Chapter 8

I raised my head, my eyes completely red with rage. As I watched William pull Elaine into his arms, I let out a chortle.

"William Blackburn, you've betrayed me!"

William's expression was cold. He cast me a furious glare in return.

"Regardless of what Elaine did, you shouldn't have beaten her up!"

Strangely enough, I turned calm and collected. My tone turned frosty as well.

"She broke my mother's bangle. That was my mother's personal belonging."

But William just scoffed coldly in return. He chastised me disdainfully, "Your mother's already dead, so what's the use of keeping her bangle? From the way I see it, your mother was a woman with no manners. Clearly, she didn't do a good job in raising you."

His words cut me deeply.

I burst into tears on the spot. In fact, I bawled like a lunatic.

"You're right. My mom died a long time ago. No one was there to raise me properly, so I deserve to get bullied. Is that it?"

William was momentarily taken aback by my cries. For a moment, he looked conflicted.

At that moment, the aggrieved Elaine began crying while whining to William, "Oh god… William, my scalp is bleeding! Daphne yanked my hair off my head earlier! And my face… my face is injured! Oh my god, am I going to be disfigured?"

Her entire face was swollen and completely covered in bruises. I was able to yank some of her hair off her head, which injured her scalp. Right now, she was still bleeding from her scalp.

William's heart ached for Elaine instantly. He said comfortingly, "Everything's going to be alright. I'll take you to the hospital and get you treated."

Then, he glared at the household staff angrily, who were all watching from the doorway. He ordered tersely, "Lock Daphne up in the basement. Have her reflect on her behavior for a few days in there."

I could only stare at William in shock and disbelief.

As I watched him whisk Elaine away, what was left of my feelings for him finally disappeared. Soon, I was taken away by the household staff as well.

There was nothing but pitch-black darkness in the basement. I didn't have my phone with me, so I couldn't contact anyone. It was so silent that I could even hear the air humming in my ears.

Honestly speaking, I was afraid of the dark. No—I was terrified of it.

Whenever I was about to fall asleep, rats would come out of nowhere and bite me. Even the meals I was given had gone bad. I couldn't even stomach them at all.

I had no idea how long the household staff had kept me locked up in the basement. But my imprisonment was a long and arduous one, to say the least.

On the day I was finally released from the basement, the household staff gave me a good beating. One of them told me arrogantly, "This is your punishment for offending our future missus. You'd better remember this lesson for the rest of your life!"

I knew that the so-called missus was Elaine. Of course, William allowed her to bully me as much as she wanted.

Truthfully speaking, I refused to believe that William would treat me like this. But the pain and agony I had gone through the past few days kept reminding me how cruel he actually was.

I was beaten up to the point that I couldn't even move an inch. Blood kept gushing out from beneath me.

Having finally realized that I was in a dire condition, the household staff quickly sent me to the hospital. After a quick check-up, the doctor announced that I had gone through a miscarriage due to my abdomen suffering from heavy blows.

Just like that, I lost my baby…

Heart-wrenching pain flooded my senses immediately. I broke down in hysteric tears on the spot.

The next few days were like living hell to me. I was stuck in a cycle of sorrow and guilt. At one point, I even attempted to jump off the building and end my miserable existence. If it wasn't for a patient who happened to walk past me and managed to stop me by hugging me from behind, I'd most likely have died.

Once I finally regained my rationality, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

William never loved me, to begin with. What could I have done with my pregnancy? Would I have given birth to the baby?

Well, the baby was better off without me. At least it wouldn't grow up in an incomplete family. Besides, I was about to get married soon. I couldn't do that while pregnant, could I?

During this period, William never bothered showing up. Some time later, I found out from the household staff that he had taken Elaine on another relaxing vacation.

Also, the household staff kept purposefully bringing up how nice William was to Elaine.

I knew that Elaine had ordered the household staff to hurt me repeatedly with their words. It was true that I'd felt sad, but after losing my baby, all the pain seemed to have vanished from my life.

It seemed that I no longer loved William anymore. After all, I'd never place my hopes in a man who had disappointed me this many times.