Chapter 11

Finally, in front of Ryder, I coughed up a mouthful of blood!

I wiped the blood away with the back of my hand, my eyes as fierce and hateful as a ghost's, my blood-stained fingertip pointing at Ryder's face.

"You knew, didn't you? You deliberately encouraged me to eat the meat, didn't you?"

"Ryder, you're not human! You knew I treated Little Sun like my child; it *was* my child!"

My voice was raw with anguish.

"If you ever have your own child, would you kill it and eat its flesh?!"

The words were barely out when I vomited another mouthful of blood!

Ryder clearly hadn't expected me to be so traumatized that I'd vomit blood!

The calm in his eyes finally shattered, giving way to a storm of horror!

Valerie, from behind, added a chilling blow.

"Ryder didn't just know? If Ryder hadn't helped, the chef wouldn't have even caught that animal. It's too smart. After I kicked it yesterday, it knew to avoid me today. It was Ryder who showed up and lured your Little Sun out..."

I felt pain all over my body.

It spread from my stomach.

My hateful gaze fixed on Ryder.

The next moment, I grabbed a plate and smashed it directly onto Valerie's head!

Ryder would have been my next target.

But the Deer Park Estate maids reacted quickly.

After I had smashed a plate on Valerie's head, drawing blood, they immediately rushed forward, shouting to protect "Madam," and a group of them pinned me down.

I was dragged away.

The last thing I saw was Ryder holding Valerie in his arms, his eyes filled with a lingering fear for Valerie, turned cold and complex as they landed on me.

Ryder gritted his teeth, pointed at me, and ordered everyone.

"Lock this madwoman in the basement! No one is to let her out without my permission!"

As I was being thrown into the basement, I saw Ryder embracing Valerie, as if he wanted to meld her into his very bones.

My lips were still stained with blood, and I let out a laugh, biting back my tears.

The love and affection between Young Master Sterling and Valerie that I'd seen in photos and heard about from others paled in comparison to witnessing it firsthand.

Through the crack in the door, I watched Ryder embrace Valerie and get into the car.

He protected her so carefully.

I thought I would truly be locked in the basement.

But not long after Ryder left with Valerie, an ambulance from the Sterling family's top private hospital arrived and took me away.

Next came a full body check-up.

I was certain Ryder had instructed these people beforehand; not a single person spoke in front of me during the examination.

I asked a nurse to borrow her phone to contact Liam.

But the nurse just shook her head frantically, clutching the phone in her pocket, saying,

"Madam, please don't make it hard for me," as if I was asking for her life.

Hearing the word "Madam," I remembered how Ryder used to arrange two medical check-ups for me every year.

And when filling out the registration forms, he always put "Ryder Sterling" in the spouse column.

Thinking of this, my eyes ached so much they could barely stay open.

What was once sweet, little tricks couples played to amuse each other, had all become knives flaying my heart.

I never got the check-up results.

After two full days of examinations, I was seamlessly transferred to a five-star hotel under the Sterling family.

An executive suite.

It was my favorite room, overlooking half of Veridian City's magnificent cityscape.

But what I loved most was the floor-to-ceiling window.

Over the past seven years, Ryder and I had spent countless passionate nights there, night after night.

I looked at the glass, imagining my palm prints still lingered there, along with the marks we'd left behind.

Ryder's butler, who had been with him since he was a toddler, was the one who personally brought me to the hotel.

As expected, the phone line had been cut.

But on the bedside table, I saw a calendar.

The one from Sterling Deer Park Estate.

Only twenty pages left.