Autumn couldn’t do anything but watch helplessly as Elisa’s hand was pierced by steel needles, his emotions gradually crumbling. He crawled forward with his hands on the ground, his back pressed down under the weight and repeatedly falling.
“Kill me! Please, kill me and spare Ellie. Please don’t treat her like this. She just regained her memories not long ago, and the only deep impression she has is Elisa. She knows Elisa is afraid of pain. How can she bear to watch her own hand being nailed with steel needles, watching her fingers bleed and nails crack and fall off?”
The man cast a mocking glance at Autumn, then asked Elisa, “Do you want more hits?”
Elisa, in pain and drenched in cold sweat, seemed to not hear the words. Her fingers trembled as she redialed the number on her phone.
Still, no one answered. Elisa’s hands were covered in blood, and in the end, she didn’t have the strength to press the button, so the man dialed the number for her.
On the tenth call, the other party hung up directly. Elisa collapsed while feeling both devastated and ridiculously foolish. Ten opportunities to make ten calls, the captors gave her ten chances, but the man she loved for sixteen years refused to give her even one.
At this moment, Hamish was probably already rescuing Lila. He didn’t have time to answer these ten unfamiliar calls, as he was busy caring for his loved one. “It seems Hamish doesn’t want to give you the chance to save someone,” the man said, his voice dropping. Without hesitation, he fired the gun, and the bullet hit Autumn’s shoulder. Autumn groaned in pain, his body falling back, his face even paler.
Elisa’s mouth hung open, and every cell in her body felt the sharp pain caused by that gunshot. Her eyes could no longer shed tears; they were bloodshot, and her head knocked against the ground. “Don’t… don’t kill him. He’s innocent. If you hate Hamish, just kill me…”
“Ellie,” Autumn gasped, weakly and hoarsely calling out to her. “Little Whiner, don’t cry anymore. This time, I can’t carry you home…”
Elisa’s body stiffened, and the most beautiful memories hidden in her heart suddenly rushed back. She stared blankly at Autumn.
Memories played like a slideshow in her mind.
“Little Whiner, stop crying after you eat crepes.”
“Little Whiner, my brother’s last name is Burns.”
“Shall I carry you back?”
Autumn’s eyes suddenly brightened. He looked up at Elisa and smiled, just like the first time they met, with a sunny and clean smile that disrupted her entire summer.
“Can I call you Ellie?”
“Ellie, I’m not in pain. Don’t be sad for me, and don’t like Hamish anymore. He’s not worth your affection.”
After Autumn finished speaking, a piercing gunshot shattered the air. Elisa froze on the ground, her consciousness drifting away with the sound of the gunshot, not knowing where it went.
She stared blankly at the gun in the man’s hand, then her gaze turned extremely rigid as it shifted to Autumn’s body. His chest blossomed with a large patch of red, and in that instant, Elisa felt time stand still. The world gradually faded away, plunging into darkness and silence. Her vision went blind, her hearing deaf, and everything vanished along with Autumn’s fall.
Her heart ached to the extreme, as if thousands of sharp wires entwined around it, tearing and devouring her internal organs. Her mind and body, already in tatters, shattered into pieces.
It all happened too quickly. Autumn’s final words expanded like a sponge, occupying her mind.
She had a faint guess in her heart, but she didn’t want to think about it. Multiple doubts forced her to admit the truth.
Why did she feel familiar when she first saw Autumn? Why did Autumn say they had met before?
Why did Autumn give her crepes and earrings? Why did Autumn ask if she could be called Ellie?
Why did he call her Little Whiner? Why did he say he couldn’t carry her home this time?
Because he was the big brother who carried her home sixteen years ago.
No wonder, no matter what she said, Hamish claimed they had never met. It wasn’t that he didn’t remember; they really hadn’t met.
From the beginning, she had mistaken the person. She had mistaken Hamish for the one who saved her.
What did these sixteen years mean to her? What did they mean?
Sixteen long years, and she only met the person who saved her four times.
Elisa felt like shattered fragments, piecing together in an endless nightmare. She couldn’t find which side was her true self. The agony and despairwere raging inside her, searching for an outlet but finding none.
The sanctuary where she had always sought solace had collapsed with a loud crash.
She crawled forward in madness, her fingers covered in blood and flesh, but she continued to push forward, seemingly devoid of consciousness.
“Is he dead?” the man asked, looking at Elisa with a smirk.
One of his subordinates tested Autumn’s breath and heartbeat. “He’s dead.”
“Throw him into the sea then, to avoid unnecessary trouble if someone finds him.”
Elisa, fueled by an unknown strength, bit down on the man’s leg with force.
The man squatted down, gripping Elisa’s chin. Elisa’s ferocious appearance resembled that of an uncontrollable dog.
“Don’t… give him back to me. Give him back to me…”
The man remained expressionless, lifting his foot to kick her away. Elisa, like a broken and ragged doll, lay on the ground, watching as the man dragged Autumn’s body out of the room, leaving behind a trail of bloodstains.
Her dull eyes had lost their radiance, and those eyes resembled ink spreading in water.
“Ah…”
“Ah…”
“Ah…”
Elisa spat out another mouthful of blood, staining half of her face and neck red. Her throat was torn, rendering her unable to speak, only able to open her mouth and emit broken cries. The tears of blood were nothing more than a mournful wail.
Autumn was the one who saved her sixteen years ago. Why did she only find out after his death? He had always been her lifeline in times of despair, the only light in her darkness.
“Ah… Elisa,” she screamed hoarsely, her mouth wide open. She was bound to a wooden board, her clavicle pierced, injected with drugs, cold-branded, her fingers dripping with blood. She had never made such a painful sound before.
The man standing in front of her could see her appearance most clearly. A sudden pang of pain struck his heart when he felt a sense of pleasure.
Elisa’s chest ached so much that she desperately needed him to do something to fill the void. But she couldn’t do anything. Her stomach felt like it was being kneaded and squeezed. She opened her mouth, and her throat convulsed as she continued to spit out mouthfuls of blood.
Her vision was stained red with blood, and then she completely plunged into endless darkness.
The man casually raised his wrist and remarked, “She actually endured for one hour and ten minutes.”
Elisa had been tortured for one hour and ten minutes before finally passing out. The man did not want Elisa’s life; he just wanted to witness her twisted and agonizing state and observe Hamish’s reaction.
The discarded phone on the ground had its location locked by someone. It wouldn’t be long before Hamish’s men would find this place.
He wondered what Hamish would feel when he saw Elisa in this state. But judging by Elisa’s condition, she wouldn’t live much longer. She had no value to exploit.
The man glanced at the surveillance monitor on the wall, instructed someone to make a copy of the video and destroy it, then destroyed the scene. He changed his clothes, got into a car, and left Bankshire.
…
Hamish regretted it.
He truly regretted it.
His phone rang ten times, but he didn’t answer. He used the incoming signal to locate it, completely unaware of what Elisa was going through at that time.
He had his own considerations, thinking that as long as he pretended not to care about Elisa, those people wouldn’t do anything to her. He overestimated himself and underestimated the person’s methods.
When he saw Elisa lying in a pool of blood, he stood frozen in place, as if he had been struck by a pressure point, motionless.
His whole body seemed to have lost sensation, as if cut off from the world.
Elisa was covered in wounds from head to toe, and apart from her faint breath, there was no sign of life from her.
His temple throbbed as if a sharp steel needle was stirring inside. He held Elisa, drenched in blood, in his arms.
He didn’t know how he managed to bring Elisa back. He stumbled and cried, unable to hear any sound, his vision isolated. He had never felt so terrified before. He regretted it; he shouldn’t have handed Elisa over.
If Elisa died, he would hate himself to death!
Arriving at the hospital, Hamish quickly carried Elisa to the top floor. He knew she would be injured, so he had arranged for doctors in advance, but the ones he arranged were far from enough.
Elisa was immediately taken to the ICU. As he looked at the red light, he had an extremely bad premonition, as if his whole world was about to be swallowed up.
Within just one minute of her arrival, a nurse brought him a critically ill notice for Elisa to sign. He dared not ask any questions and trembled as he signed the document.
Four full hours of rescue efforts, and Hamish dared not rush in. He had to restrain his emotions, or he would go insane immediately.
Another two hours passed, and the critical condition had been declared twice. The doctors inside almost took turns trying to save Elisa. One of the doctors, exhausted, was brought out, still wearing blood-stained gloves.
Hamish stopped them and asked, “Where is she? How is she?”
The doctor, panting heavily, could barely speak, “I don’t know.”
“Aren’t you the one who’s been rescuing her inside? How can you not know?”
The doctor fell silent for a moment and hoarsely replied, “I have never seen someone so severely injured. The word ‘cruelty’ falls short to describe it. She has hundreds of wounds on her body and has been injected with a drug that destroys the human spirit. Under the influence of that drug, she has no desire to live.”