In no time, Dina’s face was covered in blood, unrecognizable and grotesque. Her arm was practically bitten off, piece by piece. The sound of Dina’s screams echoed in their ears. Thankfully, this place was secluded, and no one could hear. Only the birds in the forest were startled.
The two men, desperate to be set free, became more and more relentless. Whips, knives, lighters-anything that could inflict harm on a person was used on Dina. From the beginning, she screamed in agony. And later, she was barely breathing in excruciating pain. She couldn’t even make a sound anymore.
“Enough,” Elijah called out.
The two men stopped, quickly approaching him.
“Can we go now?”
Elijah casually pointed to one of them, “You can go.”
The other man protested, “I was the one who was the most brutal, I should be set free.”
The man who was supposed to leave glared fiercely at his companion, “Stop talking nonsense, it was clearly me who inflicted the most damage!”
The two of them started arguing.
Elijah intentionally instigated them. Hired thugs like them, who could be bought with money, would only continue to cause trouble if set free. So he let them tear each other apart.
Elijah said, “You are indeed evenly matched. How about this, whoever manages to get out, I’ll set him free.”
Wasn’t this sowing discord?
But these two men didn’t have the mindset to think about it in detail. They both wanted to leave. When it came to self-interest, naturally, they wouldn’t give in to each other. From arguing to fighting, it all happened in an instant. The two men fought fiercely. Their abilities were evenly matched. Soon, both men were injured. Dealing with Dina earlier had already drained a lot of their energy. Now, they were slowly running out of strength. Both of them collapsed.
Elijah cast a cold glance, “Both of you can leave now.”
The two men were too exhausted and injured to even stand up. But they knew that staying here could mean death. Unable to stand, they crawled towards the exit.
“Save me… save… me…” Dina was barely breathing. Her fingers moved, trying to plead for mercy. She was covered in blood.
Elijah’s eyes were cold and fierce, as if darkness emanated from his chest, “You’ve been working with me for so long, you should know my temper.”
“You… you won’t personally… kill someone…” Dina knew that Elijah was ruthless. But he still had limits.
Elijah didn’t do it before. Because in the past, there was no one important to him. It wasn’t worth risking everything for. But now, it was different. Kai was his flesh and blood, his son. He couldn’t let go of his grudge until he killed Dina.
“Bring her and throw her into that coffin.” Elijah calmly sentenced Dina.
“No, please, no…” Dina trembled in fear.
She was swiftly lifted and forcefully thrown into the coffin. Inside the coffin, there was already a preserved corpse. The repulsive smell reached her nostrils, making her sick and terrified.
“Ah, help, help-” Dina was terrified.
To be lying with a dead body, it was enough to scare anyone. The coffin lid closed. She was trapped inside, alive. Elijah’s face remained expressionless. He ordered his subordinates, “A day from now, there will be a fire here, and those two who just escaped will be the arsonists.”
“We know what to do.” His subordinates responded, “The two corpses will be identified as the arsonists’ victims.”
Elijah nodded in satisfaction. As he turned, he glanced at the coffin. From inside, came the sound of frantic banging, along with terrified scream. Dina was using all her remaining strength to bang on the coffin, shouting, screaming. For a moment, she couldn’t die, trapped with a dead body. She would likely die not from her bleeding wounds, but from sheer fright. Not setting the fire now was to let her experience the feeling of desperation inside.
…
After leaving the villa, Elijah returned to his temporary residence, took a shower, and changed his clothes. He had come to that filthy place and he couldn’t meet Freya like this. So he purposely washed away the filth.
An hour later, he arrived at the place he personally arranged for Freya to stay. Kai had taken his medicine and was sleeping. Freya sat at the dining table, sipping soup. Linda specially prepared nourishing soup for her. During this time, Linda had witnessed her exhaustion and felt deeply concerned. Now that Kai’s condition was improving, everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and Freya could finally take care of her own health.
When Elowen sat on the couch, folding Kai’s clothes, the doorbell suddenly rang. Elowen wondered, “Who could it be?”
Since moving here, no one had ever come to their house. Today, Freya was home. So it couldn’t be her who rang the doorbell. Freya thought it must be Elijah; he probably had dealt with Dina by now.
“Mom, go and open the door please.”
Elowen got up and went to answer it.
The door opened, revealing Elijah. Immediately, Elowen’s expression turned sour, and she snarkily said, “Rare guest, what brings you here today?”
Elowen used to be very satisfied with Elijah as her son-in-law. But now, it was because Dina had been domineering in their home, and when Kai was still sick, she had kicked them out without Elijah’s consent. Elowen still resented Elijah.
“Aren’t you getting married? Why are you here?” Elowen continued to mock.
Elijah remained unperturbed. He glanced inside where Freya sat calmly eating at the dining table. His eyebrows furrowed slightly. Didn’t Freya explain anything to Elowen?
Elowen noticed his gaze shifting towards the inside. She blocked his view, not allowing him to see Freya, “What are you looking at? Leave quickly, or I’ll start cursing! ”
Elijah tried to explain, “Mom…”
But before he could say another word, Elowen interrupted, “Stop it, I don’t have the fortune or the endurance for it. Just leave! We don’t want to see you. By the way, Freya and I have decided to change Kai’s last name to Stone. He was abandoned. You don’t care for him, but we do.” Elowen continued to scold, “Are you here today to see us make a fool of ourselves? Sorry, but we’re doing just fine now. You should hurry up and get married, don’t waste time here.”
Freya had watched the scene long enough and finally put down her bowl, walking over. Elijah thought she was going to explain on his behalf, but instead, she added fuel to the fire, “Yeah, what she said. You’re getting married, why are you here?”
Elowen didn’t want her daughter to be hurt again, so she closed the door directly. Freya was stunned. She was only trying to tease Elijah but she didn’t mean to lock him out.
“Mom…” Freya tried to explain, but Elowen interrupted her, grabbing her hand. “Freya, you’ve already experienced once. You should learn your lesson, understand?”
“You go rest,” Elowen pulled Freya into the bedroom, warning her, “Don’t be soft-hearted towards men, or they’ll think you’re easy to bully. Your mother has been through it and doesn’t want you to experience it again.”
Freya sat on the edge of the bed and thought for a moment. Although Elijah was pretending to be involved with Dina, it was still because of the people around him betraying him that this situation occurred. Elijah had a responsibility. He let Kai suffer so much.
Freya lay down and decided to explain to Elowen tomorrow. Today, she would let Elijah suffer a bit.
“Mom, if Elijah comes again, you can scold him harder.”
Elowen said, “Alright.”
Freya lay down and a mischievous smile played on her lips. She closed her eyes heavily. She was indeed tired during this time. As she lay there, she suddenly felt a heavy weight on her, almost suffocating her.
“Mm…”
Slowly, she opened her eyes.