Chapter 9
“If it hurts, just take some painkillers. Why are you being so dramatic and suffering through it? Are you trying to get sympathy?”
He’d slam the door shut, not caring that I’d passed out from the pain.
In the end, it was always my mom who’d save me – calling when she couldn’t reach me, finding me just in time to get me to the hospital.
If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have survived long enough in my past life for him to personally push me off that cliff.
The next second, I swung the silver needle and drove it deep into his skin.
He screamed in agony again.
His blood vessels bulged all over his body, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
Soon, I had forty-nine needles stuck all over his body before finally pulling my hands back, instructing Charles and Beatrice.
“They have to stay in for exactly three hours, or it won’t work and we’ll have to start over.”
Beatrice nodded, then barked viciously at Lily, who was kneeling on the floor.
“You hear that? If even one second is missing, I’ll skin you alive!”
Lily had clearly been tortured plenty these past three days-she was covered in bruises, trembling uncontrollably, and didn’t even dare to lift her
head.
I didn’t bother with them, just walked over to the couch and curled up in Lucas’s arms.
Then, with Gabriel watching, I started flirting shamelessly with Lucas right in front of him.
Gabriel was enduring the agony of the needles while listening to me and Lucas kissing – it was driving him absolutely insane.
“Autumn Chase, you’re doing this on purpose! Just to torture me, right!”
I caressed Lucas’s face, smiling as I spoke.
“You chose not to marry me – that was your decision. Can’t blame anyone else for that. You can only blame yourself for being stupid enough to get fooled and then help count the money for the person who scammed you.”
“As for saving you, your parents earned that by kowtowing ninety-nine times each. So watch your mouth – don’t waste their sacrifice. If you piss me off, they’ll have to start kowtowing all over again.”
Three hours passed quickly. When I went to check on Gabriel, I suddenly frowned.
“How did this needle fall out? Who pulled it!”
Charles rushed over to look, then slapped Lily hard across the face.
“What happened? Why did it fall out!”
Lily’s cheek swelled up from the hit as she shook her head frantically, crying.
“I don’t know! It wasn’t me! I don’t know why the needle fell out… It was her! She didn’t stick it in properly on purpose!”
I spoke up first. “Ridiculous! I’ve been doing acupuncture for ten years – I’ve never had a needle fall out! If you’re going to frame me, at least be more
creative about it!”
Between me and Lily, Charles ultimately chose to believe me.
“Tie her up. I don’t believe she won’t tell the truth!”
I just shook my head and sighed, sticking the needle back into Gabriel’s skin – another scream of agony.
“Since that needle fell out, we have to start the full three hours over again. You guys watch carefully no more mistakes.”
I turned to look at Gabriel. All this back-and-forth torture had shrunk his body even more he was almost child-sized now.
But his skin looked like that of a seventy-year-old man, making him appear absolutely grotesque.
“No, Autumn, please save me! It hurts too much I can’t take it anymore! This pain is going to kill me!”
Gabriel begged me desperately, tears streaming down his face.
E
Beatrice was crying too as she pleaded with me. “Autumn, please have mercy. Can’t you make my son suffer a little less? He’s never endured this kind of pain in his entire life.”
I shook my head. “There’s no other way. It has to be exactly three hours – not one second less.”
“Besides, isn’t this the path your son chose for himself?”
Faced with my mockery, Beatrice broke down, crying as she tried to comfort Gabriel.
“Gabriel, honey, just hold on a little longer. It’ll be over soon. Seeing you like this breaks my heart too…”
Under Charles’s interrogation, Lily finally cracked and told the truth.
“I pulled it out! I just saw Gabriel in so much pain and wanted to help him feel better. How was I supposed to know we’d have to start all over!”
Charles was so furious he nearly stabbed her with a knife. “You bitch! Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused this family!”
He kicked her hard. Lily screamed as her head slammed into the wall with a dull thud.
“I did it on purpose to make Gabriel suffer! So what? After how you’ve all treated me, I want revenge! Hahaha!”
She spat blood while laughing maniacally.
“Psycho.”
I coldly spat out that word and looked away.
She brought this on herself – no one else to blame.
Suddenly, Beatrice screamed.
“Autumn, come quick! Gabriel’s foaming at the mouth!”
I walked over slowly to see Gabriel pale as a ghost, his body trembling slightly.
I slapped him hard across the face several times until he regained consciousness, then stopped.
“A few slaps fixed it. What’s all the screaming about?”
Then I told Beatrice:
“If he passes out again, just slap him a few times. Don’t bother me with it.”
Beatrice opened her mouth to say something but ultimately just shut it awkwardly.
I could hear Lily laughing triumphantly from the living room.
“Go ahead and kill me if you dare! Who else besides me would be willing to stay with that horrifying thing as his wife? You’re not blind – can’t you see
what he’s turned into?”
“Mom, what do I look like now? Let me see!”
Charles and Beatrice had hidden all the mirrors in the house these past few days to prevent him from seeing what he’d become.
But I beat them to it, holding up a mirror right in front of his face.
“Take a good look at what you’ve become.”
Gabriel took one look and screamed before passing out again.
