“Dad!” Niamh turned around and ran to help Sean up as the man took shallow breaths.
Tears began to fall when her eyes fell on the bleeding wound on his forehead. “I’m sorry, Dad. It’s my fault you and Mom got hurt.”
Sean summoned the rest of his strength and grabbed Niamh’s hand tightly. His eyes were filled with fatherly love as he pulled her behind him and glared at Ryan.
“Stop threatening my daughter, Ryan!”
Ryan walked over with his umbrella, a sneer on his face. He was no longer hiding his true self.
“Think well before you decide, if you would like to continue as my father-in-law or as my enemy.”
Sean’s gaze sharpened sternly. “You’re not my son-in-law! I only have one, and his name is Kendrick Waldburg!”
Niamh watched the moment anger started to swirl in Ryan’s eyes.
She quickly ran to hold Sean’s shoulder and pleaded, “Dad, no, it’s fine. Don’t talk anymore.”
Understanding Niamh’s unease, Sean pulled her into his chest by her shoulder. “It’s okay, Eveline, Dad’s here. I never really protected you before, but I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
Niamh’s body was cold, but for that short moment, warmth filled her chest.
Taking in Ryan’s dark gaze again, the sense of danger crept back into her mind.
“What a great father.” Ryan sighed, his tone more ironic than in admiration. “If that’s the case, then allow me to make your wish come true.”
Ryan then glanced at the two bodyguards who immediately came over. They held Sean by his shoulders as they pulled him away from Niamh.
“What are you doing? Let go!” Sean struggled against their hold, but he was injured and did not have enough strength to fight them back now.
“Dad!” Niamh cried out nervously and tried to push the two bodyguards away only for Ryan to grab her shoulder. “Let go, Ryan! Tell your men to let go of my dad!”
Ryan scoffed, his dark and threatening voice drifting past Niamh’s ear. “All who defy will not end prettily. If he doesn’t want to be my father-in-law, then I have no other choice but to send him off to heaven.”
Niamh’s expression paled. Watching a bodyguard aim a gun at Sean’s temple, the world around her turned black.
It dawned on Niamh at that moment that Ryan was a devil and there was nothing he would not do.
“No! Ryan, don’t!” She begged with a sob, grabbing the man’s sleeves. “I promise that I won’t let my dad do anything against your wishes anymore, Ryan! Tell your men to stop! Dad!”
Sean’s chest tightened when he heard Niamh’s heartbreaking pleas.
“Don’t cry, Eveline. Dad will be alright.” He comforted her, his gaze exceptionally calm. “I refuse to believe that this man can really do whatever he wants!”
Sean glared fearlessly at Ryan.
“Stop talking, Dad. There’s nothing below him, he really will…” Niamh shook her head furiously as if her life depended on it. Fear filled her heart as she looked back at the sinister man with red eyes.
“Let my dad go, Ryan. I promise that I’ll persuade him to stop going against your wishes! You won’t have anything to control me with if something happens to my parents, Ryan!”
Niamh begged the man frantically and ended up threatening the man instead.
Ryan seemed to sway at the sight of tears and the rain mingling and falling off Niamh’s face.
“I can let him go if that’s what my wife wishes. However, he must learn to remember who he is and so do you. Try and become my enemy and the only ones who will suffer are all of you.”
Niamh then heard a bang, followed by Sean grunting in pain.
Niamh’s heart lurched as she snapped her head over to take a look!
Sean suffered a bullet to the leg and blood had begun to dye his pants red. The puddle of rain under his feet was turning red as well.
“Dad!”
Niamh felt a sword pierce her heart as she stared at Sean who had fallen to the ground, under the rain and barely conscious. Tears began to fall freely.
She summoned all her strength to pull herself out of Ryan’s grip, but her strength was no match for his.
“This is the price for trying to escape, Eveline.”
Ryan warned next to Niamh’s ear before he let go.
Free, Niamh dashed toward Sean. The rain had made the road slippery and Niamh ended up slipping and falling heavily onto the ground.
Multiple small cuts bloomed on her palms, but her priority was on Sean. Pushing herself back up through the pain, she ran toward her father and kneeled on the ground as she pulled him to her arms.
“Dad! Dad!”
Niamh’s heart twisted in pain as she watched Sean slowly fall unconscious.
“Dad!”
“Ev-Eveline…” Sean mustered his last bit of strength and reached out to grab Niamh’s hand. “Don’t be afraid, child. Mom and Dad don’t need anything. We just want you to be safe. Run, Eveline, run as far as you can from this devil…”
Niamh clutched Sean closer to her as tears began to fall from her eyes again. “Dad…”
Sean tightened his grip on Niamh’s hand and spat out one last word. “Run…”
Niamh’s nerves were pulled taut at the sight of Sean fainting before her eyes.
“Dad! Dad!” she called out repeatedly, but Sean did not respond.
The two bodyguards immediately walked over to pull Sean out of Niamh’s grasp forcefully.
“What are you doing? Let my dad go!” Niamh tried to stand and stop them but realized that she did not even have the strength to stand at all.
“They’ll send your father to the hospital. Unless you want your wonderful dad to die here in the rain?” Ryan walked over to stand in front of Niamh.
Niamh was stunned, her irises dyed red by the bloodstain in her blurred vision.
Ryan slowly squatted to look at Niamh who was crying her eyes out and reached over to brush away the wisps of hair drenched by the rain with his fingers. “Relax. I won’t let your parents die. After all, you’ve just reminded me that they’re the best tools I can use to control you.”
Tools.
He saw two living people as tools.
Niamh remained silent, and Ryan placed his palm gently over Niamh’s head. “I prefer women who listen to me.”
His reminder served more like a warning.
Niamh remained quiet, sitting blankly on the wet asphalt.
Staring at the pool of blood, her chest felt empty. Ryan’s cruelty had long surpassed what she could possibly imagine.
He was not beneath creating a car accident or shooting Sean to force her to listen to him. She could not imagine what heartless things the man would do next.
In a private hospital.
Dripping wet, Niamh sat on the bench in the corridor and waited for the results on Eloise and Sean’s condition.
Ryan walked over and placed a jacket over her shoulders. Feeling the man’s warmth and taking in the scent on Ryan’s body, Niamh shivered subconsciously.
Ryan was surprised and satisfied with Niamh’s reaction.
She was starting to be wary of him. Her fear would aid in his plan.
“Your parents will be fine. You, however, will be down with a cold and fever if you keep sitting here,” Ryan chided her gently.
“Will they really be fine?” Niamh asked in disbelief with a tone of caution.
Ryan pursed his lips into a slight smile. “They will be as long as you listen. I promise.”
Niamh clenched her fists and unfurled them.
“Go back with me.” Ryan’s tone was much gentler now.
Knowing that declining was not an option, she glanced at the emergency room and stood up.
Ryan wrapped an arm intimately around Niamh’s shoulders.
There was no doubt to the passersby that they were a couple.
However, no one seemed to realize that Niamh’s eyes were filled with fear and unease.
Once they returned, Niamh felt unsettled the moment she entered the room.
Looking around the room, she had no idea where Ryan placed the camera and how many of them there were.
Niamh dared not imagine how her every move and every word were under Ryan’s surveillance.
She did not dare change her clothes, opting instead to stand drenched and despondent by herself in the corner.
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.