Chapter 5
“Audrey!”
The scream tore out of Nolan’s throat.
He charged forward, knocking Lila aside without even noticing, and stumbled toward my crumpled body.
Blood was everywhere.
He dropped to his knees beside me. His hands hovered in the air, too terrified to touch me even though he
desperately wanted to pull me into his arms.
“Doctors! Somebody get a doctor! Save her! Please, save her!”
That day, he called in every specialist he could reach from across the city.
Nothing could pull him out of his despair and regret.
“Audrey, I’m sorry. I know I was wrong. Please don’t punish me like this.”
Though he had never believed in God, he had a cross brought to the ICU waiting room.
For three days and nights, he neither slept nor left, staying on his knees in prayer.
He begged God for one thing: to spare my life.
During that time, Lila tried to pretend she cared deeply about me. She urged him to stop and take better care of himself, insisting that I wasn’t worth destroying his health over.
Nolan seized her by the throat and roared at her to get out.
For the first time, she sensed that Nolan truly wanted her dead.
Terrified, she scrambled out of the hospital and never dared say another word.
On the fourth day, the doctors were still fighting to save me.
Nolan remained on his knees, praying without rest.
Then his assistant found something unexpected in the room where they had kept me confined.
The moment he saw it, the color drained from his face. He grabbed it and stumbled toward Nolan.
“Mr. Blackwood, look. What is this-”
His prayers were interrupted.
Before Nolan could reprimand him, his gaze locked on the object in the assistant’s hand. His breathing stopped for a moment.
It was an old red hair ribbon.
To anyone else, it looked completely ordinary.
Nolan alone knew it was anything but ordinary.
His hand froze above it, his fingers trembling violently.
He made three rapid calls and ordered someone to bring him the item from his private safe.
Fifteen minutes later, another red hair ribbon lay in front of him.
The two were identical.
The ribbon he had kept close to him for twenty-five years was an exact match for the one his assistant had
found.
“Where did this come from?”
Nolan’s bloodshot eyes grew even redder, his expression turning murderous.
When he had first decided Lila was the girl who saved him, he had asked her about the matching ribbon.
She had laughed and brushed the question aside.
“It was just a pair of ordinary hair ribbons. What’s so special about them? I’ll give you two more sometime.”
But how could an ordinary red hair ribbon be woven with gold thread and finished with a tiny guardian-angel
charm?
Nolan had always assumed Lila had been so thoroughly pampered that even a ribbon like that seemed
ordinary to her.
He had never known my mother had braided it for me by hand, hoping I would live a long life, safe and happy.
That year, I had separated the pair and placed one ribbon in the starving boy’s hand, sincerely wishing him
the same long, safe, and happy life.
Years later, that boy destroyed every bit of peace and happiness in my life.
He destroyed his own as well.
“It belonged to Mrs. Blackwood. I found it among her old things…”
The assistant lowered his head, repeatedly wiping the sweat from his forehead.
As Nolan’s assistant, he understood exactly what this meant.
The woman Mr. Blackwood had put on a pedestal had been lying from the very beginning.
Because of that liar, Mr. Blackwood had put the wife he loved at death’s door with his own hands.
Given how far Mr. Blackwood could go once he lost control, someone was about to pay dearly.