The Wife He Took for Granted

Chapter 6

Elena dragged herself home, her body aching like a pile of broken bones.

Each movement sent sharp, stabbing pain through her limbs, her consciousness drifting in and out like a fading tide.

The living room stood empty except for Lila, perched at the dining table like a waiting predator. Her lips twisted into a smirk dripping with mockery the moment Elena staggered in.

Too exhausted to speak, Elena wordlessly dropped the bracelet onto the table.

"How devoted of you, Mrs. Hale," Lila purred, the sweetness in her voice laced with venom.

Elena turned to leave, but the barbed words chased after her: "Ethan drags you through the dirt daily, yet you still cling to him? What, you think he'll come begging back?"

"Don't flatter yourself." Elena's voice was raw, scraping like gravel. "If he wanted you like you say, we'd be divorced by now. But I'm still his wife—so tell me, how real is his affection for you?"

Lila barked a laugh, sauntering closer until her words stabbed like knives: "Who cares about affection? But one thing's certain—he's done loving you."

She paused, eyes glinting with malice. "He says being with you is torture. If it weren't for the tricks I taught him, he wouldn't touch you at all. You should be thanking me."

"Shut up!" The scream ripped from Elena's throat.

Memories exploded behind her eyes—those humiliating nights blindfolded and bound, every degrading command.

But before she could react, Lila snatched the bracelet and snapped it apart with a vicious tug, letting the shattered pieces clatter to the floor.

Then—like flipping a switch—she clutched her face, sobbing theatrically: "The bracelet. Mom's bracelet!"

"What's the meaning of this?"

Lila shook with exaggerated sobs, stumbling toward Ethan. "Mr. Hale... I'm so sorry. It's my fault. I never should've asked Mrs. Hale to fetch it in the rain. But it was Mom's only keepsake!"

Ethan's gaze pierced Elena like an icy dagger. "Who told you to touch it?"

"It wasn't me!"

"Then who else could've done it?"

Ethan pointed at the shattered pieces on the floor, eyes blazing with fury. "Apologize to Lila. Now."

"Ethan!"

Elena stared at him in disbelief, her voice trembling with rage. "You're demanding I apologize to this two-faced witch?"

"Cut the crap!" he snapped.

She clenched her jaw, spine rigid with defiance. "I won't apologize for something I didn't do!"

"Guards!" Ethan barked.

Within seconds, two burly bodyguards marched into the living room.

"Have you lost your mind?" Elena struggled against their iron grip. "You'd choose that mistress over me? Does our marriage mean nothing?"

"Lila is not a mistress!" he roared. "Enough about the past!"

Lila gathered the broken bracelet pieces, her teary eyes lifting to Ethan. "It's... it's okay, Mr. Hale... Mrs. Hale didn't mean." She dabbed at her eyes with a sniffle. "I just miss my mom. Her dream was me becoming a nurse, but I can't even."

Her trembling lips and red-rimmed eyes melted his anger into pity. He shot Elena a glacial look. "You'll practice on her. Consider it an opportunity."

"What?" Elena gasped.

"Weren't you hospitalized for glucose yesterday?" he said coldly. "Let Lila finish it. Kill two birds with one stone."

Lila feigned reluctance, biting her lip. "But Mr. Hale... this is too cruel to your wife."

But her eyes darted to Elena, lips curling in a cruel little smirk. "That's perfectly acceptable," Ethan snapped, whipping out his phone to bark orders for an IV set. Lila teased the needle above Elena's shaking hand, pretending to measure her strike.

At first, she mimicked careful hesitation, but after a few jabs, her movements turned savage.

The needle stabbed and twisted, deliberately missing the vein each time—only stopping when crimson droplets bubbled to the surface. "Oops, missed again." Lila sighed, putting on her best apologetic pout. "So sorry, Mrs. Hale. Let me try once more." Elena convulsed with pain, but the bodyguards pinned her down, rendering her helpless.

Within minutes, her hands became a patchwork of angry purple welts, veins now invisible beneath the bruise-streaked flesh. Hungry for more cruelty, Lila moved to her wrists, then her feet,hunting every possible vein. The pain swallowed Elena whole, wave after wave of white-hot agony.

As her vision tunneled into darkness, one final image burned into her mind: Ethan's smile oozing fake praise as he murmured, "See? You're getting better at this. Don't stop now."