Chapter 2Fate’s Cruel Script

Back then, my family’s sworn enemy, Jacob Croft, had come for us.

He swore that he would destroy everything I held dear.

I thought the Cross family was powerful enough to stand against the Crofts. But I never imagined Jacob would forge alliances with the city’s criminal underworld. In just six months, he had completely erased the Cross family name from the city’s elite circles.

At the time, Amelia and I were about to have our baby. For her safety, I planned to send her away in the middle of the night. But as soon as we got in the car, I was knocked unconscious. When I came to, someone had already taken my car, impersonated me, and run Amelia down. The fetus was forced out, a bloody, mangled mess. It was a horrifying sight.

I knew it was a warning from Jacob. In a moment of cold, desperate clarity, I decided to play along, to let her believe the worst of me so she would hate me and stay away.

But I still gave her a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, disguised as a breakup settlement.

After that day, Jacob had his men watch me around the clock. I couldn't go anywhere. By the time I was finally released, I learned that Amelia had been charged and sentenced to seven years in prison, based on a complaint that bore my forged signature.

By then, the Cross family had lost all its power. All I could do was blame myself.

Then, her parents were suddenly poisoned and fell into a vegetative state. Jacob used them as leverage, threatening to have them thrown out of the nursing home unless I did as he said. He forced me to lie down in the middle of the road and let a semi-truck run over my legs. Once wasn’t enough. He made the driver do it again, and again… until my legs were completely severed, a mess of flesh and bone. Only then was he satisfied. He had his men dump me with Spike, to be tortured for the rest of my days.

I was terrified. I thought that by keeping the truth from Amelia, I was protecting everyone. But the moment she was released, she was manipulated by Jacob. She murdered my parents in cold blood, and now she was desecrating their graves. I finally realized how terribly wrong I had been.

“No choice?” Amelia interrupted me impatiently. “You didn’t have a choice? You’re just scared of my revenge. Well, you just watch. What I have in store for you is far from over.”

She pointed at my parents’ corpses, a strange, twisted smile on her cold face.

“Watch closely. I’m going to feed your parents’ bodies to the dogs, as an offering to the spirit of my dead child.”

“No! You can’t! My parents are innocent! They even…”

My eyes widened in terror.

Jacob’s eyes flickered. He kicked me hard in the chest, the pain stealing my breath and silencing my words. He shot me a mocking glance, then turned to Amelia with a gentle smile.

“Amelia, even if his parents did poison yours… didn’t your mom and dad tell you when they woke up yesterday that I was the one who saved them? Let it go. An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”

At his words, Amelia’s eyes reddened. She fell into his arms, her voice choked with emotion. “Jacob, thank you. I see now that you’re the one who’s always been there for me.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. Amelia’s parents knew! They knew that my parents had done everything in their power to get them to the hospital after they were poisoned. Why would they lie to her and say Jacob had saved them?

Suddenly, Spike’s words from earlier echoed in my mind. A deep sense of unease settled over me. I felt like I was trapped in a meticulously woven web. And I was already like this… why was Jacob still lying to Amelia? What did he want?

Then I saw it. The way he looked at her. There was an unmistakable, possessive affection in his eyes.

Could it be that he… for Amelia…

Realizing the truth, I fought through the sharp pain in my chest and forced the words out. “You’re lying! The ones who saved Amelia’s parents were—”

“That’s enough, Laurent!” Jacob cut me off, his voice sharp with annoyance, but still laced with that sickeningly false sincerity. “I’m trying to calm Amelia down. Are you trying to add fuel to the fire?”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I started to crawl toward Amelia, desperate to tell her everything. But Jacob stepped in front of me, his foot coming down hard on my shattered hand.

“Don’t worry,” he said, his voice a low murmur. “Amelia won’t really do it. Even though you killed her child, she’s not the type to desecrate the bodies of the elderly.”

The pain was excruciating. I shoved him with all my might, and he stumbled backward, falling into the pit the excavator had dug earlier.

“Jacob!” Amelia cried out, rushing to help him up. Her face was flushed with anger. She glared at me, her voice a low, venomous hiss. “Isn’t it enough that you’ve already ruined my life? Now you’re trying to hurt Jacob, too? You’ll see what happens when you dig your own grave!”

She shot me one last, cold look and made a phone call.

A sense of dread washed over me.

Ten minutes later, a small girl, no older than six or seven, was brought to the site.

“Now you can watch,” Amelia said, her voice devoid of emotion, “as your sister dies in front of you.”

She gave a signal, and a car sped toward the little girl.

“NO!” I screamed, my voice a raw, desperate cry, my vision turning red.

The one thing I had wanted to tell her was that this little girl… was our daughter.