Chapter 18
“Mr. Mitchell, we can’t find any trace of Mrs. Mitchell. She’s wiped out every record of herself”
“If it were me, I’d have disappeared too–and never looked back”
Liam’s jaw tightened, a bitter laugh slipping out.
He couldn’t blame her. Hot after how he’d treated her–always expecting her to be understanding, obedient, to just quietly accept everything.
Ever since he realized Esme had truly left, it was like someone had ripped out a chunk of his heart. He could feel it bleeding, but all that was left was the faint strength to keep beating.
“…Keep searching” he said quietly. The pain was something he’d grown numb to long ago. Now, all he could do was try to find her–and pray for forgiveness,
“All the things you asked me to look into, I’ve found them. The videos are all here.”
His assistant held out a silver USB drive.
Liam’s hands shook as he picked it up and plugged it into his laptop.
Deep down, he’d always known. Esme was never the kind of girl who could hurt anyone.
But he had to see it for himself. Only then, maybe, could he start to pay for what he’d done.
Fighting back a surge of regret and anger, Liam forced himself to watch every second.
So, while Joy was curled up in his arms, listening to his stories, Esme–his wife–was downstairs, burning with fever, struggling to reach a glass of water, her hands covered in blood. While he was busy taking care of Joy at the stables, Esme was just standing nearby, watching in silence; when he walked away to take a call, Joy picked a fight with her. When the horses crashed together, throwing Esme into the sand, he didn’t even look at her–he just ran to Joy, leaving the woman he once loved to be trampled, nearly killed, right in front of him.
The soup had never been poisoned by Esme. Joy had slipped abortion pills into it herself, trying to end her pregnancy and frame Esme for it. And him–God–he’d believed Joy without a second thought, left Esme out in a snowstorm, buried under an avalanche for a crime she never committed…
“What have I done..” Liam pressed his hands to his head, the pain almost unbearable. “Esme, how could I do this to you…”
“Esme, if I ever let you down in this life… may I never know happiness again.”
“Esme… losing you means losing everything.”
He whispered her name, tears slipping down his hand, cold and bitter.
Suddenly, a piercing scream shattered the quiet, dragging him out of his memories.
“Help me!” The desperate cry echoed through the house.
“Joy, you’re going to pay for everything you did.” He stared at the blood–soaked woman, voice flat with disgust.
“Liam… please, I swear I won’t do it again, please…”
his
Joy’s face was streaked with tears as she tried to cling to him, desperate for any kind of mercy.
“You love me, don’t you? Please, I’m begging you, let me go–I’ll never show up in your or Esme’s life again…
Liam’s hand closed around her neck, his anger boiling over. He let out a hollow laugh. “Love you?”
His heart twisted. The things he’d done–how could Esme have seen it as anything but betrayal? There had even been a moment, the briefest moment, when he’d wavered for Joy.
“Joy, was the divorce agreement really Esme’s idea? Or did you trick me into signing it?”
“It was Esme! She begged me to help her get your signature! She asked me to do it!”
Joy screamed, her body shaking, blood pooling beneath her. With a sickening thud, something wet and red hit the floor.
“Liam! That’s our baby!” Joy’s face went ghostly pale, her eyes wild as she frantically tried to gather the bloody mess, trying to put it back inside her.
“Liar! Even now, you’re trying to trick the Mitchell family!” Grandma Mitchell, who had been silent until now, snapped. “Guards, throw her in the river! Make sure a doctor watches–don’t let this wretch die!”
Joy clutched the bloody bundle and burst into crazed laughter.
“Liam, Grandma Mitchell–if you hadn’t spoiled me, if you hadn’t treated Esme so coldly, do you really think she would have left?”
“And now, it’s all my fault? Hah… Hahaha…”
Her laughter echoed as the guards dragged her away, leaving two trails of blood on the polished floor.
“Liam, is Esme really never coming back?” Grandma Mitchell pressed something cold into his palm, snapping him back to reality.
He looked down. It was Esme’s old jade bracelet–the one she’d smashed. Someone had picked up every broken piece and fixed it with thin gold wire, restoring it to what it once was.
“I’ve asked around everywhere. They say Esme’s living in Hillcrest now…”
“Bring her home… It was my fault. I’ll apologize to her myself.”
Liam glanced at her. The once–proud matriarch looked like she’d aged years in just one night.
2/3
Chapter 18
“I will, Grandma,” he promised.
Gripping the cool jade in his fist, he whispered, “I’ll bring Esme home.”
