When Luna lifted her head and took in the scene before her, she was so shocked that she almost passed out.Nigel was tied to a giant rock at the edge of the cliff, his feet bare and his entire body hovering over a seemingly endless drop. Meanwhile, Fiona leaned gracefully against the rock, her eyebrows raised slightly, a taunting smile playing on her lips. She was holding a sharp knife in her hand, the light glinting off the blade in the rain. “I thought you needed more time to catch up with me.” Fiona sighed and lowered her head to fiddle with the knife. “I was even betting with Nigel on when you’d arrive. For every hour that you’re late, I’ll cut off one of the ropes holding him here.”With that, she turned and counted the number of ropes holding Nigel onto the rock. “Eight ropes. I’ve already cut one off, so there’s only seven left.”Fiona turned and smiled at Joshua. “Look, Joshua; look how nice I’m treating your son. I prepared eight pieces of rope so that you could see h
Luna stared at Nigel and let out an exhale. “If you still want to blame Joshua and me for everything that happened, then toss me into the abyss instead! My son is still young, so please don’t make his life difficult! I’m willing to give you my life in exchange for his!”Fiona could not help but snicker when she heard this. She cackled in laughter as she sliced through another one of the ropes. “You want to give me your life in exchange for Nigel’s? How naive are you, Luna? Although I’m upset at what you did…” She raised her eyebrows and sneered. “You’re worth nothing to Joshua at all, but it’s different for Nigel. Joshua’s blood is coursing through Nigel’s veins at this moment, and he’s his offspring, after all. If I keep Nigel here, it’s equivalent to keeping Joshua’s heart here. Why would I let Nigel—such an important person—go in exchange for a worthless woman like you?”Luna’s entire body stiffened upon hearing this. After a moment, she bit down on her lip.Fiona was right.
Joshua narrowed his eyes.He knew that Fiona’s question—and her fiddling with that knife—was a form of threat. He knew what answer Fiona wanted to hear, so he let out an exhale and curled his lips into a smirk. “She means nothing to me. I’ve never loved her in the past, in the present, nor will I ever do in the future.“The only reason I treated her kindly is that she bore three children for me, that’s all.”Nigel, who was still tied onto the rock, clenched his fists as soon as he heard Joshua’s words. Meanwhile, the color drained from Luna’s face. Even though she knew Joshua was simply telling the truth, but…It was one thing to know this but an entirely different thing altogether to hear those cold, heartless words tumbling out of Joshua’s mouth. He had never loved her, and she had never meant anything to him at all.Luna let out an exhale and tried to force herself not to fixate on this. All of her attention should be focused on saving Nigel instead, but no matter how ha
“When I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I was mentally prepared to die. Having the opportunity to have a bone marrow transplant and prolong my life to spend time with my Mommy and Nellie, I’m already satisfied.” Nigel’s tears were mixed with the rainwater. His voice was so hoarse that he did not sound like a child anymore. “Maybe Neil just misses me too much, Mommy. You don’t need to hurt yourself nor sacrifice your life for me… Honestly, I don’t care about that much!” Luna felt her heart ache upon hearing these words and could not hold back her tears any longer. She bit down on her lip and picked up the nearest rock she could grab, wanting to smash her own fingers. “Fiona, if I really break all remaining nine fingers of mine, will you promise to let Nigel go and take me instead?”Seeing how desperate Luna and Nigel were, Fiona let out a vicious laugh. “Alright! If you really crush all nine of your remaining fingers, then I’ll let Nigel go and let you take his place!”Sh
As soon as Joshua finished his sentence, it was so silent that only the sound of the wind could be heard.Fiona narrowed her eyes and first glanced coldly at Joshua, then at Luna. Then, all of a sudden, she sneered. “You’re lying to me.”She turned to look at Nigel who, at this moment, had only three pieces of rope holding him onto the giant rock, and curled her lips into a bitter smile. “There’s no going back anymore, now that I’ve done something like this!”“How do you know that?” Joshua let out an exhale and continued, “Fiona, you know better than anyone that if there’s someone out there who can help you get out of this and guarantee you an entire lifetime of safety, that person is me.”With that, he took a step forward and said, staring at Fiona with a gentle expression. “Fiona, I know that you’re trying to get your revenge by taking Nigel’s life alongside yours, but at the same time, you’ll be dying, too. I don’t believe you when you say you don’t have anything left to look fo
Joshua was a strong man. Fiona knew that if he came up to her, there was a very high chance she would not be able to win in a physical fight against him.Therefore, she narrowed her eyes, put the knife closer to the rope tied on Nigel, and threatened, “Wrap the contract around a rock and toss it over!”Joshua froze in his step, and his expression darkened as soon as he heard this.However, he still followed suit. He crouched down to pick up a rock and chuckled. “What are you worried about? I’ve promised to marry you and vowed to protect you. Do you really think I’ll break that promise?“If you act so defensively against me, what will our future be like?”There was a hint of kindness in his harsh, emotionless words.Joshua had never talked to Luna like this before, so she was puzzled for a moment, trying to figure out if Joshua meant it or if he was simply trying to trick Fiona.However, one thing was clear: Joshua had never displayed this warmth and kindness toward her at all.
Clang—!Joshua kicked the knife a few meters away from Fiona.Fiona suddenly felt that something was wrong as soon as she heard the sound of the knife landing on the ground. She immediately lifted her head from the contract and met Joshua’s frosty gaze.A split second later, Joshua locked Fiona’s wrists behind her and pressed her down against the ground.This sudden turn of events rendered Luna speechless for a moment before she finally came to and sprinted toward the edge of the cliff. She clung onto Nigel and carefully untied the ropes holding him, lifting him from the rock once she finished.Because the ropes were barely holding him up, Nigel summoned all his strength to keep his balance, so as soon as he was rescued, Nigel collapsed in Luna’s arms limply. He heaved a deep sigh of relief and said, “Thank you, Mommy.”Nigel did not have any strength to walk. Knowing this, Luna pulled him closer in her arms and said in a choked voice, “It’s fine. Everything’s fine now. Mommy can
Luna crawled out of the puddle slowly. “I’m fine…”She was fine, just a little exhausted.After all, she had not eaten a single bite for more than ten hours.Luna pulled Nigel out of the puddle, picked him up, and continued hiking down the mountain trail.The mountain trail was wet and slippery from the rain, so Luna and Nigel fell a couple of times. With each fall, Joshua felt his heart ache. Even Fiona, who was pressed against the ground, could feel the raw emotions passing through Joshua’s body.Fiona saw an opportunity and decided to seize it. While Joshua was preoccupied with watching Luna and Nigel, Fiona summoned all the strength in her body and managed to release herself from Joshua’s grip.“I’ll kill you!” Fiona’s blood-curdling scream rang out from behind Luna.Luna immediately paused, then turned around.The scene before her rendered her utterly stunned, as though someone had set off a bomb inside her head.At this moment, Fiona was holding the knife that Joshua h