Chapter 7 Thrown to the Wolves
1064 Words
Ethan pulled out his phone to prove his innocence. "It wasn't me. I never even spoke to him."
Mindy suddenly smiled, turning to snuggle into his embrace. "Ethan, what are you so scared of? Why would I distrust you over some outsider?"
Ethan stared blankly at her face, which was so twisted with suppressed emotion that he couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
"Ethan, I'm going to look into what happened," she said.
She let go of him, her fingertips tracing across his cheek. "Things are getting messy tonight. I'll have the bodyguards take you back to the villa first. Once you wake up, everything will be fine."
She called over her bodyguards and personally watched as they escorted Ethan into the car.
The moment the car door slammed shut, a deafening c***k of thunder split the sky. Fat raindrops began to pound against the roof, turning into a blinding downpour in the blink of an eye.
The fireworks that had been burning so fiercely over the cruise ship were completely doused by the storm, leaving only sparse sparks. Just like that, his eighteen years of devotion to Mindy was extinguished abruptly.
Through the rain, Ethan looked at Mindy standing in the storm. Her silhouette was quickly swallowed by the mist.
In the next instant, a black cloth was violently forced over his head. The pungent, chemical stench of chloroform flooded his senses, and his consciousness plunged into instant darkness.
Right before he blacked out, he suddenly remembered the icy look in Mindy's eyes right before he got into the car.
She did it on purpose. She deliberately used her tenderness to numb him and make him lower his guard.
When Ethan woke up again, he had been changed into his casual everyday clothes. His hands and feet were bound with thick ropes, and his mouth was taped shut.
Mindy's figure appeared in his line of sight.
She simply gave him a cold, sweeping glance before looking away.
He wanted to shriek and fight back, but his muscles refused to obey. He couldn't force out even a whisper.
As the bodyguards dragged him past her, she said harshly, "Ethan, the Jones family might have destroyed you, but I won't let you ruin Julian just because you're desperate."
In that instant, Ethan's tears spilled over."
The truth was out at last. She had never believed him. To her, he had never been clean.
That explained why she lost the baby in an "accidental" car crash when she found out she was pregnant.
It was never an accident.
She just didn't want to bear the child of a "dirty" man.
Ethan regretted everything. He regretted saving her so recklessly, only to be met with her disgust and betrayal, to the point where she personally killed their unborn child.
"Take him to the Jones family and trade him for Julian," Mindy ordered.
Those heartless words made Ethan thrash around desperately. He didn't want this. He didn't want to go back to that hell!
But his limbs were pinned down tightly. He didn't even have a sliver of strength to fight back.
Just as he was on the verge of a total breakdown, he heard Mindy suddenly soften her tone. "Ethan, wait for me. I'll come back and save you very soon."
He closed his eyes, letting his tears fall freely.
Watching his receding back as he was dragged away, Mindy suddenly felt panicked. She yelled sharply, "Wait! Roll up his sleeve."
The bodyguard did as told, revealing his bare left wrist. There was absolutely no jewelry on it.
Mindy's tightly wound nerves instantly relaxed. 'It isn't there. The bracelet is missing. This isn't Ethan. This man looks way too much like Ethan, so I almost make a mistake. Grandpa said that Vance Group had already settled his family. He was doing this willingly.'
Just to be sure, she had the bodyguards pull up the live security footage of Ethan sitting quietly in the villa. Confirming the man on the screen was safe and sound, she finally let the "double" be taken into Jones Manor.
Ethan, completely unaware that he was being sent into the Jones family as a "double," saw everything with his own eyes.
He personally watched Julian walk out from inside. Julian was covered in bruises, and his clothes were torn to shreds.
As Julian walked past Ethan, Julian wore a triumphant smirk and silently mouthed the words "Go to hell" before leaning shakily against Mindy's shoulder.
"Honey, don't be scared. I'm here to take you home," Mindy said, comforting Julian tenderly as she helped him into the car and drove away without so much as a backward glance.
Behind them, the massive iron gates slammed shut with a heavy clang, thoroughly locking Ethan inside Jones Manor. His hell had just begun.
Before he could even process the suffocating despair, a heavy iron chain was slammed around his neck.
The other end of the chain was held by Jocelyn Jones, the head of the Jones family.
She casually swung the chain. "Mr. Chase, we meet again. Back then, I asked you to sleep with me for just one night, but you insisted on saving yourself for Mindy, even betting your life to run my family's gauntlet."
She let out a light chuckle. "What a pity. Mindy still thinks I used you as my little plaything until you broke. She was even ruthless enough to kill her own flesh and blood. This is far more amusing. She personally handed you back to me just for the sake of another man."
Jocelyn leaned in close. "Ethan, you're not getting away this time."
She reached out and ripped the duct tape off his mouth, the immense adhesive force stinging his skin.
Immediately after, his jaw was clamped in a vice grip, and an ice-cold pill was forcefully shoved down his throat.
Jocelyn dragged him into a clean room with nothing but a king-sized bed and threw his phone next to him. "The drug will kick in in ten minutes. You have ten chances to call Mindy. As long as she can make it here within ten minutes, I'll let you go. Don't try anything stupid. You can only call her. Otherwise, you're staying here for good."
Feeling the rapid surge of heat pooling in his abdomen, Ethan hit the numbers he knew by heart with trembling fingers.
- Writer
