Chapter 7
After taking a few, the pain only seemed to intensify.
She took three more…
Then five…
Then ten…
Finally, an entire bottle of pills scattered across the floor as she violently coughed up blood.
That day, Nathaniel never found Victoria.
Her cat–and–mouse game wasn’t over yet. She had only dangled a small piece of bait, but it was enough to turn everything upside down.
Nathaniel continued dispatching people everywhere to search for her, while simultaneously pushing forward with his and Riley’s wedding plans with much publicity.
As news of their wedding spread wider, Victoria finally couldn’t sit still anymore.
Instead of going to Nathaniel, she went directly to find Riley.
In the spacious mansion, the two women faced each other.
Victoria’s body bore many scars–inflicted by Nathaniel himself when she was first imprisoned at Lakeside Manor. Who could have imagined that barely six months later, he would be desperately searching for her, as if he could never lose her again?
“Riley, I know you’ve been following my posts,” Victoria said, cutting straight to the point with a smirk of satisfaction playing on her lips.
For months, everyone said she was just creating drama, but only one person consistently viewed that thread, always the first to read each update.
She knew it could only be Riley.
“How does it feel watching the man you love fall for someone else bit by bit?” Victoria taunted, but Riley remained silent.
Despite appearing fragile and thin in her wheelchair, Riley somehow made Victoria feel inferior in her presence.
Victoria had chased after Nathaniel for years, yet this woman effortlessly commanded his love.
Why her?
Looking at the expressionless woman before her, a flash of hatred crossed Victoria’s eyes, followed by a cold laugh.
“Riley, tell me when he’s been so publicly announcing your wedding all over town, is it really because he wants to marry you… or is it to force me to come out of hiding?”
15.4%
Chapter 7
At these words, Riley’s grip on her wheelchair finally tightened involuntarily.
It was as if the truth she’d been desperately trying to deny had been laid bare, and the color drained from her face.
Having finally cracked Riley’s vulnerability, Victoria smiled triumphantly.
How could she not be vulnerable?
The boy who had vowed at sixteen to marry her someday….
Now using their wedding as leverage to draw out another woman.
As Victoria slowly moved closer, sudden hurried footsteps sounded from behind them.
The moment Nathaniel burst through the door, Victoria swiftly pulled out a concealed knife.
He froze, then roared, “Victoria, if you touch her, I’ll fucking kill you!”
But in the next second, the knife wasn’t pointed at Riley–Victoria pressed it against her own chest.
She turned to look at him with reddened eyes, her earlier smugness replaced by a desperate laugh: “How could I dare hurt your precious girlfriend, Nathaniel? I know you hate me for taking her legs. Since you’ll never forgive me anyway, I’ll give her my life instead. Will that finally satisfy you?”
With that, she drove the knife toward her chest.
Nathaniel’s expression instantly transformed to panic, his voice trembling more than before.
“NO!”
But Victoria had already plunged the knife into her body. He rushed forward like a madman, shoving Riley aside and scooping up the bloodied woman.
“Victoria! Don’t you dare die! Don’t you fucking die on me!”
He carried her out in a frenzy, completely oblivious to Riley, whom he had knocked from her wheelchair onto the floor.
Pain shot through her legs where they scraped against the floor. Riley stared blankly at the doorway, her heart shattered into countless pieces.
She couldn’t get up by herself and lay there pathetically for who knows how long.
Finally, the housekeeper returned and found the mess, helping Riley back into her wheelchair.
“Oh, Miss Morgan, how careless! Mr. Blackwood would be heartbroken if he saw you like this.”
Riley’s face was streaked with dried tears. At the housekeeper’s words, she let out a laugh that sounded like pure agony.
Funny, because just moments ago, he’d walked away more decisively than anyone ever could.
16.2%
Dabirth Loop
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
