Chapter 4
Aileen really didn't want to pick up, but the caller was relentless, calling more than ten times in a row.
When she finally answered, Kevin's voice was tender, almost pleading, as if the cold-blooded demon from a few days ago had never existed.
"Aileen, have you cooled off these past few days? Can we meet? I want to explain everything to you face-to-face," he said.
Aileen clutched her chest, panic making her heart race. She didn't say a word for a long time.
Running away wouldn't solve anything. Her paperwork to go abroad wasn't done yet.
If she made Kevin angry, Gary could get caught up in the mess.
"Okay," she finally said, her voice rough and shaky.
Kevin let out a gentle laugh on the other end. "Be good. I'll come pick you up."
*****
Kevin arrived quickly.
He was dressed in casual clothes, looking every bit like a man in love, and naturally took Aileen's hand as they got into the car.
He leaned in to fasten her seatbelt, and as he moved away, his lips grazed her temple.
"Drink some water. The restaurant's a bit of a drive, so you can rest for a while if you want," he said.
Kevin passed her a bottle of mineral water, the cap already twisted off.
Aileen was truly exhausted; she hadn't slept for days since that night.
She drank half the bottle, leaned against the window, and her vision started to blur. Before she knew it, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
*****
When Aileen opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by a deathly silence.
There was no light, not even the faintest trace.
It was so dark she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face.
Aileen's breath caught in her throat.
She was terrified of the dark.
Ever since Ena locked Aileen in a cellar for four whole days when she was seven, the trauma never left her.
Aileen had been nearly been scared to death in that pitch-black hole.
Kevin knew this better than anyone else in the world.
Aileen let out a blood-curdling scream, her voice hoarse with panic as she desperately tried to get up.
But then she realized her hands were tied behind her back with rough rope, her whole body dumped on the freezing, unyielding concrete floor.
She was completely helpless, and the suffocating darkness crashed over her, shattering her sanity in an instant.
She felt nauseated and couldn't breathe. Her whole body trembled.
"Kevin! Where are you? What do you want from me?" Aileen screamed. "Please, turn on the lights. I'm begging you, Kevin."
She struggled desperately, writhing on the cold, unforgiving concrete like a fish gasping its last breath.
At last, Kevin's voice drifted down from somewhere overhead, breaking the suffocating silence.
His words came through an iron door, sounding cold, empty, and utterly heartless.
"Aileen, I know you're terrified of the dark. This is the softest punishment I could come up with since you wouldn't listen to me," he said.
"The softest punishment?" Aileen echoed.
In the suffocating darkness, she shook so hard it felt like her bones might rattle apart.
Her fingernails clawed at the cracks in the concrete, tearing open her skin until blood oozed out. And she didn't even feel it.
"Hand Ena over," Kevin demanded, his tone icy.
From behind the iron door, his voice was cold as a blade dipped in poison.
He said, "I told you I'd marry you next month. Why can't you keep your head down? Why do you always have to cause trouble?
"The baby Ena's carrying is part of the Boswell family. If anything happens to Ena, you'll wish you'd never been born."
Aileen's mind felt like a thousand nerves were being ripped apart, chaos tearing at her from every direction.
'Ena disappeared? How am I supposed to know where Ena is?' she wondered.
Aileen hadn't left the house, not even once, since Gary brought her back.
Terror and a sense of absurdity tangled together inside her, threatening to tear her apart.
Aileen sobbed uncontrollably, her face streaked with tears, her forehead pressed desperately against the cold, unforgiving floor.
"Kevin, I have no idea where she is. I haven't seen her!" she cried out. "I regret it. I really do...
"I don't want you to marry me anymore. I'm done waiting. Let those seven years be wasted, let them be my shame. Just let me go. Let's end this for good. Please, I'm begging you, turn on the lights!"
Kevin stood outside the door. His heart clenched unexpectedly when he heard her say "end this for good."
For seven years, Aileen was like a loyal dog he could summon or dismiss at will, always obedient, never once asking to leave.
But now, to escape him, she was ready to let go of her stubborn hope of marrying him?
Kevin smashed his fist against the iron door, rage twisting his bloodshot eyes into something almost feral.
He roared, "Shut your mouth. I told you I'd marry you, and I damn well will, but only if Ena shows up in front of me, untouched and alive.
"The cameras caught it all. Gary's car took Ena away. He'd do anything for you, wouldn't he? There's nothing he wouldn't dare."
Kevin's words sped up, his tone unraveling into pure hysteria. "Aileen, don't push me! If you keep your mouth shut, Gary will die tomorrow. My family will drown him in the river for kidnapping. Is that what you want? Do you want him dead?"
At the mention of Gary, Aileen's sobs stopped for a moment.
If she was crushed by her pathetic, barely surviving love, she could accept it. But now, she was about to pull the only person who ever cared about her into this mess.
The Murdock family always treated her like she was nothing. Only Gary ever saw her as a real person.