Chapter 4
Seeing that the front door was about to be broken down, Maria, the housekeeper, couldn’t bear it. She urged me to change into her clothes and hat and slip out through the back door.
I hadn’t run far when a few influencers spotted me.
“There’s that scumbag! He’s trying to escape? Quick, grab him! Our live stream is going to go viral!”
The trauma of being caught and tortured by the patient’s family years ago resurfaced, and I ran for my life in terror.
In a panic, I FaceTimed Serena for help. As soon as she picked up, she said:
“Chase, I’m in a meeting. Can we talk later, please?”
Before I could speak, Serena seemed to have accidentally opened her camera.
On the screen, Brandon had his arm around her shoulder. They were leisurely and sweetly shopping at a mall.
Brandon playfully pointed at a high-end luxury brand store in front of them:
“Serena, I love all their wallets and watches, but they’re so expensive. What should I do?”
Serena looked at him adoringly, her voice full of pampering affection:
“Then I’ll buy them all for you, Brandon. Consider it a good luck charm for your competition tomorrow.”
“Oh, stop it, you’re going to spoil me too much! How about… you let me try on that diamond-encrusted one first, okay?”
“As long as Brandon is happy, I’ll do anything.”
The sales associate nearby looked envious:
“Madam truly spoils her husband! They say love makes a man handsome, no wonder your husband is so charming. You two are such a perfect match, truly enviable.”
“If my partner spoiled me even half as much, I’d die happy.”
Serena smiled but said nothing, not denying it.
Instead, she seemed quite pleased that the sales associate referred to Brandon as her husband and immediately gave the employee a ten-thousand-dollar tip.
Brandon playfully rolled his eyes at her:
“Such a spendthrift.”
My steps froze instantly. The words I wanted to say were stuck in my throat, unable to go up or down, leaving only a suffocating pain.
Brandon noticed me on the screen and greeted me with forced enthusiasm:
“Isn’t that Chase? Oh dear, Serena is so bad, she was so busy buying me jewelry, she forgot she was on a video call with you. You’re so generous, you won’t be mad, right?”
He introduced me to the puzzled sales associate:
“This is my best… well, *my* best guy. He’s not just generous, he’s also very special.”
“Most of us have ten fingers, but he only has six, isn’t that unique? If he were here today, you probably wouldn’t earn so much commission, since he doesn’t have that many fingers to pick out things.”
“Chase, you really know how to live frugally, you’re so economical.”
It was then that Serena realized she had accidentally pressed the wrong button. She explained, looking embarrassed:
“Chase, don’t misunderstand. Brandon has a competition tomorrow, and as a friend, I just wanted to get him a gift and cheer him on…”
She was so flustered she didn’t even realize I wasn’t home.
“Right, of course. You two enjoy your shopping, I’ll hang up now.”
“Chase, I really didn’t mean to lie to you! I just… I’ll come home right away and go to the doghouse and beg for forgiveness, okay? Please don’t be mad.”
Serena looked genuinely scared, as if she really would come back.
I played along with her act, smiling:
“I understand. You were just worried I’d get jealous. I get it. Anyway, I can’t talk, my phone’s almost dead. See you tonight.”
I hung up, my heart cold.
Seeing the influencers getting closer, I ducked into an alley, gritting my teeth through the pain in my hand, I strained to push aside a manhole cover and jumped down.
I endured the nauseating stench and the bone-chilling cold, clamping my hand over my mouth to stifle any sound.
They still couldn’t find me, even by late night. They passed the manhole several times, wanting to jump down and look, but the putrid smell of the sewage deterred them. They cursed and eventually left.
It was already early the next morning when I finally managed to crawl out, my fingernails torn back, raw and bloody.
Trembling, I arrived home to find the house trashed.
Seeing my condition, Maria gasped and quickly went to draw a bath for me.
It was then I learned that Serena hadn't come home all night.
By evening, Serena still hadn’t returned.
Local news, however, was broadcasting Brandon’s smooth victory in the ‘Golden Scalpel Competition.’ It also reported that the CEO of Lynch Industries, to win a handsome man’s smile, had spent three hundred million dollars to purchase the world’s only sapphire watch.
She had also booked the most luxurious hotel in A-City for Brandon’s celebratory banquet.
Brandon was now highly sought after. He just needed to wait until tomorrow, when Dr. Evelyn Reed, the world-renowned medical icon, would appear at the awards ceremony to announce him as her sole protégé.