Chapter 5

Ignoring Yasmine, Lena pulled a horse out from the stable and tied Yasmine behind it.

"Lena! Are you out of your mind? Let me go! Shane won't let you get away with this!"

"Or really?" Lena swung herself onto the saddle and stared down coldly at the disheveled Yasmine on the ground. "Then let's see how he plans to stop me!"

She slammed her heels into the horse's flanks and snapped, "Giddyup!"

Stung by the sharp blow, the horse let out a loud whinny and bolted forward.

"Ah!" Yasmine let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Bound by the rope, she was dragged across the rough dirt and gravel of the riding ground. Sand and sharp stones tore through her skin, leaving raw, bloody streaks across her body.

"Help! Stop! I'm sorry! Lena, I was wrong! Please stop! Please spare me! Ah!"

Driven to utter terror and excruciating agony, Yasmine finally broke down and begged for mercy.

As Lena listened to her screams and desperate pleas for mercy, the violent rage inside her chest didn't subside even a fraction.

Her hatred over Eliza's destroyed necklace, the agony of having her baby forcibly ripped away, and the relentless humiliation and heartbreak of the past few days exploded into an unstoppable thirst for revenge.

Instead of pulling back, she goaded the horse to run even faster.

Just then, a furious, panic-stricken voice boomed from the entrance of the riding ground. "Lena! Stop!"

Shane galloped over on another horse and grabbed the reins with all his might to pull the whinnying horse to a sudden halt.

He leapt down and immediately rushed to check on Yasmine.

Covered in injuries, Yasmine burst into tears the moment she saw Shane and threw herself into his arms.

"Shane… It hurts so much… Ms. Chapman… tried to kill me…"

Holding her, Shane raised his head to glare at Lena. His gaze was cold enough to freeze someone dead. "What the hell is this?"

Lena dismounted and stood tall right in front of him. As she spoke, she pronounced every single word with deadly focus: "She broke my mom's necklace."

"I didn't!" Yasmine sobbed. "Ms. Chapman came to ask for the necklace, and I was going to give it back to her. My hand just slipped, and it broke by accident. I apologized, but she refused to accept it. She cursed at me and bound me behind a horse…"

Shane turned to Lena. "Is that true?"

Staring back at him, Lena suddenly found the situation hilariously absurd.

"If I say no, will you actually believe me?"

Shane frowned.

"See?" Lena laughed bitterly. "You already have your answer. Why bother asking me?"

"Lena Chapman!" Shane's voice snapped with mounting anger. "Have you lost your mind? Yasmine is—"

"What about her?" Lena cut him off. "She's hurt, so your heart is breaking for her? What about me? Shane, when my baby died, did your heart ache for me even once?"

Shane was visibly shaken by the sheer despair in her eyes, but his expression quickly relapsed into icy coldness.

"You're still throwing a fit over that baby? Lena, there's no love between us, and you've always loved your freedom. Why are you so devastated over a lost baby? Wrecking my cars wasn't enough, and now you have to go out of your way to target Yasmine?"

Every single word felt like a blade, slicing Lena's heart into bloody ribbons.

Looking at Shane, she suddenly wanted to laugh out loud.

She wanted to laugh at her own stupidity and at how naive she'd been to believe that he might care about her, even just a little.

"Shane, I didn't love you?" She heard her own voice, raspy and raw. "You'd have to be blind not to see that I—"

Before she could finish speaking, Yasmine let out a sharp cry of pain. "Shane… It hurts so bad…"

Shane immediately looked down at her. His tone was laced with anxiety as he asked, "Where does it hurt? I'll take you to the hospital right now."

Without casting another glance at Lena, he scooped Yasmine up into his arms and turned to stride out of the riding ground.

After a few steps, he threw back a cold sentence without turning around. "Lena, you had better give me a proper explanation for this!"

An explanation?

Watching their receding figures, Lena suddenly started laughing until tears streamed down her face.

Riding the horse, she slowly trotted back to the entrance, dismounted, and untied the rope.

The wounds on her hands and feet burst open again from the strain, dripping blood onto the sand.

She drove herself back home while holding tightly onto the velvet box containing the shattered necklace.

Over the next few days, she visited every famous jewelry repair shop in Jerandale, but everyone shook their heads, telling her it was virtually impossible to restore.

She couldn't save Eliza's necklace.

Devastated and feeling hollow, she returned home, carefully placed the broken pieces in a wooden box, and locked it away in the deepest drawer of her desk.

As if by doing so, she could lock away the agonizing regret and pain that could never be mended.

Just then, her phone rang.

It was from Cody Hampton, the butler at the seaside villa Eliza had left her.

"Ms. Chapman! You need to come to the villa right away! Mr. Steele brought a bunch of people over with heavy machinery, saying they're going to… demolish the house!"