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Chapter 172 Breaking Down in Despair
Erin finally understood the full gravity of the precarious situation that she was currently in.
She’d been captured by two psychopathic killers, and if she didn’t comply with their demands, not only would she be unable to protect the child in her womb, but she might also be unable to escape from there.
No matter what, she had to hold on to her will to live. She had to do that for her child as a mother.
“My baby, I’ll persevere until the end! I’ll definitely hold out until your father comes to save us!” Erin vowed wordlessly.
“If there’s anything I need, can I ask you?” Erin no longer made futile attempts of resistance and chose to reluctantly go with the flow.
Jack replied. “Sure, you can ask. We’ll fulfill it as long as it’s within our means. Let me remind you of one thing–Tessa has a bad temper. Sometimes she needs tranquilizers to calm down. It’s best if you don’t mention anything about leaving again. We’ve planned this for so long, so we won’t let you escape easily by chance. I might as well let you know about this as well–we’re currently on an uninhabited island, but we have enough supplies stored on the island to sustain us for a whole three years. So, neither I nor Tessa need to leave the
island. We’ll stay here until you give birth to the child.”
What Jack revealed made Erin’s heart sink into an abyss. It greatly dampened her instinct for survival. However, Erin didn’t want to be
completely defeated like this. She remained silent.
After seeing that Erin seemed to have submitted herself to her fate quietly through the small window with iron bars, Jack prepared to
leave. Just as he turned around, Tessa approached him with an envelope in her hand.
He instantly understood Tessa’s intentions and frowned, saying, “Shouldn’t we wait a little longer before we do that?”
Jack’s words made Erin look up again, and right at that moment, Tessa threw the envelope to Erin through the small window.
The envelope wasn’t sealed, and the dozen or so photos inside were scattered on the ground.
Tessa smiled brightly. “Well, Erin. I can say with confidence that I’m not too cruel to you. At the very least, I won’t deceive you. I’ve told you everything you wanted to know. Whether you accept it or not is up to you. And I’m not like the man you deeply love, saying one thing to your face and doing another behind your back. After he left Mufrana and returned to the country, he completed a significant life event. He
got married! But you’re not the bride.”
As Tessa’s malicious laughter rang in her ears, Erin stiffly crouched down to pick up those photos from the ground. Hearing about Tessa and Jack’s killing spree didn’t make Erin collapse on the spot, but what she saw in the photos on the ground was enough to make her feel. a kind of pain so suffocating that she felt asphyxiated!
Unable to control her movements, she sat paralyzed on the ground. With trembling hands, she picked up each photo from the floor. The contents of the photos showed images of Chandler getting married to Jazzlyn at the Frost residence.
In the photos, Chandler and Jazzlyn toasted each other and respectfully toasted their elders as well. The timestamp on the photos indicated that they were taken after Chandler left Mufrana.
Erin couldn’t accept everything she was seeing with her own eyes. She couldn’t believe that Chandler had been playing her for a fool!
With teary eyes, she hysterically shouted at Jack, who hadn’t left yet. “What are you playing at? I’m already trapped here with no means of escape! Yet, you’re using these photos to deceive me! You’re too malicious-”
Jack remained in place. Although Tessa had exposed the truth about Chandler’s deception to Erin a little too prematurely, she would find
out sooner or later anyway.
“Miss Lane, there’s no need for us to deceive you with this kind of thing. The photos were secretly taken by a maid in the Frost residence. Chandler betrayed his promise to you and married this woman named Jazzlyn. When Chandler got married, Hans, Kyle, Sean, Alana,
Roman, and me We were all aware of it.”
“Get lost!” Heartbroken to the extreme, Erin could only shout those two words out loud.
Jack’s expression changed slightly, but he didn’t linger any longer. He knew that Erin needed time alone, so he left. As soon as Jack left. Erin uncontrollably picked up all the photos from the floor. She rushed to the iron gate and threw all the photos out through the small
window.
She didn’t want to see those photos for even a second longer.
With tears running down her face, she walked over and lay down, holding herself and closing her eyes to build her own fortress within her heart. The shaky fortress had collapsed completely after she saw the photos of Chandler’s wedding.
Earlier, she could use her strong conviction to convince herself that she had to wait for Chandler, who loved her, to rescue her. But what about now? Did Chandler know that she had gone missing and had been kidnapped? Was he still in the country with his new wife? Did he
love that woman?
Countless questions swarmed her mind, breaking her heart into pieces, while her brain felt like it was about to melt down in agony.
She cried out uncontrollably. “Why did you deceive me? Why-”
Even though she appeared as if she didn’t believe the contents of those photos in front of Jack, she knew deep down that they weren’t digitally manipulated images since she was a designer who had retouched thousands of photos before.
Recalling Chandler’s grandfather, Gaston, and the hopes he had for him, Erin finally understood one truth–everything Chandler had done
for her during this past month was backed with a reason.
Unbeknownst to her, she had walked into the trap he’d set for her. Ironically, she still hoped that the people of the Frost family would accept her one day. All of this was nothing but a wishful dream, a deceitful illusion she’d created for herself.
Erin finally understood Sean’s hypothetical question about her and also understood Roman’s story about his best friend.
She was, in fact, that “good friend” mentioned by Roman.
Everyone knew the truth–except for her.
Her sincere heart had been deceitfully manipulated by the man she loved the most, and even in the name of love, Erin couldn’t justify his actions at that moment. After all, she was flesh and blood, a living, breathing human being with emotions and principles, not a puppet to
be manipulated.
Chandler put wool over her eyes in the things she cared about the most. Erin no longer knew if it was still worth waiting for Chandler to come and save her. Perhaps she would really die on this uninhabited island. She, along with the unborn child in her womb, would end up getting killed by this deranged and psychotic couple.
Helpless and desperate, Erin gradually lost her mind. She no longer suppressed her innermost feelings and proceeded to vent all the unhappiness that she’d experienced up until then. Her cries were mournful, hysterical, and shattered. Amidst her hoarse and desperate screams, there was fear and confusion, as well as indignation and unwillingness to accept the cruel fate as it is!
At the end of the cold and dark corridor stood a woman smoking. Tessa had one leg bent, with her left foot propped against the wall behind her, and her face showed an expression that seemed both gleeful and agonized at the same time.
Upon hearing Erin’s heartbreaking cries, Tessa’s eyes turned red.
She murmured to herself, “Erin, do you feel despair? Do you feel like the whole world seems to have let you down? The despair you’re feeling right now was the only feeling I had when I was abused years ago-”