Chapter 3
1038 Words
I sent the videos and audio recordings of Hunter’s affair, along with Aimee’s full personal file, to River through an encrypted channel.
He wrote back almost immediately, short and straight to the point.
River: Got it. Wait for my update.
After that, I drifted through days of eerie, unsettling silence.
An uneasy feeling lingered in my chest, growing heavier with every passing hour, as if something unseen was tightening its grip around my life and everything I thought I could still control.
I tried to reach out to River again, but there was nothing. No response, no signal, only an unnerving silence that made my skin crawl.
I sat in the empty room for a long time, replaying every word in my head, trying to convince myself I was not losing my sanity.
Hunter never came home, and Aimee Vale had vanished without a trace.
But on the afternoon of the second day, every contact channel I had for River suddenly went dead.
I barely had time to process what was happening before Hunter, who had been gone for three full days, walked through the door.
He strode straight up to me and slammed a phone hard onto the table in front of me.
"Heather, do you really not trust me that much? Not only did you install hidden cameras and bugs in our house, you even tried to destroy Aimee?"
A cold dread flooded my entire body, and the truth hit me all at once.
My voice came out rough and cracked. "You bribed River Hartman?"
It wasn't just River, either. With how cunning and thorough Hunter was, I'd bet every single person I was connected to had already been bought off. He'd laid his trap long ago, just sitting back and watching me struggle like a goddamn fool in his net.
Hunter didn’t respond. He only muttered to himself, "Aimee grew up with me. After her family fell apart, she lost contact with me."
"She only loved me too much and took one wrong step. Don’t blame her…"
"Don’t blame her?"
All my suppressed rage and despair collapsed at once.
I pointed at the evidence on the phone, tears pouring out like a broken dam.
"Look closely! With your full approval, Aimee caused the deaths of my babies. Three of them!"
"They were your children, too!"
My scream echoed through the empty living room, each word torn from my chest.
Hunter looked down and deleted every piece of evidence in front of me.
"She already knows she was wrong. What more do you want from her?"
"We could have been happy together and had this baby. Why did you dig up the past?"
"Since you already know, I won’t lie anymore."
"I love you, but I also care about Aimee."
"As long as you get along with her from now on, she'll never take your place!"
A searing, ripping pain tore through my chest, like someone was yanking my heart right out of my body.
I clutched my chest, my body wracked with violent spasms.
I forced myself to endure it. For this last chance, for the baby growing inside me, I had to endure it.
But I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't bite my tongue one more second.
I pushed myself upright, my face as pale as death.
"I’m done. I’m no longer Mrs. Blackwood!"
I fixed him with a glare sharp enough to cut.
"But every life my babies lost, you both will pay. I won’t stop until one of us is dead."
Hunter’s pupils widened in shock. A violent rage flashed in his eyes.
"You're forcing my hand, aren't you?"
"I told you before. You will never leave me, not as long as you live."
He paused, his gaze turning ice-cold, then made a sharp hand signal.
"Her condition has worsened. Take her back to the hospital for treatment immediately!"
I knew exactly what he meant. He was throwing me back into that mental hospital controlled by the Blackwood family!
"I’m not insane! Hunter, you son of a b***h! This is k********g!"
As they dragged me past him, I screamed with every last bit of strength I had, tears pouring down my face like rain.
He just shifted slightly to get out of my way, his face completely blank, no emotion at all.
Inside the psychiatric hospital ward.
They slammed me down onto the ice-cold hospital bed like I was a ragged old doll, and clamped my wrists and ankles down with heavy iron chains.
Doctors and nurses surrounded me, pressing electrode pads against my temples.
The freezing touch made my entire body shiver violently.
Hunter brushed my cheek gently and murmured, "Heather, it’ll be over soon if you just stay still. Forget everything ugly, and we can go back to how things used to be."
I wanted to scream at him, I wanted to curse him to hell, I wanted to rip that hypocritical mask right off his face.
But they'd already injected me full of sedatives. My mouth wouldn't move, and not a single sound came out.
The very next second, unthinkable, searing pain exploded straight through my brain!
It felt like ten thousand steel needles had driven straight into my nerves, twisting and tearing violently from the inside out.
My body convulsed violently, completely beyond my control. Blinding, distorted flashes of color filled my vision.
Hunter's soft, fake lie faded away, piece by piece, in my ringing ears…
"AAGH!"
A blood-curdling scream finally tore its way out of my throat.
Wave after wave of electricity scoured through my body, my consciousness tossing and splitting apart in the agony.
All the hatred and hurt I'd fought so hard to hold onto were being smothered over, forced into a numb, empty blankness.
Just when this unholy torture hit its peak, a sharp, stabbing cramping pain tore through my lower abdomen.
Warm liquid slowly seeped out.
- Writer
