“Not too good.”
John frowned. “We searched the entire place but couldn’t find anything. Just now, someone found the entrance to the basement, but we couldn’t find anything down there either. But…”
He let out an exhale and said nervously, “We all smelt the stench of blood. Perhaps it’s coming from the basement directly across, but the two places don’t connect to each other, so we’re going over right now to investigate…”
John’s voice started to tremble as he added, “I’m hoping the smell is just my hallucination, and that Anne is safe and sound.”
Bethan felt as though her blood had run cold. She bit her lip and could not help starting to tremble as well. “Alright… Please be careful, and call me immediately if you find anything.”
“I will.”
John’s voice was just as shaky as hers. “I know.”
With that, he hung up the phone and followed the cops through the basement entrance.
The thick stench of blood immediately enveloped them as soon as they entered the door, and John’s chest tightened at this. He lowered his head and swung the torchlight beam, then realized the entire floor was covered in bright red blood.
He furrowed his brow and immediately started searching frantically.
Finally, in a small room at the end of the hallway, they found a limp, almost lifeless Anne with a knife stuck in her abdomen.
The blood on the floor was hers.
Her entire face was pale, and she was barely catching her breath. When she saw John coming, she widened her eyes in surprise and reached out toward him feebly. “John…”‘
“Anne!”
John’s ears started to ring when he saw this. He stormed toward her and picked her up in his arms, not caring about the fact she was covered in blood. “Anne!”
“John…”
Anne reached out to gently stroke his face and said in fragments, “I thought…I’d never see you again… I’m so glad…I got to see you one last time… It’s too bad…”
She let out a bitter chuckle. “I can’t hold on any longer… I’m afraid…I can’t be with you and Sammie anymore…
“After I die…you should remarry a good woman…and start your life afresh… Find someone who’ll be good to Sammie… Do you hear me?”
“What on earth are you talking about, Anne…”
John started sobbing as he took off his coat and wrapped it around Anne’s frail body. “Anne, please hold on just a little longer. I’ll send you to the hospital right now! we still have the rest of our lives ahead of us, and Sammie is still so young, you can’t…”
His voice choked. “You can’t just leave us! Anne, please hold on…”
John picked her up from the ground and sprinted out of the basement like a madman, straight towards the police car parked outside.
Due to the fact they were in a police car, no one dared to stay in their way, and the entire journey from Orchard Manor was smooth sailing.
John carefully pulled Anne close to him and pressed kisses onto her pale face. “You’re going to get through this, I’m sure of that. You’re going to get through this like a champ. Anne, Sammie and I can’t live without you, we can’t…”
He wiped frantically at his own tears as he said this.
Ever since he met Anne, the two of them had sailed through life easily, without any hardships or challenges, and he thought they would continue to live the rest of their lives smoothly, but
“John…”
Anne reached out to clutch her bleeding wound. “I’m in so much pain…”
She lifted her head to stare at him with her misty eyes, her gaze beginning to grow foggy from the amount of blood she had lost. “John, I don’t think I can survive this… After I die, you have to start your new life afresh with Sammie…but most importantly, you…”
She paused for a moment, then finally said, “You shouldn’t blame Bethan for this. Please don’t take out your anger on Bethan and Brettley for this… None of them wished for this to happen. I’m sure that if they had a choice, they…they wouldn’t have wanted this to happen…
“This is all an accident, and no one ever saw this coming…so please don’t blame them, okay?”
John finally could not stop his tears from falling any longer. His beloved Anne was so kind and caring that even at a time like this, all she wanted was for him not to blame Bethan!
However, if it were not for Bethan, Anne would probably be home right now, playing with Sammie happily!
It was because of Bethan and Brettley’s sudden return, and Bethan’s insistence on heading out, that Anne had ended up like this!
Did Brettley and Bethan not know how many people were eyeing them? Why didn’t they keep an eye on things and protect his precious Anne better?
At this thought, John bit his lip and clutched Anne’s hand tightly. “Anne, if you die, I will never forgive Bethan and Brettley, never!”
The hatred in John’s eyes made the color drain from Anne’s face. She bit her lip and tried to prop herself up, but in doing so, the wound on her abdomen gaped open, and blood started spilling out again!
When he felt the blood staining his shirt, John furrowed his brows and pulled her close to him.
“What are you doing, Anne?”
“Please don’t blame them, John…” she forced out a smile. “They didn’t mean for this to happen, nor did I… The people who should pay for this is the one who hurt me, not my friends
With that, she closed her eyes.
Vanessa had just sent Willow away when Bethan’s phone rang. Both of them sat on the chair and prayed that Anne was alright while looking in the direction where Willow left.
It was John calling Bethan’s phone.
“Is everything alright?”
Once the call connected, Bethan anxiously asked, “Did you find Anne?” “Yes.”
John’s voice sounded…cold on the other end of the line. “Anne is dead.”
Bethan’s blood froze upon hearing this information. She grasped the phone so tightly that her hand shivered. Tears poured out of her eyes, and her voice quivered as she said, “John, is…this some kind of joke?”
“Do you think I’d make such a joke with you?” snarled John. “When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor said Anne had lost too much blood and that we were too late. There was no use saving her anymore.
“Remember this, Bethan: Anne’s death is on you.”
If Bethan and Brettley did not choose to return, and if Bethan did not insist on going shopping…
If Bethan was not curious about what Jacqueline and James talked about…
None of this would have happened.
He looked at his wife’s cold dead body, and all there was in his mind was hatred. He hated Bethan, Brettley, Jacqueline, and Willow.
He also hated Vanessa. He hated everyone involved in Anne’s death.
Sammie, their daughter, had just turned one. They should have been living for a wonderful future ahead of them!
Everything changed. The simple happy life he looked forward to was gone.
A few days ago, Anne mentioned Sammie could start going to kindergarten a year later, and she would open a small plastic surgery hospital again to help all the girls who had their faces ruined or those unhappy with their looks.
She even asked him if he would support her should her plastic surgery hospital fail to maintain its income.
At that time, John smiled and cuddled with her while he kissed her forehead. He told her that he would support her in anything she wanted to do.
“Oh, John, you’re so kind. I knew I married the right person!”
That particular night, she placed herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. “I never envied Bethan and Bonnie. Although people would think their husbands are richer and better than you, Bethan and Bonnie had suffered for them.
“You’re different, though. Since the first day we were together, you never let me feel bad other than the time we fought because of Bethan’s pregnancy test kit. In my eyes, you’re the best person in this world.”
Her words had deeply touched John’s heart. At that time, he swore to himself that he would treat Anne wholeheartedly and take good care of her for the rest of her life.
Alas, their wonderful life abruptly ended when Bethan and Brettley returned to Banyan City.
John took a deep breath and held back the tears in his eyes. “I will never forgive you.”
He hung up the phone and bent down to hold Anne’s dead body tightly in his arms.
She told him that he was the best man on earth–a man who never hurt her or allowed her to be upset.
A man who was always by her side to protect her.
In truth, he was an irresponsible husband. When her life reached its end, there was nothing he could do for her. He could only look on and watch her die.
“Anne…”
John embraced his wife’s cold dead body while tears scrolled down his face. “I’m sorry…”
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.