“You ruined my grandson’s life, got him thrown in jail, and drove my husband to a stroke. I hope you die!”
The old woman lunged at Eddy again with the knife, but Eddy caught her wrist in a viselike grip. With a sickening crack, her fragile bones gave way. The blade. clattered to the floor as she collapsed, limbs splayed, and passed out cold.
Clutching the wound in his side, blood seeping between his fingers, Eddy stumbled out of the cottage.
His last shred of hope gone, Eddy radiated a murderous energy, his eyes wild and dangerous–a specter out of hell itself. No one dared get in his way.
Outside, the two kidnappers were already surrounded by his security team.
Rage burned away any sense of restraint. He grabbed the nearest kidnapper, all the pain and anguish of the last days boiling over. His fists came down, again and again, knuckles splitting, blood blurring his vision. Each blow landed with a roar:
“You lied to me!”
“Sir!” the head of security shouted, but no one dared intervene. Eddy was almost feral.
The kidnappers‘ faces turned to pulp. Blood pooled beneath them. Eddy, pale as death, staggered, barely able to lift his arm. Despair filled his eyes. “Why did you lie to me?” he demanded hoarsely.
He’d realized the truth. The voice from inside the cottage–his wife’s voice–had just been a cheap audio splice, background noise from Hedwig’s wedding. Did they really think he wouldn’t recognize the deception?
Even he’d tried to fool himself.
If he could just have believed the lie, maybe she would have come back to him.
He would have done anything for that.
“You destroyed the Yates family!” one of the kidnappers suddenly screamed, hysteria cracking his voice. “Because Vincent cheated, you bankrupted us, had him thrown in prison, you killed my father!”
“Vincent just made the kind of mistake any man might make!”
The words stabbed straight through Eddy’s heart.
1/3
Chapter 175
“You cheated yourself! What right did you have to do this to us?”
They screamed their accusations at him.
Eddy’s fists clenched, and he drove the man to the ground, pinning him with a boot to the chest. “He betrayed my sister, tormented my wife, and you dared to kidnap her, to hurt her?”
“He deserved to die and so do you!”
He stomped down, shattering the kidnapper’s hand. The man howled, staring up at the monster Eddy had become.
“Maniac!”
“You’re insane!”
“No wonder your wife left you!”
“You deserved it!”
Those words seemed to drain every last ounce of strength from Eddy’s body. He collapsed into the pool of blood.
Shouts from the bodyguards echoed in his ears.
But Eddy’s eyes went blank, staring into nothing.
In that darkness, Blanche’s face flickered before him–the same innocence, the same gentle beauty.
Blanche lay on a sunlit beach, basking in the warmth, relaxed and serene.
Suddenly, her brow furrowed. She pressed her hand to her rounded belly, feeling a flutter deep inside, like a tiny fish swimming through gentle waves.
The baby was moving.
A loving smile spread across her face.
Meanwhile, Eddy was rushed into surgery. The operating lights blazed overhead, medical staff moving in a blur.
He felt icy cold, shivering uncontrollably.
All he wanted was to hold his wife.
Longing threatened to drown him. His mind drifted, darkness closing in, until suddenly he forced his eyes open-
21:52
The harsh lights vanished. In their place hovered a soff, indistinct face.
She leaned in close, whispering intimately in his ear, “Eddy, let me take care of you
from now on.”
She sounded just like his wife. She had his wife’s features, her eyes, her gentleness. Drugs crashed through his system, dragging him under, but his fingers twitched. With a sudden burst of strength, he grabbed her wrist, pulling her into his arms.
She squeaked in surprise, nestling against him.
“Eddy, slow down,” she murmured sweetly. “Wait until you’re better.”
Outside the hospital room, Loraine finally exhaled, turning to Kelvin with satisfaction. “We couldn’t have done it without you–finding someone so much like Laney.”
Even as she spoke, a scream erupted from the hospital room.
