Chapter 20
The plane landed on time, and Andy got into the car that his assistant had sent to pick him up.
The car smoothly drove back to the familiar street, but he couldn’t feel any happiness at all.
) Every corner of this city bore the traces of Maddie.
The high–end Western restaurant on the street corner was where Andy accompanied Maddie to celebrate her birthday one year. There, they kissed under the blessings of the band.
They often walked past the bridge by the river. In winter, Andy would put Maddie’s hand into his pocket to keep it warm, and she would smile and kiss his cheek.
Every scene of their time together was deeply engraved in Andy’s heart, and could not be erased no matter how hard he tried.
Recalling the past, Andy finally arrived at the doorstep of his home.
He hadn’t been back here for a long time because all traces of Maddie’s life here had long disappeared.
He pushed open the door to the basement, which he hadn’t visited in a long time, and was hit by a musty smell mixed with a faint fishy odor.
There came a rustling sound from the basement, as if someone were muttering to themselves.
In the corner, a dark figure curled up into a ball, crawling on the
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ground and eating something.
Andy couldn’t stand it and turned on the light, instantly brightening
the room.
This basement was unknown to anyone. During the days when Andy was not around, no one brought food for Crystal. She had been hungry for too long, so she found a few boxes of expired mineral water and some canned goods near the warehouse to survive…
Crystal had already become so thin, and the iron chains that Andy had bound around her ankles had already rubbed her ankles bloody.
She looked up in terror at the sound, her face devoid of any color.
She had been locked in this dim and cramped place for too long, with none of her original arrogance left. Instead, she seemed dazed and confused.
Crystal was still wearing the tight skirt she had worn at the bar, but she was so thin, like a skeleton, without her seductive and charming
appearance.
“Andy… Andy… let me out…”
Her voice was hoarse and terrifying, as if she had turned into a different person, crawling towards Andy’s feet incessantly.
Andy stood in the shadow, his eyes as cold as if he were looking at a pile of garbage.
“Please… let me go… I won’t do it again…”
Crystal shivered, clutching onto Andy’s pant leg, her forehead knocking heavily on the ground as if she couldn’t feel any pain.
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Chapter 20
Andy glanced at her indifferently and kicked her away.
He grabbed her hair, his eyes filled with undisguised malice.
“You’re lucky, I found Maddie…”
“Really?! That’s great! You’re going to let me out, right?!”
Looking at her smiling face, Andy suddenly remembered Maddie standing with Alexis again.
) His facial features instantly twisted into a ferocious expression, and he
raised his hand to slap her hard across the face.
“Because of your instigation, she ended up with another man and said she would never be with me. Are you happy with this outcome?”
Crystal was slapped so hard that her ears rang, a buzzing sound filling her mind as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
“No, I’m sorry… I misspoke…”
Andy’s eyes turned scarlet, and suddenly he slapped back with resounding slap!
“Bang!”
a
Crystal was slapped again and hit the wall, her mouth cracked open, and blood trickled down her chin.
At that moment, Andy had already been drinking heavily. When he saw Crystal’s face, all he could think about was Maddie crying in pain and the man next to her.
He was so angry that he almost bit his teeth off, and slapped Crystal several times in a row to vent his anger.
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disfigured.
A thick stream of fresh blood spurted out, the already weak body almost lying on the ground like a dying fish, motionless.
At that moment, Andy suddenly noticed the cabinet in the corner where Maddie used to store her art supplies.
Suddenly, an evil idea was born.
He viciously grabbed Crystal’s hair and dragged her to the bottom of the wooden cabinet.
In a fit of rage, Andy violently overturned the cabinet while she was powerless to resist.
With a loud bang, the heavy solid wood cabinet crashed down on Crystal, she let out a piercing scream, and then never moved again.
He went downstairs to the dining table and poured a glass of water. Last night, he had a dream all night long. In the dream, Maddie kept saying she hated Andy, which caused him to wake up with his clothes soaked in sweat.
With five fingers tightly gripping the water glass, he set down the cup and prepared to go to the basement to deal with the body.
He slowly walked down the stairs, but he felt something was wrong.
The door to the basement was wide open.
Last night, it seems he did not actually close the door, just gently pushed it shut. Could it have been blown open by the wind?
He walked in, turned on the light, but found no one inside.
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Where did you go… Where on earth did you go…
Andy ran back upstairs in terror. The living room seemed unchanged, but upon closer inspection, some bloodstains could be seen on the floor.
Didn’t Crystal die? How could she have run away!
Andy came to the study and turned on the computer to check the surveillance footage.
Last night, the solid wood cabinet toppled over, but instead of killing Crystal, it broke the old iron chain around her ankle.
In the middle of the night, while Andy was fast asleep, Crystal limped up from downstairs, grabbed the first aid kit, quickly bandaged herself, and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
The following scene was even more terrifying. Crystal took a knife from the kitchen and sneaked upstairs, entering Andy’s bedroom.
She walked to the edge of the bed, raising the handle of the knife high as if she was about to strike. However, the landline downstairs suddenly came to mind.
Crystal, who was scared, no longer hesitated and immediately grabbed her backpack and fled.
Andy was horrified by the scene he witnessed, and couldn’t help but shudder afterwards.
If it hadn’t been for that phone call, he would have died at her hands long ago.
However, her passport and identification documents were taken by Andy. Where on earth could she go?!
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Andy was scared by the surveillance footage and immediately called his assistant.
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