11 Chapter 11
Before the officers could utter another word, Gerald seized Joanne’s collar, his eyes red with anger. “The security footage shows everything clearly. Joanne, why did you falsely accuse Eleanor of trying to attack you?”
Never having witnessed Gerald in such a state before, Joanne crumpled in terror. She inched towards the police, shaking uncontrollably, “Officers, I admit it. Please, arrest me. Put me in
jail.”
Joanne was well aware of Gerald’s potential for cruelty. He had been willing to perform surgery on me without anesthesia just to prove his loyalty.
Now, to exact revenge on me, he might torture Joanne to her last breath. Recalling the gruesome scene from that day, Joanne broke into a cold sweat. At this moment, she felt the police station was her safest refuge.
However, Gerald gave her no respite. He hoisted her up and clamped his hand around her neck, “Joanne, I swore I wouldn’t have children with Eleanor after marriage. Why did you still do this? You not only took Eleanor’s brother’s life, but you also attempted to murder Eleanor and our baby!”
Joanne, her face ashen, clawed at his hand desperately and gave a bitter smile, “Why? Gerald, Eleanor is just a simple country girl. How could she possibly be worthy of marrying you and joining the Riverton Family?”
33%
11 Chapter 11
She stammered, “What does it matter if the child is yours? Eleanor is gone now. You strapped her to the operating table and sliced open her belly yourself. She died from blood loss, nothing can change that.”
Gerald’s mind reeled. He couldn’t bear to envision me restrained
on the operating table. All he saw was my blood, crimson …
everything crimson.
Like a ghostly banner, it enveloped him, pulling him to the brink of damnation, as if any slight movement from me could end his
existence.
He also recalled me weeping, imploring, begging him to release me, to save the life growing inside me. But what had he done then? His attention had been completely absorbed by Joanne’s plans for an overseas marriage. He had ignored my desperate pleas. And to ease Joanne’s mind as quickly as possible, he had cut into my stomach without anesthesia.
This realization made Gerald tremble with remorse. He knew how intensely I feared pain.
That evening after our college graduation, when I accidentally cut myself while trying to slice a watermelon for him, I was in such agony that I fell into his arms, sobbing and vowing never to cut fruit again.
He fetched the first aid kit, bandaged my hand, and gently blew on the wound, assuring me, “Then I’ll do it for you, I’ll cut fruit for you for the rest of our days. If we have children someday, I’ll cut fruit for you and them for as long as I live.”
37
66%
11 Chaptor 11
playfully pouted, feigning anger and said, “Oh, so you prefer sons that much? What if I give birth to a daughter?” At that time, Gerald truly cared for me.
Fearing I might be upset, he embraced me and comforted me for a long while, “Eleanor, as long as it’s your child, boy or girl, I’ll cherish them. Why not have many? When we’re elderly, we’ll have a whole brood of little ones calling us grandpa and grandma. Just thinking about it makes me happy…”
“Gerald, you’re fantasizing! Who said I’d give you children?” Those tender words from our youth echoed clearly in my mind, but now, they had dissipated like soap bubbles.
With a gust of chilly air, they vanished without a trace.
Tears welled up in my eyes and Gerald regretfully struck his head, muttering, “I was wrong. I was wrong. Everything was wrong.
