“Cameron!” Carter roared, his lips trembling slightly. “Stop talking. I won’t believe a single word. I might be lame, but I’m not blind! What kind of look do you have whenever you see Laura? Do you think I can’t see it?”
A chill ran rapidly up my spine, and I shuddered. I always thought Cameron was a bloodthirsty beast, but today, seeing Carter, I realized that coldness and brutality were ingrained in the blood of every member of The Lynch Family. Carter treated me with tenderness and care, but the condition was that I was his wife, a woman who would never betray him.
Now, he believed I had cuckolded him, and he had known everything for a long time. He had long suspected that my relationship with Cameron was abnormal, but he didn’t expose it. He gave me enough time and dignity, thinking that his wife would definitely pull back from the edge. However, today he witnessed such a scene, an eternal shame for a husband.
He would never forgive me for the rest of his life.
Fear, shame, guilt, confusion… For a moment, I felt like I was being hit by wave after wave. The suffocating feeling made it hard for me to breathe.
“Carter, please don’t…” I cried and rushed into his arms. “Let’s go, let’s go back home! I’ll tell you everything when we get home… I promise not to hide a single word from you!”
“Laura!” Cameron glared at me, gritting his teeth. “Are you out of your mind?”
Yes, I was crazy.
I stared coldly at this man, a surge of hatred welling up in my heart.
In that moment, I made up my mind. I would go home with Carter, kneel down and confess everything to him. I didn’t beg for forgiveness; I just hoped he could make Cameron leave me alone. I didn’t want to live in fear every day.
As for what would happen afterward, I would leave it to Carter to decide. If he rejected me, I would divorce immediately, leave with nothing, and have no more ties with The Lynch Family. If he still wanted me, I would spend the rest of my life atoning.
…
With these thoughts, my mood suddenly brightened. I stood there quietly, feeling a sense of acceptance of whatever was to come.
“Carter,” I took his hand and looked at him, asking silently, “Can we go home?”
Unexpectedly, Carter slapped my hand away, shouting hysterically, “He is my brother, and you are my wife… I treated you both as my closest family, and you betrayed me like this!”
“Ah-” He picked up his crutch and staggered towards me. His face twisted, eyes bloodshot. He violently struck me in the back.
My legs gave out and I fell to the ground, and he immediately followed by hitting me again. At that moment, my mind went blank, unable to process anything. When I finally came to, I saw Cameron standing in front of me, shielding me.
His tall and robust figure unexpectedly gave me an overwhelming sense of reassurance. I cowered behind him, trembling, clutching at the hem of his pants, and burst into tears.
Carter still wanted to strike again, but Cameron tightly gripped his wrist, his voice cold, “Carter, calm down. Beating her won’t solve anything.”
“Beating her won’t solve… Then I’ll beat you!” Carter, with widened eyes and gritted teeth, suddenly exclaimed.
“Carter!”
I tightly closed my eyes. In an instant, it felt like something exploded in my ears. I heard Carter’s agonizing scream, followed by a muffled thud as a heavy object rolled down the stairs. The whole world seemed to freeze.
In the quiet, I could hear only my own erratic breathing and heartbeat.
“Carter…” I crawled and stood up, shocked by what had just happened.
Carter just tumbled down from the stairwell of the emergency exit… he just fell backward like that… Right now, he’s lying unconscious on the stairs.
A pool of thick, dark red blood slowly seeped out from under his head.
I screamed.
Cameron stood beside me, his face full of astonishment, still frozen in the position he used to push Carter down the stairs.
I rushed downstairs without hesitation and knelt beside Carter. Cameron also rushed over. He tried to lift him up, but I cried out like a madwoman, refusing to let him touch him. I held Carter tightly in my arms, keeping a wary eye on Cameron.
Cameron tried to compete with me a few times, even getting scratched by me. Finally, he roared, “Laura, give him to me!”
I froze, a tremendous sense of fear overwhelming me. I stood there, staring at him blankly.
“If you don’t want him to die, give him to me!” Cameron gasped, teared open his shirt sleeves and hastily bandaging Carter’s injuries.
“Be quick!” he shouted at me. At that moment, I had no choice but to listen to him.
He carried Carter and rushed downstairs, driving to the hospital at the fastest speed, running countless red lights on the way.
…
I sat numbly outside the emergency room, feeling as if I had been drained of all energy. Curled into a ball, I bit my fingers, breaking the skin, and the taste of blood seeped out, yet I remained unaware.
It was as if I had lost all sensation, all consciousness. If something happened to Carter, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.
“It’s not the end of the world. Why are you like this?” Suddenly, a force slapped my back.
Cameron stared at me sternly, his cold gaze revealing a complex mix of love and hatred.
“Carter will be fine,” he coldly uttered.
I looked up at him, feeling the irony of life, which had surpassed my ability to bear.
“Why are you still here? If something happens to Carter, it’s all your fault!”
“Cameron, what have I done wrong to meet you…” I said weakly, holding my head in my hands.
In my mind, scenes of endless entangled intimacy with this man unexpectedly surfaced. Later, I understood that Cameron was a kind of poison, and I had swallowed it. Even if my life was hanging by a thread, I couldn’t free myself.
Cameron suddenly bent down, his hands gripping the arms of my chair, his nose almost touching my forehead, his scorching breath surrounding my face.
His low, hoarse voice, “You’ve made too many mistakes!”
“From the very beginning, you were wrong… You shouldn’t have entered The Lynch Family, shouldn’t have concealed what happened back then. You should have honestly admitted to me that you were the one who killed my sister! You shouldn’t have deluded yourself into becoming a replacement for my sister, enjoying everything she had, and especially shouldn’t have married Carter!”
“Most importantly, you shouldn’t have… lied to me!”
His gaze was sinister and ruthless, like two knives stabbing directly into my heart.
“Laura, why did you lie to me…” His hands squeezed my shoulders, fingertips digging in so deeply that it felt like my shoulder blades might shatter, “Why did you say you were pregnant with my child… You know how much…,” he paused.
The warmth and tenderness that flashed in his eyes disappeared entirely. I thought that was probably another illusion I had created.
I had heard doctors say that under extreme stress, people might develop unrealistic fantasies. Perhaps that was the case for me, tortured by Cameron for so long, my thoughts and consciousness were no longer under my control.
However, I really wanted to hear what came after his words ‘How much…’… How much happy was I? How much joyful?
Laura, stop deceiving yourself.
I let him grip my arms, pinch my chin, offering no resistance.
Cameron was about to say something more when the emergency room door swung open. A doctor came out, removed his mask, and took a deep breath. “Where is the family of the patient?”
“I am his wife!” I almost jumped in front of the doctor. “How is my husband?”
“Nothing serious, he’s out of danger,” the doctor replied.
Tears welled up in my eyes, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
“However, Mrs. Lynch…” the doctor furrowed his brow, “Mr. Lynch needs further observation. He suffered a blow to the back of his head, and there might be some after-effects.”
The joy I felt just moments ago was abruptly drained away. I stared blankly at the doctor’s serious expression, frozen for a few seconds, then nodded softly.
…
Three days later, I learned that the so-called after-effects were actually amnesia!
Carter lost his memory.
When he woke up, he resembled a newborn baby, his pale face expressing the novelty and fear of this unknown world. The unfamiliarity in his eyes when he looked at me brought all my guilt towards him back.