“Ryan!”
Kendrick stepped up to stop him, but the tearing agony from the wound on his calf shot up at the use of a little strength. It was not an easy injury to heal from, and blood began to seep out from it again. It dyed the layers of bandages bright red.
Niamh’s heart lurched at the sight. “Kendrick!”
Instinctively, she felt the urge to run towards him but Ryan tightened his grip around her shoulders.
“Don’t you understand? The closer you get to him, the more pain he will suffer,” Ryan warned quietly into Niamh’s ear.
Niamh balled her fists and bit her lip. “You won’t get away with this, Ryan. You’ll be arrested for this!”
Ryan tugged his lips into a light and carefree smile. “Then, I’ll just have to make sure that I achieve my goal before I get caught.”
Niamh glared at Ryan’s gleeful gaze. She had never felt so hopeless.
“Don’t leave with him, Nia.” Kendrick’s tone was borderline begging.
Niamh’s eyes burned, and she did not dare look at the expression Kendrick wore. Instead, she opted to face the floor. “Get some rest. If ever there comes a chance…”
‘If ever there comes a chance, I’ll run toward you without a care in the world. But I can’t do that now, Kendrick.’
Niamh swallowed the words back.
She suppressed the heartache in her chest and spoke indifferently, “Let’s go.”
“Nia!”
Kendrick placed a hand on the wall to support himself and stood up to run after her, but her turning around seemed to have added to his pain.
“Nia!”
Bulging veins were seen on the back of Kendrick’s hand as the joints on his fingers cracked.
Watching Niamh’s figure walking farther away, he continued to run after her longingly.
Blood streamed from the reopened wound, leaving a line of blood that trickled down his calf and dripped onto the long corridor.
The petite frame in his eyes never turned back as it slowly vanished from sight.
Bang! Kendrick slammed his fist against the wall as a harsh glint bled from his deep alluring eyes. “Your game ends here, Ryan!”
…
Sean continued to wait by the waiting area downstairs and was surprised to see Ryan walking over with Niamh in his arms.
He quickly made his way to her. “When did you come here, Mr. Jones?”
Ryan gave a small and gentle smile. “My driver told me that Eveline wasn’t feeling very well. I was just close by, so I quickly came over.”
His explanation made sense, so Sean did not suspect it. However, his words only solidified Niamh’s belief that Ryan was privy to the littlest changes in her location.
“Are you alright, Eveline? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?” Sean asked attentively.
Niamh shook her head and replied in a meaningful tone, “With how much you care and look after me, Rye, I’m afraid it’s almost impossible for me to not be alright.”
Ryan merely smiled in response.
Sean could feel something was off, but he could not pin it exactly.
Without thinking much into it, Sean looked around Niamh. “Where’s your mother, Eveline?”
Niamh suddenly remembered that she was going to find Eloise. Ryan’s sudden appearance had kicked the thought from her mind.
“Don’t worry, she’ll be alright. I’ll go have someone look for her.” Ryan’s tone was light. He brought Niamh back first.
Night fell and there was still no sign of Eloise.
Knowing that Ryan was in the study, Niamh made her way there and asked, “You’re hiding my mom, aren’t you, Ryan? Is this your way of warning and punishing me?”
Ryan was reading when she entered the room. His pale fingers stopped flipping the page as he lifted his face. The starry gray eyes under the black-rimmed glasses shone with a dark glint. “You want me to tell you where your mother is? Sure. Beg me.”
His response proved Niamh right.
She rushed up to him in infuriation. “Is there even a shred of conscientiousness within you, Ryan? Does tormenting the people around me bring you glee? Just what did I do to offend you?”
“Who said you offended me at all? In fact, I admire you a lot.” Ryan slowly got up, his lean figure and immense aura towering over Niamh’s petite frame.
“The only mistake you made was falling in love with Kendrick Waldburg.” He took off his glasses, the dark swirls in his eyes becoming more evident without a layer in between. “It must feel horrible to lose the person who matters the most to you, huh? Then blame the Waldburg family.”
Waldburg family?
Niamh did not understand. She wanted to know more, but Ryan did not seem to have the intent to explain further.
He quirked the corner of his lips and stared at the sharp glint in Niamh’s eyes. All he wanted to do at that moment was to extinguish that light.
“You overheard my call in the study this morning, didn’t you?” Ryan questioned. Niamh’s sparkling eyes flashed with something that solidified his guess.
He continued to speak, “So you knew that Kendrick was in Kindred Hospital. That’s why you intentionally voiced your desire to take a walk outside in front of me. You did it in front of your father, therefore I had no other option but to let you go.
“You claimed that you wanted to go to the cherry blossom park when in truth, you merely wanted to visit Kendrick in Kindred Hospital. That’s why you gave a location close to the hospital.”
Niamh remained unmoving as Ryan gave her a good look, his tall figure taking a step closer to her back.
“Pretending that you were unwell when the closest hospital to you was Kindred, I really have to applaud you for your intellect.” Ryan’s lips curled into a faint smile as he leaned down by Niamh’s face. His hot breath warmed her ear. “What you don’t know is that I have a precise locator and a listening device embedded in the new phone I gave you.”
What?
Niamh widened her eyes in shock.
She had assumed that Ryan would place a locator in her phone, but she never expected a listening device too!
Niamh felt her body go cold as she took out her phone in disgust.
Before Ryan’s eyes, she threw the phone roughly at the floor.
With a crack, the screen shattered.
“Ryan Jones, you pervert!”
Ryan’s eyes darkened. He suddenly reached out to grab Niamh’s chin, pushing her against the wall.
As if he was an entirely different person, the man before her was now shrouded in a dark mist as his eyes glowed sinisterly.
“Would you still be able to speak so sarcastically when your dream is shattered and the person you love the most is killed?”
“That’s still hardly a reason to hurt the innocent!”
Niamh met Ryan’s terrifying gaze fearlessly.
“Even if you hate Kendrick and the Waldburg family, you can torment me however you wish, but what did my parents ever do to you? Who do you take yourself for? You can’t hurt my parents just because they’re in-laws with the Waldburg family!”
Ryan burst into laughter at Niamh’s stubbornness. “You’re very smart, Eveline Montgomery, so why can’t you understand my attitude when it comes to you?”
“…” Niamh frowned in confusion.
She truly had no idea what that attitude was.
Ryan held Niamh by her chin and lowered his face so that it was inches away from hers.
“I’m susceptible to your bribes but not your threats. Beg me and admit that you were wrong and perhaps I’ll give your mother back to you. But if you wish to continue fighting against me…”
He paused, the frosty glint in his eyes turning scarier.
“If you refuse to bow down to me, then be prepared to hear the tragedy of a housewife slipping and falling into the river to her death in the news tomorrow.”
Niamh felt a cold pair of hands tightening the clasp around her heart.
Ryan picked up a remote from the table and switched on the television in front of her.
Instead of a show, the screen showed Eloise walking along a busy street.
“Mom.”
Niamh stared at Eloise who was all alone by herself and hated the fact that she could not pull her mother to her side.
“My people are following your mother, so I can promise that she’ll be alright. However, if you upset me again, then I’ll remind you of what it feels like to lose your loved ones.”
Ryan tightened the grip on his fingers as he threatened.
Niamh furrowed her brows at the growing pain from her chin, her gaze slowly dimming as she stared at the display.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.