Elisa lowered her head and bit down forcefully on Hamish’s wrist, gnashing her teeth viciously and breaking the skin. Her mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood but she did not let go.
Hamish’s brow twitched slightly in pain, but he still refused to release her, holding Elisa tightly in his embrace. He said to the police behind him, “Find someone to take away and dispose of the body.”
The policeman asked, “How should we dispose of it?”
Yes, how should they dispose of it? Hamish twisted his wrist, pinning Elisa’s jaw and staring at her bloodstained teeth. His gaze was sinister as he asked, “Elisa, tell me, how should we properly dispose of it? Should we just bury it somewhere? Or send it to the crematorium to be burned?”
With him forcefully gripping her jaw, Elisa could not speak. All that came out were moans of pain and anguish. She could not even tell if the blood filling her mouth was Hamish’s or her own.
“No answer? Then let’s send it to the crematorium.”
The policeman radioed for people to come take away the body on the floor. After all, leaving it here wasn’t good – might as well follow Hamish’s suggestion and send it to the crematorium to be cremated.
“No, don’t touch my dad!” Seeing the body about to be taken away, Elisa cried out desperately, reaching out her hands. But all she grabbed was the white sheet, which fell away to fully reveal Koby’s body before her eyes.
The gruesome sight of his broken body from jumping off the building was difficult even for the police who were used to death.
His body was contorted, covered in blood. His abdomen had a gaping hole where he had impaled himself on a steel bar while falling, his intestines spilling out.
Many who witnessed it at the time had either screamed or vomited.
Elisa suddenly fell silent, not moving a muscle. Her face was ghostly pale, her lips cyanotic. A darkness suddenly descended before her eyes as Hamish covered them from behind.
“Let me go,” Elisa pleaded, her head lowered against his palm as she gasped for breath. “Hamish, let me go!”
But Hamish did not release her. Rather, he gripped her eyes tighter, not allowing a shred of light through. His palm grew hot and wet.
Elisa bit her lip hard. She felt a heart-wrenching pain. When she saw the bloody cavity in Koby’s abdomen, she felt her own chest hollow out, leaving a gaping hole where the icy winds blew in to freeze her internal organs. The pain made her break out in a cold sweat.
Clutching her own heart, Elisa crumpled in pain. Gasping, she stammered, “Hamish, I don’t have a father anymore.”
“You still have me,” Hamish whispered in her ear, trying to keep his voice gentle.
Elisa gave a low, tearful laugh. “I regret it so much, Hamish. I regret meeting you six years ago, regret forcing you to marry me four years ago, regret everything I’ve done to you over the past four years. If it wasn’t for you, none of this would have happened.”
If she had forgotten the Hamish from sixteen years ago, she would never have become entangled with him again. Her body would not have deteriorated into stomach cancer. The Powell Group would not have faced a financial crisis. She would not have been locked in her bedroom for four days, losing contact with her father and allowing him to be framed.
“It’s too late now for you to say all this, Elisa,” Hamish said.
Yes, it was too late. Everything she was suffering now, all the pain she felt, she deserved.
Elisa’s body suddenly shook violently, her face white as a sheet. Hamish realized something was wrong.
“What’s the matter, Elisa?”
Elisa could no longer make out what Hamish was saying. She only felt a corrosive pain in her stomach, unbearable agony.