Chapter 8

"This way, you won't get lost in the future." Anthony leaned closer to the glass. His eyes were eerie, like a demon's.

"No…no…I can't die…" Anne fell on the floor listlessly. The temperature forced her to lean against the glass door as if trying to grasp for the fresh air from the outside. "Let go of me…I can't die…I have tried to get out of your sight. Why did you bring me back…"

Her words had no effect. She looked up to see Anthony's dark and demon-like eyes staring down at her as though trying to kill her!

Anne clung to her chest in pain as her tears fell. "No…I promise you never to run away again. I won't run away. Let me out…I don't want to die, I won't try to run again…"

With that said, she fell on the floor due to the lack of air.

Her vision was turning blurry, but the tall and black figure outside the glass door was still as clear as day like a demon struck into her weakened consciousness.

When the black shadow took over her entire vision, she fainted with tears still rolling from the corner of her eyes.

Not out of fear, but because she missed her kids…

If she died, what would happen to them? They were so young…

Anne woke up from the abyss of darkness. She sat up from bed with fear in her eyes. She panted loudly with sweat on her forehead.

Was she dead?

She was stunned when she saw this familiar room. After a few seconds, she realized that this was the room she had stayed in.

In other words, she was not dead?

Anthony let her out of the sauna room?!

Anne lowered her eyes to look at her hands and then touched her face. That was not enough. She quickly got out of bed to run to the mirror in the bathroom.

When she saw her perfectly fine self in the mirror, she let out a sigh of relief.

Even if she did not die, the near-death experience still overwhelmed her.

Anthony was being too cruel!

Anne risked her life and ate seafood because she was certain that Anthony did not want her dead.

At least not so soon.

When a predator caught his prey, he would either take a bite on its neck or play with it until he lost interest.

Anthony was the latter.

However, when he locked her in the sauna to burn her, she really thought that Anthony wanted her dead.

The only reason he let her out was that she promised never to run away again.

How scary…

With something in mind, Anne ran back to the room to look for her passport and identity card to find out that they were not there.

She panicked, and her tears gushed down. She felt helpless.

She knew they were with Anthony, and he would not give them back.

Without these, how could she get back to her kids?

When she said she was not leaving, it was merely to stop him…

Her only hope fell into hell, pushing Anne to despair.

She thought she would be home by today to be with her kids, that she would be hugging their soft and baby-scented tiny bodies, hearing their child-like voices…

Anne laid back in bed with her eyes watered.

At that moment, she missed her kids.

She was waiting for the night to darken before video calling them.

She could not leave just yet. Nancy must be quite tired of taking care of three kids on her own.

Anne stayed awake until two in the morning. It was about ten in the morning, where the kids were.

She got off the bed and went to lock the door from the inside. She then went to the bathroom and closed the door.

After making sure that it was secure, she took out her phone from her underwear. She turned it on and phoned Nancy. The call was answered quickly.

Nancy's worried face appeared on her screen. "Anne…"

"Mama!"

"Mama!"

"Mama!"

Before Anne could speak, the kids fought to speak to her. The three tiny heads appeared on her screen with their big and beautiful eyes staring through.

When she saw their tender cheeks, Anne's eyes watered up. She held back her pain and answered, "Mama is here. Have you been obedient to Nancy?"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"That's very good…" Anne looked at the kids longingly, and her trembling hands could only feel her phone screen to make up for her absence.

"Mama, when are you coming back?" the girl asked pitifully, with teary eyes.

"Mama said she will be back soon!" the son, with a big voice and temper, said impatiently. He was holding back his tears.

"Ten days!" the second son said sadly. He seemed lonely and had tears in his eyes.

Anne felt hurt.

She lowered her head to control her feelings.

She looked up a few seconds later, and she forced on a smile. "Mama is going to sort out something here. Once I have sorted it out, I will come home, okay?"

"How long does it take?" Charlie, one of the sons, asked.

Anne did not know how long either. However, she could not let her kids know. "Probably not for long. However, I promise you all. I will video call you while I'm away, okay?"

"Mama…" Chloe sobbed softly.

"Be good, don't cry. I will try to come back sooner, okay?" Anne said as if her heart was being stabbed.

"Oh…" Chloe agreed helplessly, and she sniffed pitifully.

"Every day!" Charlie said.

Anne did not know if she could call them every day. Instead, she said, "I will try…"

"I miss Mama…" Chris said sadly, and his eyes were dull.

"Mama misses you all too. I miss you all so much…" Anne held back her tears as she spoke.

How she wished she could get into her phone to hug her kids to comfort them. The pain of being separated from her children was unbearable.

Although the kids were only two years old and they did not speak fluently, their thinking was beyond the other children of their age.

She looked at the faces of the three children. Chloe was the mini-version of herself, while Charlie and Chris were the mini-versions of Anthony.

This made her even more uneasy.

She did not love them any less just because they looked like Anthony. She was merely worried that they might be snatched away from her.

Anthony would never allow the woman he hated so much to have his kids…

She talked to the kids and watched them as they had lunch.

The two-year-old kids had learned to eat on their own.

Their puffy hands held on to the spoons as they fed themselves. They were so adorable and charming.

The terror she had been through from yesterday instantly vanished.

As she was looking at the kids lovingly, she suddenly sensed some movement. She jolted in shock.

The bathroom door remained still.

And yet, there was something eerie oozing in from beyond the door.

The air was usually eerie with Anthony's sudden appearance. There was nobody in the bedroom. His sharp eyes glanced at the lit-up bathroom.