Chapter 8

James had been too preoccupied with Lisa that he never noticed.

Only now did he see that three years of work had been destroyed!

Every sense of hesitation and guilt he had just felt was immediately replaced by rage.

He was suddenly reminded of the countless nights he had waited for her to come back, and each plane ticket had been a symbol of that wish and granted him the strength to keep waiting.

But now, Lisa reduced all of it to ashes like they were trash!

"Did you do it?" James asked flatly, but there was no longer an ounce of rationality in his mind as his murderous intent spilled out.

"Yes," Lisa replied, always the type to own up.

"Why?" James pressed.

"Why, you ask?"

Lisa snorted, suddenly laughing when she saw James looking like he was heartbroken. "How two-faced can you be? But who do you think you can fool? Even if you can deceive yourself, do you think I'm blind?! If all love is lost, why bother keeping this? Just to provoke me?!"

Hot tears welled up in her eyes, and she bit down on every word as she snarled, "You! Disgust! Me!"

"Enough!!!" James bellowed as he smashed a chair against the glass shelf, his chest heaving, and he glared at Lisa while the glass shattered audibly. "I've spoiled you too much! You want to know what disgust is?! The basement rats will teach you just that!!!"

With just a wave of his hand, his maids charged up and started dragging Lisa down to the basement.

"You have no right! Let go of me!" Lisa struggled even as she screamed in disbelief, but James coolly turned his back on her.

At the same time, the maids were dragging her forcefully, with the head maid Mary even snapping Lisa and growling under her breath, "Stop it! Ms. Childe is the lady of this house, not you!"

One of them then took out a pink pill and shoved it down Lisa's throat without warning.

"Bleurgh!" Lisa hacked violently as she tried to spit it out, her ears still ringing from the slap. "What did you just feed me?!"

"The good stuff, courtesy of Ms. Childe!" the maid laughed, pulling her hair and kicking her. "Swallow it now!"

Soon, they threw Lisa inside the basement and shut the door with a bang.

The darkness was suffocating as there wasn't even a glimpse of moonlight, and there were audible rustles as rats and insects scuttled everywhere.

However, Lisa didn't even have time to be scared.

She was panting as red hives were rapidly appearing over her skin, and she was rolling around from the maddening itch, all while she was losing her ability to breathe.

"James…" she gasped as she managed to take out her phone, her back covered with sweat.

She only heard static beeping, and when James finally answered, he immediately snapped coolly, "Apologize to Tina, or I'm never letting you out."

"Tina poisoned me…" she gasped, her lips trembling as she lay prone.

"Stop slandering her," he said flatly in reply, clearly not buying it.

Even before he hung up, Lisa could hear Tina purring on the other end, "There, Mr. Sachs—I'm naked. Come put the ointment on me already…"

Beep.

The phone slipped out of Lisa's fingers.

Before she passed out, she remembered the moment when James held her tightly in his arms, tenderly whispering to her.

She had accidentally cut her finger with a fruit knife, but he acted like it hurt him more than it did her, his fingers trembling as he tried to apply medicine.

"I'm so sorry…" he rasped then. "I won't let you get hurt anymore."

Now, she could only close her eyes, and a teardrop quietly trickled down the corner of her eye…