Then so be it.
Let them live their happy lives without her. Let them be free of the worthless woman who had only ever existed to be their sacrifice.
She was so tired.
So unbearably tired.
And as the silence wrapped around her like a burial shroud, Lin Yueyao finally let go of the last thread tethering her to life.
There was nothing left.
Not love.
Not hope.
Not even pain.
Only this endless darkness, swallowing her whole.
On the third day, Yueyao lay slumped against the damp wall, her eyelids swollen shut and her lips split, crusted with dried blood. Her body throbbed with a thousand invisible knives, but her mind was numb, drifting in and out of dark voids.
She barely registered the men entering until one of them grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, forcing her eyes open with his thumb.
"She's barely conscious. Take the photos quickly," he ordered coldly.
Another man lifted his phone, snapping several shots of her bruised, bloodied face. Her collarbones jutted out sharply above her ripped clothes, raw burns, and cuts branding her skin like cursed tattoos.
Her exposed shoulders trembled violently in the damp chill, her tears mixing with the blood crusting her lips.
They typed swiftly, attaching the photos to a message before sending it off. Ten minutes later, the phone rang. The scarred man pressed 'answer' and put it on speaker. A woman's voice, calm and sweet, floated through the dusty room.
"Is the money transferred?" he asked curtly.
"Check your account," the woman replied lightly. The chime of an incoming notification buzzed on his phone. He checked and smirked, flashing the screen to the others – five million yuan had been deposited.
"Good doing business with you," he said.
"What do you want us to do with her?" he asked casually, as if discussing trash disposal.
There was a pause, then the woman let out a small, indifferent laugh.
"Anything you want. I don't care what happens to her. Just don't contact me again."
Click.
The call ended. Silence pressed down heavily, broken only by Yueyao's ragged breathing and the drip of water from a leaking pipe. Her ears rang with the finality of the woman's words. Anything you want. Anything.
The men exchanged dark, greedy smiles. One of them crouched down in front of her, licking his cracked lips slowly as his eyes roamed her trembling form.
"You heard the lady," he murmured, reaching out to stroke her cheek with calloused fingers, making her flinch away weakly. "She said we can do anything."
Another man chuckled and unzipped his pants slightly, his gaze heavy with lust and cruelty," She's pretty for someone so broken. Let's have our share before we dump her somewhere."
But before he could touch her, the scarred man stepped forward and kicked him hard in the stomach. The man fell back with a grunt.
"Idiot," he spat. "Don't waste her like that."
The other two looked up at him, confused. He folded his arms over his broad chest, a sly grin spreading across his scarred face.
"I have a better idea on how to deal with her. We can earn more, so don't spoil the goods." He glanced down at his phone again, reading the notification of the transfer, then eyed Yueyao from head to toe like inspecting cattle. "With a face and body like that, the profit would easily exceed 200,000 yuan in just a week. We can earn more."