Elisa looked up with tears spilling from her once bright eyes that were now dulled with anguish. Through her tear-filled gaze, Hamish could see that her spirit had withered away.
Her stomach continued to cramp painfully. Exhausted by the agony, Elisa opened her sore eyes, “Hamish, my family is destroyed. I’ve repaid what I owed you.”
“Repaid what?” Hamish cut her off sharply, his eyes narrowing as they flashed with cold fury. “Elisa, you’ll never repay what you owe me. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can blame your father’s death on me. He’s gone but your brother is still around. If you don’t want the same fate to befall him, you’d better keep those thoughts to yourself. You know what I’m capable of.”
Since Elisa was convinced of his ruthlessness, he would show her just how ruthless he could be. Her words deserved nothing less.
Hamish stood tall before her, backlit to cast his features in sinister shadows. “You’re threatening me with Ivan?”
“Not a threat. I act solely on whims. Make me happy and I’ll let him off easy. Annoy me and his death will be far worse than your father’s.”
As he spoke, Hamish’s lips curled up cruelly, like a bloodthirsty demon slowly closing in to tempt its prey. “Elisa, feel free to look away. With the family you have left, what’s the difference between loved ones and enemies? You’ve lived this long without them caring for you. I’m certain that if you were the one in danger, they wouldn’t waste a second on you.”
People like Elisa, so quick to care for others while neglecting themselves, were foolish saints. Since she couldn’t sever those bonds herself, she was doomed to be his tool. She would never escape him, even in death. Like a kite, no matter how high she flew, he held the string. One small tug would always bring her back to him.
Hamish held a cup to Elisa’s lips, watching as she obediently drank. A satisfied smile crossed his face. “Be good, Elisa. We can still be happy.” His patience was limited when it came to talk of divorce.
Elisa closed her eyes.
Suddenly, the door burst open from the outside. A voice carried in before the intruder.
“Elisa!”
Hamish stood at her bedside, blocking her completely from view. “She’s sleeping.”
Micah entered and stated his purpose directly, “I’m taking Elisa home with me. Hamish is too dangerous. If Elisa stays, she’ll be devoured, bones and all. I can’t stand by and let that happen.”
Hamish scoffed coldly, “Dr. Baker seems to have forgotten that Elisa is my wife. What right do you have to take her away?”
“You dare say that, Hamish? Elisa will divorce you!” Micah declared adamantly.
Hearing Micah’s certainty, Hamish knew Elisa had been whispering about divorce when he wasn’t around. Thinking of her cozy intimacy with another man boiled his blood.
“Is that so?” Hamish smiled coldly. “Yet just now she said she won’t divorce me. She’ll be an obedient wife.”
Adept at concealing his emotions, Hamish maintained a calm exterior belying the raging inferno within.
Micah immediately refuted, “Impossible. After all you’ve put her through, how could Elisa possibly stay with you?”
“Maybe she’s shameless,” Hamish taunted.
Micah tensed as the insult struck him. He knew Hamish mistreated Elisa but never expected to hear such vile words spoken about her in his presence.
Fury erupted beyond restraint. Micah cursed and charged forward with a raised fist.
Hamish’s eyes chilled. He evaded the blow, grabbed Micah’s shirt, and flung him to the floor. Micah grunted as he hit the ground. He struggled to fight back but Hamish had him pinned within seconds, landing a solid punch to his face.
Micah was no match for Hamish’s fighting prowess. As a doctor, he didn’t have the ruthless instincts honed by Hamish’s championship martial arts training. Sometimes natural gifts were a curse.
Dazed by the beating, Micah tasted blood in his mouth. No matter how many hits he took, no matter how much it hurt, he wouldn’t give up on getting Elisa away.
“If you two are going to fight, do it somewhere else,” Elisa said, unable to bear it any longer.
Hamish still had a hand around Micah’s throat, fist raised mid-punch. At the sound of Elisa’s weak voice, he glanced back, smiling cryptically. “What’s wrong? Can’t stand seeing your darling roughed up?”
His tone was light but the words were barbed as always.
Still pinned down, Micah yelled desperately, “Elisa, come away with me! If this continues, you’ll be dead soon!”
The hand on Micah’s throat squeezed tighter, restricting his breath until his face reddened. Hamish laughed coldly, “Even if I play with her to death, the likes of you have no right to interfere. As long as she’s my wife, you can only watch from the sidelines!”
He meant those words for Elisa as well, to let her know that even in death she’d never escape his control.
“Hamish, you beast!” Micah’s curse was cut short by a sharp crack, followed by an anguished scream. With one hand, Hamish had snapped Micah’s arm.
The sudden brutality left Elisa frozen in shock, her heart seizing as if crushed by an invisible grip. She couldn’t breathe through the pain.
As a surgeon, Micah’s hands had saved countless lives. Now one was broken by Hamish because of her.
A chill permeated Elisa’s entire being, inside and out. A jagged crack had split her heart, letting in howling gales of ice.
She knew Hamish had misunderstood her relationship with Micah. The more she showed concern for Micah, the angrier Hamish would become. So she had to appear indifferent.
Elisa clutched the bedsheet tightly, struggling to stay calm though fury raged within. As a woman, she was no physical match for Hamish, nor could she best him with words.
Just as Hamish said, looking away was the sensible choice. But Koby’s dying words repeated endlessly in her mind, deafening her whenever she considered abandoning Micah.
She didn’t have long to live, two years at most. Those two years for Ivan’s decades – worth the trade in sheer time.
Nothing in Elisa’s expression escaped Hamish’s notice. Seeing her lapse into silence, he knew her decision was made.
His earlier advice had been genuine. Her inability to sever emotional ties was her own undoing. If she insisted on playing the martyr, she deserved her fate as his tool.
Elisa would never break free of him, not even in death. Like a kite, she could soar high but the string was in his hands. One gentle tug would always return her to his side.
Hamish held a cup to Elisa’s lips, watching her obediently drink. A satisfied smile crossed his face, though his eyes remained icy. “Behave, Elisa. We can still be happy.” His patience regarding divorce talk was limited.
Elisa closed her eyes.
Abruptly, Hamish released his grip on Micah’s throat and kicked him forcefully into the corner. The impact resounded like a thunderclap.
“Micah!” Elisa hadn’t expected further violence after she’d complied with Hamish’s wishes.
Her protest faded away under Hamish’s murderous glare.
He approached Elisa’s bedside, glancing at the intravenous bag nearly empty of dripping fluid. As he reached to remove the needle from her cold, trembling hand, Elisa recoiled as if burned. The sudden movement dislodged the needle, bringing forth a blossom of blood from her vein that swiftly dyed the needle crimson.
Hamish’s expression chilled. Seizing her jerking wrist, he swiftly slid the misaligned needle free. Blood surged from the puncture, a gruesome sight. He snatched up a paper and pressed it over the wound until the flow slowed, then released her.
Eyeing the swollen bruise on the back of her hand, Hamish murmured, “Time to change hospitals.”
Without another word, he bent down and gathered Elisa into his arms.
What could Elisa say? All resistance only brought greater wrath from Hamish. She bit her lip to restrain the simmering emotions in her chest. For two short years, she would endure him.
Too injured to stand, Micah could only watch helplessly as Hamish carried Elisa away.
Once outside the hospital, Hamish’s facade vanished, his false smile replaced by stony resentment. “Don’t meet with Micah alone again. Keep your distance from men who desire you inappropriately Elisa remained silent as Hamish continued harshly, “If I find you have an illicit relationship with him or anyone, a broken arm will seem mild.”
His suspicions of her and Micah arose from his own sordid mindset. Did he ever consider how his scandal with Lila made the news?
Hamish laughed coldly at the hypocrisy. Elisa likely remained oblivious to the way Micah looked at her – the focused, attentive expressions no ordinary friend would have.
“After you’ve recovered, I’ll show you true depravity!”
Elisa sensed the malevolent intent in his words. She forced her rigid body to relax against Hamish’s chest, diverting the conversation. “What about my father?”
“At the crematorium. Want to see?”
Once the body was ashes, there was no point in viewing remains.
“I’ll choose his burial site,” Elisa asserted.
“Fine. I’ll give you anything if you behave,” Hamish replied mildly.
At the new clinic, the doctor took one look at Elisa and asked, “Want a full exam?”
Hamish dismissed the idea. “No need. She was already checked thoroughly at Bankshire Hospital. Just prescribe for the stomach bleeding.”
With Bankshire Hospital’s sterling reputation, it was clearly not a critical case. The doctor didn’t inquire further and admitted Elisa, prescribing stomach medication as instructed.
Elisa selected a plot near her mother, knowing it’s what Koby would want – to rest beside the only person he loved as much as himself.
There was no funeral. Once cremated, the ashes were swiftly interred. Still weak, Elisa didn’t rush to visit, waiting until she could stand and walk there with Hamish.
Light rain had fallen steadily in Bankshire these past days – three rainy, two sunny. While other areas grew warm, Bankshire remained crisp.
Just when it seemed the clouds might break today, the downpour intensified halfway through their drive. The staccato pounding of raindrops on the windshield grew louder, as if trying to smash through the glass.
Only at the cemetery did the rain finally ease. The driver stepped out first, umbrella in hand, to shield Hamish from the rain as he opened the rear door.