Chapter 5
Before I could even speak, Ryan grabbed me by the throat.
“Talk! Where did you take my children?”
“If anything happens to them, don’t even think about staying alive!”
I collapsed to the floor in a mess, laughing through the tears streaming down my face.
“You didn’t even ask before accusing me?”
He ignored my question, his eyes blazing with rage as he glared down at me.
“If it wasn’t you, then who else? Are you saying Daisy would harm her own children?”
“You won’t talk? Fine. Then I’ll make you feel what it’s like to lose someone you love!”
He yanked me up by the hair and threw me into the car. Without a word, he sped toward the hospital.
When we arrived, my mother had just been resuscitated.
Her body was covered in tubes, her breathing was faint-so faint it was nearly undetectable.
With bloodshot eyes, he stormed into the room and ripped out her oxygen tube.
The blaring of medical alarms shattered the last of my sanity.
I lunged toward him, but he sneered and stomped down on my hand.
The bones in my fingers snapped with a sickening crack, nearly knocking me unconscious from the pain.
I bit through my own flesh, my mouth filling with blood, and begged him in agony.
“Please, stop! Don’t hurt my mom-she’ll die!”
“Ryan, if you hate me, then kill me! I’m begging you-just let her go!”
My heart-wrenching cries meant nothing to him.
I could only watch in helpless horror as my mother’s body convulsed before my eyes.
How could it not hurt?
This was the man I once dug out from beneath a landslide with my bare, bleeding hands.
The husband I protected even after losing my child… and now my mother.
And now, everything I’d sacrificed for was nothing but a cruel joke.
In utter despair, Daisy suddenly burst into the hospital room.
She ran into Ryan’s arms, her voice trembling.
“Mr. Parker, the children… I found them. I accidentally locked them in the basement.” “Therese’s mother ended up like this because of me. Do you think she’ll hate me?”
Ryan’s expression turnedpale, then flushed with tension. But not once did he look at me with guilt.
“What are you afraid of? Her mother is just like her-tough as nails. She’ll survive.”
“But you, you’re pregnant. You need to stay calm for the baby.”
“Once you give birth safely, I’ll bring her back home.”
Without sparing me another glance, he scooped Daisy into his arms and walked away.
I dragged my broken body to my mother’s bedside, my trembling hands trying desperately to reattach the oxygen tube.
But it was already too late.
The monitor showed only a flat, unbroken line.
The mother I had waited five years to see again…
…ied right in front of me.
After handling the funeral, I wandered like a ghost up to the rooftop.
The man who once vowed to protect me for life had now destroyed even my last sliver of hope.
I closed my eyes, ready to end it all.
But someone pulled me into their arms just as I stepped forward.
When I saw who it was, a bitter smile curled on my lips.
“Here to save me? Too bad you’re too late.”
His eyes reddened with emotion.
“Therese, I owe you my life. And until I repay it, you are not allowed to die!”
“I’ll take you away from here. From now on, no one will ever hurt you again.”
Half a month later, Ryan arrived at the hospital, cradling his newborn child in his arms, ready to bring Therese home.
But when he opened the door to the room, it was completely empty.
His heart sank instantly.
A moment later, his assistant burst in, face pale as a sheet.
“Mr. Parker, I asked the doctors-Miss Alba’s mother passed away half a month ago.”
“And Miss Alba… has already disappeared.”
