Chapter 7

Lynn's POV

Adrian half-forced me out of the hospital and brought me to the cemetery.

"I was wrong. I really know I was wrong..."

When Melissa saw us, she crawled on her knees to us, grabbing my legs with both hands.

"Please, don't tell Mom and Dad. Don't let them send me away... I'll kneel, I'll keep kneeling. You can make me kneel as long as you want."She begged tearfully, large tears rolling down her face.

"Melissa, get up first."

Adrian immediately stepped forward and bent down, trying to help Melissa up.

"The ground is cold. You're not well. You can't kneel like this."

Melissa avoided his hand, shaking her head through tears.

"If she doesn't forgive me, I'll kneel here until I die... This is what I owe Anna."

Adrian's brow furrowed tightly. He turned to look at me.

"Don't forget what you promised me."

I looked down at Melissa clutching my legs, my mind recalling that day outside the bathroom. Melissa's contemptuous, vicious words.

I had to admire this woman's acting skills. Truly exquisite.

I smiled and slowly bent down.

Just as Adrian thought I was going to help Melissa up, the next second, I forcefully shoved Melissa away.

"Melissa, you don't need to put on this performance for me. Want me to forgive you? Dream on!"

"Ah!"

Melissa was pushed over, her whole body falling backward and landing heavily on the stone pavement.

"Melissa!"

Adrian's expression changed drastically as he rushed over.

He knelt on one knee to help Melissa up, his distress overflowing.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"

Melissa's face was covered in tears, but she bit her lip and shook her head, putting on a brave face as if enduring pain without wanting him to worry.

"I'm fine... It's not her fault. I shouldn't have made her angry..."

Adrian noticed her trembling hands. He hastily picked up her hands to examine them, seeing her scraped palms oozing bright red blood.

The fury in his eyes could no longer be suppressed. His gaze cut toward me like a knife.

"Have you lost your mind? What did you promise me before we came here?"

I looked at him.

"I don't remember promising you anything."

From beginning to end, I never said I'd forgive Melissa, much less that I'd help him persuade her to go back.

"Lynn!!"

I said coldly,

"Melissa will never deserve my forgiveness in this lifetime. If she wants to kneel here until she dies, I certainly won't stop her."

He was furious beyond measure.

"Since you're so stubborn and insist on continuing like this, then I'll help you cool down and think clearly about whether you want to keep acting like you've lost your mind!"

He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number.

After the call connected, he commanded coldly into the phone,

"Come take my wife away. Send Mrs. Blackwood to Southhill Sanatorium. Without my permission, no one is allowed to visit her, and she's not allowed to leave."

Security guards soon appeared at the cemetery, gripping me on both sides.

"Mrs. Blackwood, please come with us."

I hadn't expected him to go this far for Melissa.

I tried to resist, struggling a few times, but couldn't break free from their powerful restraint.

My lips trembled slightly as I said to Adrian,

"You'll regret this."

Southhill Sanatorium accepted patients with mental problems.

The seven days I was locked in there were among the darkest times of my life.

I was deemed to have gone mad from losing my daughter, so I was strapped to a special chair for electroshock therapy and force-fed pills of various colors.

The orderly holding me down said,

"Mr. Blackwood is very concerned about your recovery. He hopes you'll cooperate with treatment, come to your senses soon, and live happily as a family."

I found it utterly absurd and laughable. I stubbornly struggled and resisted, claiming I wasn't sick.

But in return, I received even more brutal treatment.

At night, almost every evening, screams and crying came from other rooms in the corridor, along with dull thudding sounds that terrified me.

My body and spirit endured dual torment, pushing me to the brink of collapse several times.

My heart was left nothing but an empty, numb wasteland.

Until a week later, Adrian finally appeared and had me brought out of the sanatorium gates.

He got out of the car, his tall figure standing before me.

"Have you thought it through? Are you going to keep making a fuss over our child's death?"

"Adrian."

Without answering his question, I slowly raised my eyes.

Then I curved my lips and said,

"Every day in there, I kept thinking that the biggest mistake of my life was... ever loving you."