He was a person who hated it when others casually invaded his privacy; if it were someone else, their hands would have been chopped off.
Now, Aoife’s disobedience, being locked in and refusing to open the door, was slowly causing his emotions to plummet.
“I’ll count to three. If you don’t open the door, you’ll bear the consequences!” Finn’s voice started to count, low and deep. “One! Two! Three…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Aoife opened the door.
Finn pushed the door open, his face dark and imposing. His presence instantly filled the room with a cold and stern atmosphere. Taking a stride with his long legs, Aoife, afraid, stepped back, stumbling, until she fell clumsily to the ground. She dared not meet Finn’s gaze, her long eyelashes drooping in fear, and with a blink, two tears rolled down her cheeks.
Aoife’s tears had a certain effect on Finn.
The anger he had wanted to unleash on her had now diminished by half.
“Why are you crying? I haven’t said anything to you even though you secretly touched things on my computer. Are you still bold enough to cry?” Finn’s increasingly stern tone only made Aoife cry even more sorrowfully, as if deliberately defying him. Towards the end, she began to hiccup while crying.
Sitting on the ground, crying in grievance and sniffling, she looked like a fool.
Impatiently, Finn reached out to grab her and pull her up, but Aoife dodged his hand at the last moment, holding her head and shivering, like a startled bird. This was an instinctive reaction; she was afraid of him.
Upon realizing this, something pricked his heart instantly. It wasn’t painful, but the feeling lodged in his heart was uncomfortable, like an inadvertent thorn stabbing in, making him unable to resist the urge to pull it out.
Was Aoife afraid of him? Was she afraid of him?
In this world, there were many who feared him. Even Elisa, who had once been full of pride, trembled in fear in front of him, didn’t she?
But he never thought that Aoife would fear him now.
He hadn’t done anything to her, had he?
Half a month ago, when he had used the cigarette to burn her, she hadn’t been so afraid. Was it only because of that video?
But in reality… apart from that video, there was also the resentment and grievance of being deceived as a stand-in.
“What are you afraid of?”
Aoife’s eyes were red, tears streaming down without blinking, and her voice choked after a long time. “You lied to me.”
Her tone was light, hoarse, oozing with painful maturity. It wasn’t heartbreaking, but there was a sense of despair in her words.
No one knew the depth of Aoife’s current despair. Like a shooting star passing through the sky, it appeared small, but only when it landed did its true size become apparent.
“What did I lie to you about?” Finn sneered, unable to resist his wickedness. “I told you from the moment you came to me that I am not a good person. I am a bad person. What deeds would a bad person do? You should have been prepared for it.”
“And what about the name Elisa?”
Finn didn’t deny it. Following her words, he said, “Just as you imagine, I treated you as her stand-in.”
For Finn, the person named “Elisa” didn’t hold much sentimental value. He found her intriguing, somewhat similar to his deceased mother, equally stubborn. She had fallen for the wrong man and met a tragic end.
Aoife’s mouth tasted bitter, her eyes getting hotter. They were filled with mist, her mind consumed by the woman in the video. That was Elisa.
“Was it her who made me practice the violin? Was it her who gave me the red dress?”
“Yes.”
Aoife had long known the answer would be like this. She just hadn’t anticipated that Finn would admit it so directly, without a single word of explanation.
With a simple “yes,” she was plunged into an abyss. From the beginning, she had walked into this trap.
She was too foolish, realizing only now Finn’s intentions.
The person who had given her hope before was now pushing her into deeper despair. Aoife’s eyes reddened, a tear rolled into her mouth. She had tasted the bitterness of a broken heart for the first time.
“I don’t want to play the violin anymore.” In reality, what she wanted to say was that she didn’t want to be a substitute anymore. She was Aoife, not Elisa.
Finn’s voice grew stern. “Do you want to leave?”
Aoife’s silence at that moment was her answer, an implicit acceptance.
“If you want to leave, then wait until I’ve had enough. I’ll decide when it’s over!” Suddenly, Finn grabbed Aoife’s hand and forcefully pulled her up from the ground.
“Why did you mess with my computer? Wouldn’t it have been better to pretend you didn’t know anything? You’re just asking for trouble! If you don’t want to practice the violin, then having these hands of yours is useless. Do you want to experience the feeling of 28 steel needles piercing your fingernail creases?”
Shaking, with weak legs, Aoife stood still, all supported by Finn holding her hand.
Her eyes were bloodshot, crying until it hurt. She didn’t want to cry, but the thought of enduring such cruel treatment made her mind blank, tears flowing uncontrollably.
Finn let out a sigh, pinching her face and pulling up the corners of her mouth. “Stop crying. You should smile more. Your smile looks like hers.”
Finn didn’t understand why Aoife was so afraid of him when he had never done anything to her.
Actually, he had been quite good to Aoife. Despite intending to treat her as someone else, he hadn’t compromised on anything. He hadn’t skimped on the tens of thousands spent on clothes, shoes, bags, and jewelry. The million-dollar violin, and the bank card.
If it had been another woman, she would probably be overjoyed. Only she would be scared like this.
Aoife’s forced smile with her mouth pulled up looked more dreadful than her tears.
“As long as you listen to me, I won’t do anything to you.” Finn let go of her hand, gripping her wrist. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the hospital for scar removal.”
Aoife was like a puppet, her legs rooted to the spot. Ultimately, Finn forcefully dragged her out.
She stumbled, following behind Finn, barefoot on the rocky path outside. Her feet were scraped and red, yet Finn didn’t notice until he put her in the car.
But what did it matter to him?
Finn got into the driver’s seat, stepping on the gas to drive the car out. The hospital was close, only ten minutes away.
It was a private hospital invested in by Finn. The doctors inside all knew him. Upon hearing that he was coming, someone was sent to greet him at the entrance.
“Take her to get scar removal surgery.”
Aoife was escorted by several nurses to the laser surgery room. The scars on her back were quite obvious, too extensive to be removed in one session. It would require a few more sessions.
“How did this happen?” a nurse gingerly lifted Aoife’s clothes to look at her back.
Aoife shook her head, burying her face in her arms.
The nurse thought she was feeling upset and self-conscious about the scars on her back. Patting her thin shoulder, she said, “Don’t worry. The scars on your back will be removed, and this laser surgery isn’t painful. You’ll be given anesthesia and painkillers.”
Upon hearing this, Finn coldly sneered. “What anesthesia? Just remove the scars directly.”
He wanted Aoife to feel the pain, to remember the lesson and not dare to think of leaving.
“But this…” the nurse was about to say it was very painful when she was pulled aside by the person next to her, signaling her with his eyes not to say more, to avoid getting into trouble.
Without anesthesia or pain relief, the initial laser treatment was tolerable, but as the procedure went on, it became more painful for the deep and large scar.
Aoife’s body was bound, unable to struggle. She understood that Finn wanted her to admit her mistake and obediently play the role of a stand-in. But she couldn’t convince herself to become another person.
Such a minor surgery wouldn’t cause her to faint, but Aoife’s body was already weak. Facing years of malnutrition and low blood sugar, coupled with being frightened, she passed out halfway through.
The doctor stopped, and upon seeing Finn, who had been watching the entire process, the man looked calm and collected, as if watching a play, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“Mr. Snearl, Miss Powell has fainted.”
“Continue.”
The doctor nodded, and she couldn’t help but feel the pain watching it. She didn’t know how Aoife had endured it without making a sound. When the procedure was over, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief. Grabbing a disinfectant towel, she wiped the sweat off Aoife’s body.
“Allow me.” Finn lifted her up, his movements not gentle. In just a few swift motions, he dried her up, examining her injured soles.
“Help treat her feet too.”
When Aoife woke up again, she was back at the villa.