Chapter 24
“No.” Xavier pushed her away and pleaded, “Please, Reina, let me go.”
Those words completely enraged Reina.
She ordered her people to tie him to the bed in the bedroom. Looking at him with a pained expression, she asked, “Haven’t you loved me for so many years? Why can’t you just keep loving me?
“Since nothing I do can change your mind about leaving, then I’ll use another way to keep you here!”
Xavier felt a chill crawl down his spine as he looked into the dark glimmer in her eyes. His voice trembled. “W–What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to have your baby.” Reina removed her nightgown and leaned down. “Let’s see how you try to run once I’m carrying your chod That night, no matter how hard Xavier fought, he couldn’t stop her from forcing herself on him.
In the days that followed, she completely abandoned any pretense of gentleness. She forced him to eat and slept with him no matter the hour. Xavier tried to take Reina’s phone and send out a distress message while she slept, only to find that she had changed the password.
Desperate, he bribed a pilot to help him escape,
But the next day, the pilot was crippled by Reina and thrown in front of him. “Xavier, I told you. You can’t escape. Stop wasting your energy. Before you learn to obey, don’t even think about leaving!”
Furious, Xavier glared at her and stormed out of the room.
But she hugged him from behind. “I won’t let you go, Xavier. Not unless I die.”
Months passed, and Reina found out she was pregnant. Xavier was utterly despondent. He locked himself in his room, refusing to eat or drink.
Reina entered and set a table of dishes in front of him. Gently, she said, “You’re going to be a father. Why are you still being so stubborn? Eat something.”
“I won’t eat!” Xavier swung his hand at the food, anger burning in his eyes. “Reina, you’ve ruined all my plans for the future. I hate you! I will never forgive you for this!”
“I hate myself for resorting to this despicable way to keep you too.” Reina suppressed her sadness as she lowered her head to clean up the mess on the floor.
Then she skillfully peeled an apple for him. “This is your favorite Honeycrisp apple. It’s really juicy. Try it.”
Xavier was silent. Suddenly, he grabbed the knife from the fruit platter and plunged it into Reina’s chest without hesitation. “I don’t want food. I just want to kill you!”
With a thud, the apple fell from her hand,
ke her heart that plunged into an abyss.
+
As Reina looked down at the knife embedded in her chest, tears streamed down her face. “Do you loathe me for carrying your child? You used to love me so much. You used to look forward to becoming ther.”
a
Blood poured out, staining her white dress. Xavier he had done..
as he stared at the bloody knife in his hand. It took him several seconds to realize what
In a panic, he threw the knife aside and held her unconscious body. “Doctor! Come in here! Soon, the doctor arrived and performed emergency surgery on Reina,
She’s hurt!”
When Xavier asked about her condition, the doctor looked grim. “Ms. Yarrow’s spleen ruptured, but she’s no longer in immediate danger. She needs rest. Mr. Caldwell, for the sake of your past relationship, please don’t provoke her any further.”
“Okay.” Xavier sighed deeply.
He heated a cup of milk and brought it to Reina’s room.
A flicker of surprise passed across her face when she saw him. Then her eyes lowered in sadness. “What’s this? Now that I’m fine, are you going to try to kill me with poisoned milk?”
Xavier frowned. “If you don’t want it, I’ll throw it out.”
“No, I’ll drink it.” Reina put on a smile. “Even if you’ve poisoned it, I’ll drink it willingly.”
“I was too impulsive earlier. I’m sorry.” Xavier lowered his gaze to hide the darkness in his eyes. “Let me sing you a lullaby as an apology.”
Reina looked at him, and her eyes slowly filled with tears.
She turned on her side and held his arm tightly. Smiling, she closed her eyes. “You can start now.”
Xavier hummed quietly, watching as she drifted off to sleep. Her breathing soon turned steady.
Once she was fully asleep, he slowly pulled his hand away and quickly grabbed the laptop from the nightstand. Its screen was lit. He quickly connected to the Internet and sent Sarah his location on WhatsApp.
Within seconds, Sarah replied, “Keep her calm, Xavier. I’m coming to get you!”
Chapter 25
