bit down on her lip, refusing to scream.
By the time the ninety-ninth bucket poured over her, her mind was barely conscious, drifting into darkness.
“Sir, I’ve done what you ordered.”
A man’s voice echoed from somewhere far away.
On the other end of the phone, a familiar voice replied, “Good. She must’ve learned her lesson by now. Send her back.”
Ariadnie’s heart clenched; she recognized the voice. It really was Rasper.
Just because she poured a pitcher of water on Reagan, he had someone dump ninety-nine buckets of ice water on Ariadnie.
In the end, completely drained of strength, she passed out for good.
