Chapter 3

Ariel looked at me, her eyes pooling with tears. "Caleb, the wedding is still on. We'll just tell everyone I was treating Patrick for a medical emergency. That way, our family's reputation will remain intact."

I caught Patrick flashing me a smug grin. Then, I looked back at the glaring smear of red on Ariel's wedding dress, and my eyes stung with tears.

"And what if I refuse?"

Fury instantly flashed across Ariel's face. "If you refuse, don't blame me for being heartless when I throw your mom out of the hospital!"

Looking at this woman who now felt like a complete stranger, I couldn't help but ask, "I have never done anything to hurt you. Why are you doing this to me?"

Ariel's voice turned ice-cold. "You haven't done anything to hurt me, but you ruined Patrick."

I froze.

She let out a sneer. "You pretended to be his best friend while systematically stealing 99 of his girlfriends. You even coached them on bedroom positions and filmed them. Don't you find yourself absolutely disgusting?"

She glared at me, her eyes filled with nothing but pure revulsion. "I'm a clean freak. I can't stomach what you did. But because I love you, I will still marry you. I just won't sleep with you."

My entire body went numb.

"Patrick will take care of my physical needs. He's a virgin. He's clean. I'm going to have his children too. Consider it paying off your debt to him. You can be the kids' second dad, which is honestly more than you deserve."

Patrick's eyes welled with tears as he chimed in, adding fuel to the fire, "Caleb, I don't blame you. But you shouldn't have blasted those videos at my wedding. The shock gave my dad a brain hemorrhage. He almost died on the operating table."

My mind reeled.

He was the one who stole my girlfriends. He was the one who gave Mom a stroke.

Seething with rage, I lunged forward, but Ariel shoved me back forcefully and shielded Patrick. "Enough! Even now, you're still trying to bully him?"

I shook uncontrollably, tears slamming onto the floor. "I didn't do it! I never did any of that! Ariel, he's the one who did all of it!"

She slapped me hard across the face. "You still won't admit it? Caleb, I never realized you could be so utterly shameless!"

She turned and shouted to the guards, "Take him to our hospital and lock him in the decontamination room! Sanitize him thoroughly! God knows what kind of disgusting diseases he's carrying!"

…

Once in the hospital, the guards threw me inside the decontamination room and locked the door from the outside.

The overhead nozzles blasted open, drenching me from head to toe in a pungent chemical solution.

I couldn't open my eyes or breathe. My lungs felt like they were on fire.

"Let me out!"

No one answered.

The chemical mist grew thicker and more suffocating. I collapsed onto the floor, and my consciousness started to slip away.

I didn't know how much time passed, but just as I was on the verge of suffocating, the door finally swung open.

Ariel froze, momentarily taken aback by the sight of me curled up on the floor. A flicker of panic crossed her eyes.

But that panic was quickly swallowed by disgust.

She stood over me, looking down at me with utter contempt. "Caleb, I knew you were sick, but I didn't know you were evil. You actually hired someone to run his father over just to get back at Patrick? Since that's the case, let's do an eye for an eye."

I snapped my head up, my mind spinning with confusion. "I didn't! I've been locked in here the entire time! I didn't do anything!"

Ignoring me entirely, she gave a slight nod to the guards. "Bring her in."

My eyes went wide as two men wheeled in my critically ill mother.

"Ariel! What the hell are you doing?"

I struggled to claw my way up, but the guards pinned me back down with brutal force.

"I told you. An eye for an eye."

She pointed toward the industrial meat grinder sitting at the far end of the hallway.

"No!"

I thrashed like a madman, trying to break free, but the two guards slammed me hard against the ground.

My face was pressed against the ice-cold tiles. I watched in absolute horror as they began pushing the hospital bed toward the machine.

"Ariel! I beg you! Please, I'm begging you! I'll get down on my knees! I'll do whatever you want! Kill me instead! Just kill me!"

She stood nearby, watching coldly. "Did you think about the consequences when you hired that hit on Patrick's dad?"

Patrick shrank into her arms, whimpering and wiping away fake tears. "Caleb, you're truly a monster. It wasn't enough that you put my dad in the hospital, but you actually hired a hit on him?"

Feeling for him, Ariel held him close and waved her hand.

They lifted Mom up toward the mouth of the grinder.

I closed my eyes in utter despair.

Right then, a commanding voice echoed down the hall. "Stop right there! No one touches my grandson!"

Before the words even faded, dozens of armed soldiers swarmed the corridor, locking the entire place down.