Damian froze. The phone slipped from his numb fingers and clattered to the floor.
When he came to his senses, he gritted his teeth and gave an order to his men: “Watch Sienna. Don’t let her out of your sight, but don’t let her know she’s being watched.”
The surgeon emerged from the operating room again.
Damian looked at him, his entire being suffused with a desperate hope.
The surgeon slowly shook his head. “We were too late.”
Damian stumbled, his legs threatening to give out.
This time, the surgeon handed him a transparent, sealed bag. “This was in the patient’s heart. We removed it, according to her last wishes. She said it was very important to you.”
Damian recognized it instantly.
It was… the other half of the blade.
Damian’s voice trembled. “How… how did you know her last wishes?”
The patient… she left a letter. It was sewn into the lining of her shirt.”
A blood-stained letter was passed to Damian. The first line read:
【Hey there, whoever’s reading this. There’s something really important in my heart. You have to get it out. It’
s for a certain Mr. Ashford, and for my friend, Lily. I don’t think I’ll be able to give my testimony in person, so.. here’s what happened that night…]
Damian kept the entire investigation a secret from Sienna.
The police immediately matched the blade fragment to the broken knife. Following the details in Elara’s lett-
er, they returned to the crime scene and, sure enough, found more corroborating evidence.
Rick was apprehended at the airport. All the while, Sienna, under the constant, covert surveillance of Dami-
an’s men, knew nothing.
Damian sat on a bench at the police station. People came and went, a blur of motion and sound, but he heard nothing. The only words in his head were the doctor’s:
‘The patient had no good options. Removing the blade was a suicide mission. Not removing it meant she might live, but with the constant threat of instant death.”
Damian finally understood why Elara had changed overnight.
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The evidence was complete. Her handwritten letter was the
he wanted.
But he felt no triumph. No relief. Only a hollow, crushing emptiness.
He went to the villa he had prepared for Sienna.
She was so oblivious, so confident in her deception, that she didn’t even know he was outside the door. She certainly didn’t know that the person she was currently texting was Damian, using her brother’s phone.
When her brother didn’t reply, she started sending voice messages.
‘It’s good you’re settled abroad. Everything is going smoothly here. That little stunt with the miscarriage nearly drove Damian mad. And now, just like we planned, he’s finally pushed Elara to her death. Don’t worry, 10 one will ever expose you now. Just wait for me to bleed Damian dry, get us a nice little nest egg, and I’ll come join you.”
The phone in Damian’s hand trembled. The miscarriage… was a stunt. Sienna and Rick… were siblings. The one with a connection to Rick was Sienna. It was never his wife.
What have I done?
He opened the door.
Sienna, mid-sentence, froze. The smile on her face curdled. When she saw the phone in Damian’s hand, all he color drained from her face.
Soon, Sienna was tied to a chair in the basement, battered and bleeding.
My brother?” she spat, blood dribbling from her lips. “What did you do to my brother?”
SLAP!
Another blow sent tears and blood mixing on her cheeks. Damian loomed over her, pressing his foot onto
er head.
You said my wife hired men to assault you, to make you lose your baby. But now that I think about it… you lidn’t look much like someone who’d just suffered a massive hemorrhage.”
‘anic flared in Sienna’s eyes. “What are you going to do?”
Damian smiled, a chilling, dead thing. He gestured to the door, where a dozen men now stood.
If you’re going to put on a show, you have to commit. A little fake blood is nothing. That private medical eam of yours already sold you out. A fake illness is never as pitiable as a real one, is it? I’ll help you make it
eal.”
Sienna’s eyes bulged with terror. “Damian! This is a crime! If this gets out, you’ll go to prison!”
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