Chapter 9 You’ll Never Leave This Place

The car sank as he slid in to sit beside her. She immediately wiped the blood on the corner of her lip with her hands that were covered in blood that she had coughed up earlier.

The door closed with a slam and the car started to move. She was completely unprepared for it and fell onto the car floor. The sky outside the car windows was gradually brightening. The car drove through the early morning mist. She looked up toward Carson, who was staring down at her at that moment. His cold eyes were filled with hatred as though she was maggot writhing on the ground!

“Where are you taking me?!” She asked. He did not answer, merely looking at her coldly. His thoughts were unfathomable.

The scenery through the car windows behind him shifted unceasingly. His features under the dim yellow glow of the streetlights as the car entered a tunnel made her feel a sense of deja vu.

She recalled the first time she had a cry after being bullied, it seemed like he brought her home with the same method. Back then, he said, “If anyone bullies you in the future, don’t be an idiot, hiding away and crying. Give me a call instead and I’ll stand up for you.”

Yet now, things have changed. The person who was hurting her was him. There was no one to protect her now. They could never return to how it was in the past.

It had started to snow again outside. The heater in the car was switched on. She was drowsy. It had been… a long time since she last experienced this kind of warmth.

The journey continued until they arrived at the Baxter Residence.

He tugged at her arm forcefully as they walked down that familiar path and tossed her viciously into the pitch-black house. With a slam, she fell heavily onto the ground. The wound on her arm, which had just scabbed over, painfully ripped open again. The ground was covered with blood as she attempted to get up.

Boom…!

A flash of lightning tore through the sky amid roaring thunder. The huge flash of lightning lit up his livid face right before her eyes, as well as the room filled with photos of Layla.

Everything from four years ago instantly flooded her mind again. The photo of the woman on the tombstone, those men… and also his cold, scornful eyes. The heavy rain that fell back then seemed to continue until today. In her mind, someone seemed to be screaming hysterically. The noise was deafening.

“Everly!” His angry voice rang out in the chaos. In a whirl, she was pinned against the wall. She could hear the blood pumping through her veins. Her back was cold against the wall as every part of her body ached.

She blinked her eyes furiously. Her throat prickled with a strong feeling of discomfort. Only then did she discover that the person who screamed earlier was her.

She stared at the man before her, and for a second, she could not make out who he was. Was he the Carson Baxter who doted on her to the heavens, or was he the one who beat her into hell?

She could not understand how the same person could be so very warm and gentle, yet also extremely cruel.

Waves of thunder continued to roar. The flashing lightning caused alternating light and shadows. She looked at his face, clueless as to why she was crying.

As he looked at her in this state, an odd feeling suddenly stirred in his heart and this made him even angrier.

“Admit your mistakes!” He said coercively, “Apologize to Layla!”

However, she did not react at all as her tears began to fall unceasingly.

“Did you hear what I said?!” he asked angrily.

She still did not respond. Her slightly parted lips were cracked and bleeding. Her eyes were two dark holes, dull and completely devoid of light, amid her pale and thin face.

He suddenly felt extremely upset.

He hated himself because he was upset with her!

He threw her onto the ground in disgust. Lightning continued to flash. He looked coldly upon her as she attempted to get up slowly and clenched his fists tightly.

“Stay here and reflect on yourself. If you don’t see the error of your ways, you’ll never leave this place!”