Chapter 7
The moment I heard the word baby, it was like something snapped inside me.
I started thrashing and screaming uncontrollably.
Chris, standing nearby, immediately sensed the intensity of my reaction.
In that instant, he shouted at Lillian, the woman he used to never even raise his voice to.
“Shut up.”
3
Lillian’s lips trembled. She pouted. “Chris, you’re yelling at me? I’m your wife… and I’m car- rying your child.”
That line softened Chris a little as he turned back to calm me down.
“For now,
Willette’s staying in my room. She’s like this because of us, and we owe it to her to take care of her,” he said.
Lillian’s eyes widened, clearly unhappy, but she didn’t dare argue. She just nodded quietly.
The next morning, Chris stood in the room that had once been Willette’s. It had been changed beyond recognition.
He sighed and opened his phone, hoping to find something familiar to show her.
But all the photos of him and Willette were gone. Deleted by Lillian back when they were preparing for the wedding, she’d said they were “just trash“.
So Chris picked up Willette’s old phone instead, the one they’d recovered. What flashed on the screen stunned him. Photos of him and Lillian’s wedding, news articles about the savage,, and that message.
That brutal, degrading message.
He never would’ve imagined that the sender was Lillian. His sweet, soft–spoken childhood
0.0%
23:14
Chapter 7
sweetheart.
She knew about the savage, and she knew it was mating season.
She’d planned it. She wanted Willette left behind.
Chris couldn’t hold it in anymore. The guilt crashed over him all at once.
288 iVouchers
He broke down, clutching me in his arms as he sobbed. “Willette… I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry…”
But I couldn’t understand his words. I just felt strange, watching him cry. It made my chest ache in a way I couldn’t explain.
a
So I reached out, hands trembling, and tried to wipe his tears like I used to.
I didn’t expect him to suddenly grab my wrist. Frightened, I whimpered softly, eyes wide.
Once Chris managed to calm me down, he stood up and walked straight to his bedroom–Lil-
lian’s room.
Inside, Lillian was smiling to herself as she gently rubbed oil onto her pregnant belly.
When she saw Chris at the door, her eyes lit
“Chris! What’s wrong?”
- up.
But the look on his face stopped her cold. His expression was dark, so dark it made Lillian instinctively shiver.
He raised the phone in his hand. “These messages. You sent them, didn’t you?”
Lillian’s smile faded instantly. She saw everything unraveling, and for the first time, she looked afraid.
Lillian clutched her belly, her voice thick with tears.
“Chris, I was just scared Willette would take you from me. She’s so strong, not like me… I’m stupid. I just love you too much…”
Chris closed his eyes. His throat tightened, and when he finally spoke, his voice was low and
30.0 %
23:14
Chapter 7
hoarse.
“So what? You planned all of this just to leave her behind in that place?”
288 iVouchers
“I’m sorry, Chris… I really am. Once the baby’s born, I’ll make it up to Willette, I swear… Please trust me.”
Lillian dropped to her knees, hugging his leg as she sobbed.
Chris heard the word baby, and it gave him pause.
His fists clenched, and then slowly loosened.
“Lillian, I won’t lay a hand on you for the child’s sake. But don’t let me see you around for a while.”
Hearing that, Lillian didn’t say another word.
She turned and left without looking back, as if afraid staying any longer would cost her ev- erything.
Chris sank to the floor once she was gone, burying his head in his hands.
He still couldn’t bring himself to fully accept that Willette had truly lost her mind.
Days passed, one after another, but Willette remained exactly the same, just like the day she’d been brought back from the jungle.
No change. No improvement. Just the same empty shell.
One day, Chris picked up a small ring, a pinky ring.
It wasn’t fancy. In fact, it was a little ugly, but it held all his hope.
Willette had made it by hand for his twentieth birthday.
It was the only thing of hers he hadn’t thrown away.
He knelt in front of her wheelchair, eyes full of hope, and gently placed the ring in her hands.
He watched as she took it, and for a moment, he saw a flicker of light in her eyes.
61.3%
23:14
Chapter 7
288 Vouchers
Then Willette, slowly and with great effort, spoke her first words in a long time. “Happy… birthday.”
But no matter how many times he moved the ring in front of her after that, she didn’t respond again. She just stared into space.
Seeing that, Chris broke down.
Tears streamed down his face as he choked out the words, “What do I have to do to bring you back? Willette… please, just tell me…”
91.3 %
