Chapter 3
The next day, I was still deep in sleep when a commotion outside my door jolted me awake.
Jack, absolutely fuming, barged into my bedroom and yanked me out of bed.
"Elena! What did you tell Grandma?!"
He demanded furiously, "Why would Grandma go to Lisa and tell her to get an abortion? Don't you know her body's weak? If she loses this baby, she might never be able to conceive again!"
The barrage of questions hit me so fast I hadn't even processed them when a searing pain shot through my wrist.
"I didn't say a thing! Jack, let go! You're hurting me!"
Jack’s eyes were bloodshot, his voice low and dangerous:
"You wanted to be with me forever, didn't you? Alright, I'll give you your chance!"
He dragged me out of the room, ignoring my struggles. I fought back constantly, and as we rounded a corner, my lower stomach slammed hard into the edge of the wall.
Instantly, the pain made me break out in a cold sweat.
No matter how much I pleaded, Jack turned a deaf ear.
In the end, it was Lisa who got out of the car and stopped him.
"Jack, the baby and I are perfectly fine, see? Don't be like this with Elena. Maybe there's just been some misunderstanding?"
Lisa, teary-eyed, tugged at Jack's sleeve, looking so pitiful as she pleaded on my behalf.
"It's all my fault. If it weren't for me, you two wouldn't have ended up like this..."
Jack tenderly wiped away her tears, kissing her forehead:
"It's not your fault, Lisa. Meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me."
Watching them so intimate, my heart felt like it was being torn to shreds.
"Elena, I'm giving you one more chance."
"If it happens again, I won't be so forgiving."
The world suddenly went silent, and I collapsed to the floor, too stunned to move for what felt like forever.
That day, I gathered everything that reminded me of Jack and locked it all away in a safe.
Including the five letters he'd sent after he disappeared.
Jack, you might as well have just died back then.
At least then you would have died when you loved me the most.
I gave the safe to the butler at the family estate, asking him to give it to Jack after I was gone.
"John, I still need you to keep digging into Lisa's backgrounds."
John looked like he was about to say something, probably to convince me to wait, but he just ended up heaving a deep sigh.
After Grandma, John was the one who best understood the agony I'd been through all these years.
But the Jack I saw now? He was no longer worth all those years I'd waited.
The next day, Jack and Lisa were waiting at my doorstep.
I got the hint and slid into the back seat.
The whole ride, the two of them up front were laughing and chatting away in Spanish, a language I didn’t understand.
"Oh, I totally forgot Elena doesn't understand Spanish! Jack, quick, tell her what you just said in English!"Jack glanced at me in the rearview mirror, and just as he was about to speak, I cut him off.
"My head's killing me. I don't want to hear it."
Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes as I closed them, and a faint fragrance in the car drifted into my nostrils.
My consciousness gradually faded, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
When I woke up, I found myself not at the Morgan estate, but in an abandoned warehouse.
Suddenly, a harsh beam of light cut through the darkness. I was blindfolded, unable to see a thing.
An ice-cold metal rod slammed into my back without warning.
The pain made me scream out loud, it felt like my entire spine was about to shatter.
A second blow landed viciously on my arm. I bit down hard on my lip, my whole body trembling.
"Who are you?"
Someone laughed, a sound so familiar it sent a chill down my spine.
"Elena, why do you have to be so damn thick-headed?"
"How many times have I told you to leave Jack? Why wouldn't you listen? Did you really have to force my hand?"
It was Lisa.
She ripped off the black cloth covering my eyes, and the blinding light made me instinctively jerk my head away.
Lisa stood before me, flanked by two tall, burly men.
I recognized them. They were Jack’s bodyguards.
"Elena, if I called Jack right now, do you think he’d even bother to come save you?"