Chapter 4 Attempted Murder

Every ounce of sanity he had left was gone, and only fear was etched on his face. "How dare you, Melissa!" He glowered at me, his teeth clenched.

That was the first time I saw him looking so enraged. He did not even give me a chance to explain. He only told his bodyguards to drag me over to Lily's place.

Lily's house was a mess. The photos of her and Anthony had been smashed, their frames scattered across the floor. Lily lay on the bed, her face frighteningly pale, as if every bit of life had been drained from her.

Anthony lost all strength in his legs, and he nearly had to crawl on all fours just to approach her. He held her hand tightly. With a trembling voice, he said, "It's me, Lily. I'm calling off the marriage. I'm not taking that license. Please, open your eyes. Look at me."

The half-finished bottle of sleeping pills lay beside Lily's hand, and a suicide note written in blood sat beside that bottle. She blamed it all on me and filled the note with accusations that targeted me.

Anthony's eyes nearly went ablaze with rage. He strode forward and gripped my throat tightly. Like a maniac, he demanded, "Why did you do that? I already agreed to the marriage. Why did you force Lily to take her own life? What did she do?"

The hatred in his eyes stabbed me clean through my chest. It turned out this man had never trusted me.

"I never made her take her life, nor did I want to marry you. I just want to take back the ring my father gave you," I answered stiffly. However, no matter what explanation I could come up with, he did not believe me.

A loud crack tore through the air. Everything around me went black for a moment, and agony spread across my body. He had slapped me with all his might.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he yanked the ring off his finger. Then he let it fall out of his hand. It smashed against the ground and shattered into little pieces. And just like that, the last piece of my father was gone.

He looked at the pieces and sneered. "It's a cheap ring. Pick it up yourself."

I stared at the broken ring as I shivered.

"I never wanted your parents to save me! If I had known this contract would've tied me down so long, I'd rather die in that tsunami! They only died because they weren't lucky enough to get out! Why should I bear the consequences of their actions?"

Every single syllable was filled with hatred. He was venting the resentment that had been bubbling for ten years. It turned out Lily's apparent suicide had robbed him of any capacity to think rationally.

The look in his eyes grew colder with every passing moment, and he picked up the bottle of sleeping pills.

He gave his bodyguards a look, and they broke my legs, making sure I could not move.

"Are you mad, Anthony?"

Anthony grabbed my chin and force-fed me the remaining sleeping pills. The pills nearly cut my windpipes open, and the pain nearly took away my ability to breathe.

"If anything happens to her, I'm coming after you. She must've suffered, taking those pills. Now you'll share her pain."

I tried to spit the pills out, but his bodyguards throttled me. Before long, I was suffocating and wheezing.

As my consciousness faded away, he looked at me. "I'll make sure my mother cancels this marriage. I should've gone with Lily. I made a mistake."

Tears slid down my cheek and hit the ground. They left me behind, convulsing on the ground. I was close to losing consciousness very soon.

Anthony regretted his choice. Fortunately, I had made mine.