The next second Benjamin came at her in a fury and drove his foot into Lindsay's chest.
He held the wounded Vivian against him and screamed himself hoarse. "Doctor!"
"Vivian, you're going to be fine..."
A coppery sweetness rose in Lindsay's throat. She spat out a mouthful of blood and gave a cold laugh. "Benjamin, she isn't the little sister of your dead first love. She is Veronica Barnes. The suicide back then was a sham, staged by her to test how real your feelings were—"
That sham had cost her three whole years.
Right now all she wanted was to tear off Vivian's mask and clear her own name.
A knife had gone into Vivian's belly. Her face had drained white. "Benjamin, she just threatened me. She said if I didn't tell you this, she'd throw me off the fifth floor. She comes from money, she has power, I can't fight someone like her..."
"Is this how she drove my sister to her death too? I'm so scared..."
The doctor rushed in and started working on Vivian's wound.
Benjamin's face was frost. He picked the bloodied scissors up off the floor and signaled the others to leave.
He walked toward Lindsay, one step at a time, closed a hand around her throat, his voice low and dark. "To clean up your own reputation, there really isn't anything you won't do, is there."
"Veronica already died at your hands, and you still slander her. Now you want to kill her own sister too. Lindsay, why are you this vicious?"
He stared at her, eyes heavy, and then, for no reason, he smiled—a smile with a cold that cut to the bone. "Don't tell me it's because you're in love with me. Jealous enough to lose your mind?"
Lindsay's face flushed dark red. She clawed at the back of his hand, leaving bloody streaks, and forced out every word with the last of her strength. "I'd sooner love a stray dog off the street than ever love you!"
"Good. So would I."
Benjamin said it slowly, and the hand pinning her throat eased open.
Lindsay had barely drawn a breath when pain bloomed through her belly. She looked down, disbelieving.
Benjamin had driven the scissors into her abdomen with terrible force.
The pain swallowed every word she still meant to say.
"This one is what you owe Vivian."
He yanked the blade out and stabbed it hard into her chest. "And this one is what you owe Veronica."
He truly meant to take her life.
The violent pain wracked her whole body, yet she couldn't even cry out.
He dropped her on the floor like a broken rag doll. The blood was leaving her fast, her mind washing blank, and all she could manage was, "Benjamin..."
He didn't bother to spare her even a glance. His voice carried a cold that reached the bone. "You'd better die right here. Otherwise what's waiting for you is endless torment..."
With that, he turned and left without looking back.
Lindsay only felt cold, her whole body as if soaked in ice water.
She had never imagined she would truly die at the hands of the man she had loved for twelve years.
Her eyes lost their focus, her hands fell limp...
Maybe death was the only ending left for her.
When Lindsay woke out of the darkness, she found she hadn't died.
But she soon found she'd been locked up.
The nurses' chatter drifted to her ears. "Mr. Delgado says Miss Donaldson has a severe delusional disorder, that we need to increase her treatment..."
"A perfectly normal person—how does she just go mad like that? And she nearly killed Vivian. If Mr. Delgado hadn't been there, Miss Barnes really would have died at her hands."
"Vivian's a lucky one, though. Mr. Delgado fell for her at first sight. She gets hurt and he watches over her three days and three nights without sleeping..."
Lindsay got up, pounded on the door, and shouted, "I'm not crazy! Let me out!"
The doctor came quickly, restraint straps in his hands, his face calm. "Miss Donaldson, whether you're really mad or only pretending makes no difference to me. What matters is that Mr. Delgado gave an order: you're not to have it easy..."
"Either you behave, admit you slandered Miss Barnes, and apologize to her, or you take all of this."
So it was Benjamin after all.
She wasn't dead simply because Benjamin still didn't think she'd suffered enough.
A mocking smile touched the corner of Lindsay's mouth. "Tell Benjamin that Vivian is a liar, and he's a fool!"
"Even if I die right here, I will never apologize to her!"
She picked up a ballpoint pen and pressed it to her own throat, a look of release in her eyes.
