Chapter 7
The assistant rushed Ruby to the hospital.[]
But after examining her, the doctor delivered the grim news.[]
“I’m afraid we’re too late.”
“What does that mean…?“]]
“Miss Winters, all the nerves connected to your right kidney have been severed. It’s no longer possible to transplant a new kidney there. That said, you can lead a relatively normal life with just one kidney.“[]
From inside the exam room came Ruby’s soft sobs.]
Years ago, when her right kidney had atrophied, she had manipulated Chase, using their childhood connection to force me to donate a kidney.]]
She had returned to a normal life, and all her recent kidney problems had been an elaborate lie.[]
Her greed knew no bounds–she wanted two healthy kidneys, so she orchestrated this entire charade.[]
Who could have predicted it would lead her down such a destructive path?]
But no matter how much she regretted it now, it was too late.]
Chase had regained consciousness at some point and sat dazed on the floor.]
For days, he lived in a fog, completely losing track of time.
Once he fully realized I was gone forever, he fell apart completely.]
He had never known how deeply I had rooted myself in his heart.]
Chase tracked down the two doctors who had accepted bribes, kidnapped them, and locked them in a private warehouse on the outskirts of town.
With an iron bar, he methodically broke each of their limbs.]
The doctors screamed and begged for mercy, but he didn’t hear them.]
“This is all your fault! You killed my Mia! You’ll pay for what you did to her!“]]
Chase snarled, his expression dark and menacing.[]
The remote location, coupled with the bodyguards standing watch, meant the unfortunate doctors had no chance of escape.
Locked inside without food or water, they soon lost all strength to resist.[]
Chase had broken their limbs and cut their tendons.[]
They were now little more than living corpses.
But for Chase, this wasn’t enough.]
He brought in several vicious hunting dogs and set them loose on the doctors. Soon, their screams echoed as the animals tore them apart.[]
Chase’s expression remained unchanged as he ordered his bodyguards to stuff their mangled bodies into duffel bags and dump them at their respective doorsteps.
Due to Chase’s deteriorating mental state, he completely neglected the company, quickly drawing the board’s displeasure.[]
They united against him, forcing him out and appointing a new CEO.]
Chase didn’t care. Each day, he just clutched my photograph and drank himself into oblivion.[]
Ruby never came back.
Chase hated her and had systematically destroyed every opportunity for her.[]
With no options left, she sold her body, working in a seedy massage parlor, accepting clients and sinking deeper into degradation.[]
When the assistant updated Chase on her situation, he just laughed coldly.[]
“She deserves it! Let her atone for what she did to Mia.”
a.“]
The assistant felt a chill seeing his callousness.
He remembered how deeply Chase had once loved Ruby.[]
Now that love was gone, revealing Chase for the cold–blooded man he truly was.[]
Ruby’s luck ran out quickly. After just a month working at the massage parlor, she contracted a disease.]
Once she became ill, her boss unceremoniously threw her out.[]
She wandered the streets, homeless. On a rainy night, several drunk men dragged her away.
By this time, Chase had become a shell of himself–neither fully human nor ghost.[]
He began experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices, convinced that I was talking to him.[]
In reality, he couldn’t see my soul at all.[]
I watched him stumble through his days, talking to thin air like a madman.]]
Chase placed my empty urn on an altar.[]
He lit an eternal flame for me and hired monks to chant prayers for my soul year round.[]
I couldn’t comprehend why he was doing all this.
was gone–who was he performing these rituals for?
and she vanished into the old alleyways.]
He even brought in a group of spiritual mediums to conduct a séance, claiming they could resurrect me.[]
The Vincent family couldn’t stand seeing him this way and eventually had him committed to a “special care facility“-essentially a psychiatric hospital.[]
In the mental institution, his hallucinations and auditory delusions didn’t improve but grew increasingly severe.]
He constantly talked to empty space, insisting to everyone that I was present.
Since I couldn’t leave him, I remained floating by his side.
He had completely lost his mind.
