Chapter 19
Seeing Lila’s resolute expression and her unhesitating leap from the aircraft, Callan was completely devastated. Without a second thought, he also jumped from the helicopter!
“Lila! I won’t let you leave me!” Callan shouted with a contorted face as they fell. “If we die, we die together!”
His words faded as they both plunged into the ocean.
Fortunately, the helicopter was equipped with life rafts: Callan’s men quickly inflated one and jumped down with it
to rescue them.
Eventually, both Callan and Lila were pulled from the water.
And Lila found herself back in the mansion that had once caged her.
After multiple emotional shocks, Callan’s mental state had become increasingly unstable. He grew even more possessive and paranoid, terrified that just blinking might cause Lila to disappear. So he abandoned all his work, staying by her side every minute of every day.
Even at night, he couldn’t rest easy, fearing Lila might escape while he slept.
To prevent her from leaving, he had a special pair of handcuffs made. One end locked around Lila’s right wrist, the
other around his own left wrist.
“There, that’s better. Now you can never leave me,” Callan said with an almost deranged tone. “Lila, bear with it. It might feel strange at first, but you’ll get used to it.”
At this, Lila’s lips curled into a mocking smile: “Used to it? Of course I will. After all, you’ve already completely crippled my right hand. Whether you lock it or not, it’s useless anyway.”
These words felt like countless needles piercing Callan’s heart. The pain was almost unbearable.
‘Lila, I’m so sorry,” Callan choked. “I know saying sorry a thousand times can’t undo the harm I’ve caused you.”
“But I’ll do anything for your forgiveness.”
After saying this, Callan seemed to make a momentous decision. He ordered his men to bring him a hammer.
“Lila, I meant it when I said anyone who hurt you wouldn’t be spared,” Callan said grimly. “Even if that person is me, I’ll face the same consequences.”
“Though I didn’t know it was you that night, I still smashed your fingers, and I accept responsibility for that!”
“Since I shattered your five fingers, I’ll pay you back with five of mine. Since your right hand is bound to my left hand, and your right hand is crippled, my left hand should be crippled too.”
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Chapter 19
As he spoke, Callan placed his left hand on the table.
Then he raised the hammer, gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and brought it down hard on his own left hand.
“ARGH!”
An agonizing scream tore from his throat as his left pinky finger was crushed to a bloody pulp.
“Lila, I’ll accept any punishment from you if it means you’ll forgive me,” Callan said through clenched teeth. “Whatever pain I inflicted on you, you can return to me tenfold. If I so much as flinch, I’m not a man!”
With that, Callan raised the hammer again and smashed it down a second time.
CRACK-
With the second blow, Callan was drenched in cold sweat from the pain.
Teeth gritted, sweating profusely, he gasped: “Lila, we’re one entity now. From today forward, I’ll be your right hand, and you’ll be my left hand. We’ll never be apart again, okay?”
But Lila didn’t even look at him. No matter how much he tortured himself, she wouldn’t forgive him or give him any
reaction.
In this moment, Callan felt that having all ten fingers smashed would hurt less than the pain in his heart.
Still, he forced a smile: “It’s okay, Lila. If you can’t forgive me now, that’s fine, I’ll spend my entire life atoning to
you.”
He then delivered the third blow!
Followed by the fourth, the fifth… his entire left hand was destroyed, blood covering the table.
Seeing this, Lila finally turned to look at Callan: “Callan, you think this makes us even? Don’t forget what else you lid that night…”
Callan’s breathing instantly halted. Even without Lila’s reminder, he remembered vividly what else he had done hat night-
He had ordered his men to perform that “sewing operation” on the woman he loved most…
