Chapter 17
When Sophia woke up, she found herself lying in bed with Ethan sitting beside her. “Sophia, you’re awake. Are you hungry? I’ll make your favorite tacos. What else would you like to eat?”
The entire room was laid out exactly like their bedroom back home, even down to her favorite incense scent.
For a moment, she thought she had returned to the past, when nothing had happened.
Meeting the man’s expectant eyes, Sophia’s lips curved into a mocking smile. “What now? What grievance has Isabella
suffered this time that you kidnapped me to punish me for?”
Hearing this, Ethan’s whole body stiffened. Just as he was about to say something, Sophia interrupted. “Whip me ninety-nine times? Burn my hands? Or make me kneel on broken glass? Oh right, I forgot-maybe Isabella stabbed herself
again and you kidnapped me to be her blood bank, to drain all my blood?”
As the last word fell, Ethan’s face went completely pale, his eyes full of pain.
His voice was strained. “Sophia, let’s not talk about the past anymore. Let it go, okay?”
Seeing the pleading on his face, Sophia suddenly laughed. “Let it go?! Ethan, I’m the one who was deceived and hurt! What right does a perpetrator like you have to say ‘let it go’?!”
Ethan’s face showed embarrassment. He took out his phone from his pocket. “Sophia, the Smith family is bankrupt now.
Everyone who hurt you has gotten what they deserved…”
He opened a video and placed it in front of her.
In the footage, Isabella was curled up in a basement corner, covered in injuries, her face so swollen it was barely
recognizable.
Just then, the sound of a steel pipe scraping the ground echoed nearby.
She trembled all over, then knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, her voice full of terror. “I’m sorry! I know I was wrong! I’ll
never do it again! Please spare me! I’ll really die!”
But the next moment, the raised iron rod came down hard on her body.
Sophia stared in disbelief. “Ethan, illegal imprisonment and abuse are crimes! You’re committing a felony! Don’t you know
that?!”
The screaming in the video continued, but Ethan showed no emotion. “This is what she deserves! Sophia, if she hadn’t deceived me and repeatedly framed you, I wouldn’t have hurt you so deeply, and we wouldn’t have come to this. She
destroyed our marriage-I want to kill her!”
But Sophia only found his words laughable. “What? Pushing all the blame onto Isabella makes you feel better? You were
the one who didn’t believe me, you were the one who had me punished. Ethan, you’re the real culprit who hurt me!”
Seeing the hatred in Sophia’s eyes, Ethan’s face was full of pain.
His voice was strained. “Everything I owe you, I’ll pay back.”
Chapter 17
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Before Sophia could react, Ethan poured the scalding kettle over his right hand and groaned, immediately biting down hard with audibly grinding molars and bulging temple veins.
Sophia stared at the scene in shock.
Her right hand seemed to throb with phantom pain.
She would never forget when Ethan claimed to believe her but destroyed her hand anyway-that feeling of mustering courage for one last trust only to have it shattered was a thorn forever embedded in her heart.
She laughed coldly. “Can’t take it already? You hurt me ninety-nine times for Isabella!”
Ethan looked up, forcing a smile. “I can take it. As long as you’ll forgive me, I’ll do anything.”
He stepped into the swimming pool and had bodyguards pour buckets of ice water over him.
After a few buckets, his face went white and he trembled uncontrollably.
The lead bodyguard looked concerned. “Mr. Miller, we can’t continue. Your hand needs immediate medical attention…”
Before he could finish, Ethan coldly interrupted, “Continue.”
