Chapter 4
Rachel sneered, unable to hide the sarcasm in her voice. "Leah, what are you doing? Wait, did you break it?
"Guess your fancy things are all talk. It's not tough at all."
Leah panicked, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
She glared at Rachel, eyes bloodshot, and slapped her across the face.
The sound echoed through the hallway.
Rachel clutched her burning cheek, her eyes wide in shock as she glared at Leah. "Are you insane? How dare you?"
Leah stepped closer, her expression twisted with a threatening aura. "I could kill you right now if I wanted."
Just then, Alexander walked in, having come to look for Leah.
He hurried over and grabbed Leah by the arm. "What's going on here?"
Rachel, fighting back sobs, threw herself into Alexander's arms.
She said, "It's all my fault. I broke the necklace Leah just bought, and she slapped me. She said she'd kill me."
Alexander's expression turned grim. "Leah, it's just a necklace. If you really want one, I could buy you a dozen.
"However, that's no reason to hit someone or to make threats like that over something so trivial.
"Now, apologize to her."
Leah stared at him in disbelief, scoffing through her tears. "Why should I?
"She smashed my necklace on purpose, and now you expect me to apologize to her, huh?"
Alexander's voice came out cold, edged with anger and warning.
He said, "I'll get your necklace fixed. She didn't mean to do it. Don't be so unreasonable."
Leah shot back, her voice icy and defiant. "And what if I said no?
"What now, Alexander? Are you finally gonna show your true colors?"
Alexander froze, his heart tightening suddenly.
However, before he could react, Rachel's crying interrupted him.
She said, "Leah, you have Alex on your side, so you just hit and scold me at will, and spew all kinds of slander."
Rachel sobbed so dramatically. Alexander frowned with pity for her, but all his hesitation suddenly vanished, replaced by a dangerous glare.
"Leah, I'm not gonna say it again. Apologize," Alexander demanded.
"No way." Leah shot back, meeting his gaze.
However, the next second, Alexander's bodyguards stepped in and blocked Leah's path.
"Leah, is it because I indulged you so much that you think you can just do whatever you want?" Alexander said.
Before she could answer, Leah was dragged by the guards into the reservoir.
The freezing water in the dead of winter cut straight to the bone.
Leah couldn't stop shaking, her body losing all warmth as she trembled nonstop.
What really broke her spirit was the water steadily rising, climbing over her chest—there was nothing she could do but watch in terror.
As the oxygen ran out, Leah felt herself suffocating, her head spinning, and everything faded into blackness.
In a daze, she recalled the start of her marriage.
Alexander had taken her abroad for their honeymoon. One day, the weather suddenly turned, and a kid got swept away by a wave.
Leah instinctively rushed to help, but slipped and fell into the water herself.
She had never been a good swimmer, and in that instant, she was dragged under, the water closing over her head as panic set in.
The moment Alexander saw her go under, he was scared.
He didn't think twice, diving into the stormy waters and searching endlessly until he managed to rescue her, barely alive.
After that, Leah developed a deep fear of water, and Alexander never let her near water alone again.
However, just to appease Rachel, he had locked her in a bottomless reservoir, the water rising steadily.
A heavy ache spread through Leah's chest, the pain so deep that she couldn't stop crying.
Crushing despair and the biting cold wrapped around her, quickening the countdown to the end of everything between them.
She swore that she would completely sever all ties with him and disappear from his filthy, twisted world.