-“Mr. Stewart, didn’t we agree not to touch her?”
Elisa heard Hugo’s voice, realizing there were people orchestrating this behind the scenes.
It was clear that Hamish was not the one behind her kidnapping. Was it Finn?
Soon, Elisa’s suspicions were confirmed. The abandoned factory was eerily quiet, so quiet that she could hear the rustling of the wind outside, the sound of cars approaching, and then the wheels rolling on the ground.
Elisa’s breath caught in her throat.
Hugo stood up, taking a drag from his cigarette. His voice was low, “They’re here.”
Elisa’s hands were still bound behind her, and as she heard movement behind her, she turned her head slightly to look.
A man in a wheelchair was being pushed closer. From a distance, his face gradually emerged from the shadows, revealing Finn.
It was undeniable – she and Finn were fated to cross paths. Just like Hamish, it felt like she had offended him in a past life, only to be caught by him three times in this one.
The first time, it was Hamish who had escorted her.
The second time, he had cornered her, using polite words to disguise coercion.
And now, for the third time, she was drugged and kidnapped.
Finn! He really had it coming!
Elisa regretted being merciful before. She should have given Finn a shot to the head, turned him into a fool with just one prick, preventing this menace from harming her.
Finn was pushed closer to Elisa, and it seemed like he could sense her thoughts. A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Finn had undeniably lost weight, his complexion sallow. His already pale face looked like aged parchment in the dim light. His slightly long hair partially veiled his eyes. When he looked at people, only his dull eyes moved. His sunken eye sockets and the gloom between his brows made it impossible to meet his gaze.
“Elisa,” Finn’s voice was hoarse. Both physically and emotionally, he had undergone a transformation. Elisa used to be afraid of Finn.
No one could endure pain without remembering it. Once there was a shadow in the heart, seeing him would trigger a reflexive fear.
Now, Finn appeared even more sinister and gloomy than before. When he was pushed from the darkness, he seemed like a malevolent spirit just emerged from hell, causing unfounded terror.
“How does it feel to have your leg broken?” Elisa’s first words upon seeing him, as if she was meeting a long-lost friend.
“Aren’t you the one who knows best about that feeling?” After all, Elisa’s leg had been broken before.
A malevolence was evident in the smile that played on Finn’s face.
Elisa remained silent, turning her head to glance at Hugo. Hugo was collaborating with Finn. It wasn’t hard to deduce the reasons.
First, Hugo believed that Lila’s death was due to her involvement with Hamish, and he had agreed to Finn’s visit as a result.
Second, Finn’s assets, along with his ability to walk, had been dismantled by Hamish and Mr. White. Finn had captured her to deal with them.
Third, as Hugo had mentioned, they wanted to know the secret of her rebirth – one for Lila’s sake, the other for Aoife’s.
“Can you loosen my hands? They’re getting numb. Besides, with so many of you, I wouldn’t be able to escape anyway.”
“Don’t be hasty, we’ll loosen them in a while,” Finn replied. “I’ve brought the person.”
Hugo murmured his assent, not daring to object. This was their agreement from the start – Finn provided the money, Hugo provided the muscle, and Elisa was handed over to him after being captured.
Elisa was grabbed and taken away. The abandoned factory was not large, with several compartments. She was pushed into one of them. Lights flickered inside, and there was a sizzling sound from the wires. Several moths fluttered around the orange-tinted light panels. After a few seconds, the light illuminated the entire compartment.
With the light, Elisa could finally see her surroundings clearly – the iron chains on the walls, the tangled mess of wires on the floor, the box held by Finn’s henchman. Everything felt familiar.
“Doesn’t this remind you of the old dark room? You know, Elisa, I’ve always kept your image. Whenever I’m bored, I take it out and have a look. It’s quite fascinating – the moment I close my eyes, your agonizing and struggling face replays in my mind.”
Elisa clenched her fists. “Did you kidnapme just to reminisce about the past?”
Finn suddenly turned serious. “It’s not about reminiscing. I won’t use the same methods on Aoife that I used on you.”
Perhaps this was the difference between love and lack of love. Unfortunately, Finn had realized it too late. Just like with Aoife – by the time he spoke passionately, it was already too late.
It was like a withered sunflower that couldn’t wait for the late sun, its roots already withered, no amount of water could revive it.
“Finn, your words are disgusting. Maybe Aoife wanted to come back, but as soon as she heard your words, she was too repulsed to return,” Elisa retorted.
“Can a mouth that stays shut still be called a mouth?” Finn replied.
“Can a mouth that’s shut still speak?” Elisa paused. At this moment, being kidnapped, she should have tried to stall and protect herself as much as possible. However, Finn had truly disgusted her and made her feel unworthy of Aoife.
“Do you love Aoife, Finn?” Elisa asked herself and answered, “You probably don’t. Remember how you pushed her to the brink of death when she was alive? You did nothing good. What have you done to her? You made her a substitute, threatened her, forced her to do things she didn’t like, you hit and insulted her with the vilest words, and ultimately, you handed her over to someone else.”
“What’s the point of pretending to be affectionate now? Where were you when the whole internet turned against her? Where were you when Hamish broke her fingers? Where were you when she was bullied in the company and almost coerced? And her vampire family, you knew the environment she grew up in, with parents who didn’t care, a brother who humiliated her, and at seventeen or eighteen, she was to be sold to a forty-something divorced man. She finally managed to escape and met you, thinking you were her salvation. But you ended up being the final blow that killed her. Finn, do you think you’re impressive? She endured all that in that environment, and in the end, you effortlessly pushed her to her death.”
Aoife is dead.
No one cared about Aoife when she was alive, respected her, loved her. She died amidst the clamor of insults.
Even after her death, no one knew until Elisa took her place, acting in TV dramas, appearing in variety shows, investing in movies. Many people noticed a significant change in her, but no one paid any attention. They just thought she had suddenly changed her way of living. They didn’t know that the person they thought they knew had actually died a long time ago.
“It’s not up to you to decide whether I love her or not. When she comes back, I’ll personally tell her,” Finn said. He was surprisingly calm despite Elisa’s words.
“What if she doesn’t come back?” Elisa asked.
“Then I’ll go find her.” Finn had been in a confused state of mind and had attempted suicide a few times, but none had been successful. He had taken sleeping pills and cut his wrists in water.
Comparing bringing Aoife back to finding her, the latter was more convenient and faster. Recently, everything Hamish had done was pushing him towards a dead end. If he relaxed even a bit, he would be finished. At this point, even if Aoife came back, he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
Elisa said, “You oppressed her to death when she was alive, and now you’re still harassing her. Finn, can’t you have some self-awareness and stop tarnishing her path?”
Finn felt a slight pain in his chest, a sweet, metallic taste in his throat. Suddenly, he understood why Hamish had been driven to vomit blood by him in the past and why Hamish had suffered so much after Elisa’s death.
He had never wanted to become the kind of person Hamish was, but ironically, he had become the person he despised the most.
Betraying someone will always result in retribution. You must pay for what you’ve taken. This is the price. Just as he had betrayed Aoife, stolen her affection, and not given it back, now retribution had arrived.
What’s even more ridiculous is that he had mocked Hamish’s foolishness in the past, but Hamish had been able to apologize and repent in person, while he didn’t even have the chance to chase after his wife to the crematorium.
To keep Elisa pinned to the wall, he had to untie the rope behind her. Finn had his men untie the rope behind her and bind it to the iron chain on the wall.
In order not to harm Aoife’s body, those stimulating drugs couldn’t be used. Finn wanted Aoife to come back but wasn’t sure if electric shock would work.
Finn wanted to try electric shock, and if Aoife truly didn’t return, he would inject Elisa with an infectious agent.
That kind of drug didn’t pose much danger to a woman’s body, but if transmitted through blood, saliva, and so on, it could be life-threatening to a man. He had recently developed that drug. He wanted “Aoife’s” body to remain pure forever. Finn had an extreme and borderline possessiveness.
If Aoife were still here, he would definitely have tied her to him, not allowing her to leave his sight for a moment, not allowing her to move a step away, and not allowing anyone else to approach her. Even if he died, he would still want to control her body.
Elisa secretly gathered her strength. The moment they untied her hands, she pushed back and ran outside the factory. Everything happened quickly. Elisa had learned a few self-defense moves from Patrick. The more tense the situation, the calmer she had to become. There were many abandoned items in the factory, and she picked up a piece of broken glass from the ground.
Someone approached her, and she agilely dodged, unhesitatingly thrusting the broken glass toward the person’s neck. She didn’t hit, but she made a deep gash.
Breathing heavily, blood rushing to her brain, her eyes burning, ears buzzing. It was impossible not to be afraid. She had to survive. Those people didn’t dare to use force against Elisa for fear of injuring her. Elisa was agile, but against a dozen hands, she was soon knocked down onto a steel water pipe.
Her attempt to escape seemed like a clownish act. Elisa, with red eyes full of hatred, glared at Finn. Finn mocked her, saying a few words of praise: “Not bad, stronger than before, knowing how to resist and protect yourself, wounded three people.” It was not to be underestimated, but it still didn’t help.
……
Louis received a text from Elisa after getting off the plane. The airport was too crowded and noisy to make a call convenient. Louis replied to her with a text but found out that there was no answer when he tried to call her after getting into the car. He had originally intended to surprise Elisa by coming back suddenly, but it turned out that he was the one surprised by Elisa, who asked him to meet her at the restaurant she had chosen for dinner that night.
Louis had so much to say to Elisa, feeling like it would take a lifetime to say it all. But now that he had landed and was about to meet her, he suddenly became nervous and didn’t know how to express himself.
He had regained all his memories. It was impossible to pretend that nothing had happened. He didn’t want to deceive Elisa because of an “Ivan.” Moreover, Elisa had always kept Autumn in her heart, unable to forget. There were too many regrets between them. If he told her that he was Autumn and that he hadn’t died, perhaps she would be very happy.
The future days were long, but if they weren’t careful, there might be no future at all, not even a second more.
No one answered the phone, and there was no reply to the text. Louis thought Elisa must be very busy. But then he noticed that there was a missed call from Patrick.
Patrick wouldn’t usually call him when there was nothing wrong. He called back, and the voice on the other end told him that Elisa had gone missing, estimated to have been missing for 40 minutes.
The countless words he had imagined saying were replaced by a kind of fear. It was a fear unlike any he had experienced before. It was different from the fear he had felt when he had changed clothes with Hamish in the past to attract the kidnappers’ pursuit, and it was different from the fear of hanging by a thread after falling off a cliff.
This fear had existed before. It was the fear he had felt when he saw Elisa being tortured in front of him, her fingers pierced with one steel needle after another. It was the fear he had felt in his nightmares, dreaming that Elisa was burning in a fire, struggling to save her but being restrained on a bed, forced into hypnosis to forget her.