"I heard you have legally married her. What exactly is your plan, Leo?" Richard asked, his voice echoing coldly through the vast room.
Leo stepped forward, approaching Celine as she remained kneeling on the floor. Without warning, he grabbed her hair and forced her head back to look at him.
"Ugh!" Celine cried out in pain. Her hands instinctively gripped Leo's muscular arm, but his strength was unyielding.
"I am the one who dragged her to prison ten years ago, and I am not finished yet," Leo hissed. His eyes flashed with a deep-seated vendetta inches from Celine's face. "Making her my wife is the best way to enjoy myself. I will give her a hell far more cruel than anything she found in prison."
Richard nodded slowly, looking satisfied. "Good. Enjoy yourself as much as you like." He took a draw from his cigar before continuing. "Divorce her soon. Simply keep her as a slave without status. She won't be able to run anyway. Tonight at seven, I have arranged an appointment for you with Jane Miller."
Jane? Celine's heart felt as though it had been struck by a sledgehammer. Jane Miller was the girl who had led the bullying against her during high school, the figure who had turned her youth into a living nightmare.
"Of course. I will follow your advice, Dad," Leo answered without hesitation.
Richard snapped his fingers. An assistant standing behind him immediately stepped forward and handed him a black leather folder. Richard rose from his chair, walked over, and crouched in front of Celine. He placed the document on the marble floor right in front of her tear-stained face and held out a gold pen.
"Sign this now if you still want to see your mother reach the operating room," Richard commanded coldly.
Celine's eyes scanned the lines of the document. It was a Special Power of Attorney granting Richard William full access to the safe deposit box her father had left behind. With hands that shook violently and sobs that began to rack her chest, Celine was forced to ink her signature onto the white paper. She had surrendered her father's final secret for the sake of her mother's life.
Richard snatched the document away the moment she finished. "Done. Take her out of here," he said flatly.
Leo grabbed Celine's arm and forced her limp body to its feet. He dragged her out of the mansion as if she were nothing more than a discarded, worthless doll. When they reached the car, Leo threw her into the back seat with brute force.
"Take her to the hospital now," Leo ordered John and Thom.
As the car sped down the road, Celine could only huddle in the corner of the seat. She was no longer crying. Her voice was gone, and her tears had run dry. She sat in a hollow silence with a vacant stare, as if her soul had been left behind on the cold marble floor of Richard Alexander's mansion.
However, as the hospital gates came into view, something inside her shifted. Celine straightened her sagging posture. With hands that still trembled slightly, she wiped away the remnants of her tears, smoothed the hair Leo had disheveled, and steadied her shallow breathing. She forced a thin smile. It was a smile that had to look convincing for the only person she had left in the world.
The moment the car came to a full stop, Celine scrambled out. She ran through the hospital corridors smelling of antiseptic, her heart racing against time. Fortunately, she arrived just in time. At the end of the hallway, her mother's gurney was about to be pushed into the operating room.
"Mama!" she called out, her voice straining to remain stable.
The double doors of the operating room were still slightly ajar. Her mother, looking pale on the stretcher, turned weakly and smiled at the sight of her daughter. Celine stood there, wearing the brightest smile she could muster to hide the wounds she had received only minutes prior.
Silently, Celine mouthed the words, "I love you," while linking her fingers to form the shape of a heart over her chest. She maintained the gesture until the operating doors shut tight and the surgical light turned red, leaving Celine to collapse back into the silence of the hospital hallway.
Celine sat in the waiting area with a sense of mounting anxiety. During the wait, her phone vibrated. A message had arrived from "Betty," the name Celine used as a contact for Kevin.
"Celine, I'm sorry. I can't join you because I'm in the middle of a trial," Kevin wrote.
Celine simply replied, "It's okay. Besides, I'm still being closely guarded by two of Leo's men."
After a twelve-hour wait, the operating room doors finally opened. Celine stood immediately and approached the doctor.
"Doctor?" she asked, seeking confirmation.
"Miss, we successfully removed the tumor from your mother's brain. Regarding the side effects, we still have to wait until the patient is fully conscious," the doctor explained.
"So, my mother won't be in pain anymore, will she?" Celine asked.
"Yes. We have removed the primary cause of her headaches," the doctor replied.
Celine let out a long breath. "Thank God. Thank you so much, Doctor," she said, feeling an immense wave of relief.
The doctor and the medical team then moved away. Celine watched the doctor's retreating back with gratitude, until her expression hardened into anger as Leo emerged from behind the crowd of medical staff.
Celine immediately looked away. As soon as he reached her, Leo grabbed her hand.
"Leo! What are you doing?" Celine protested, struggling to free herself from his grip.
"Let's go home!" Leo pulled her out of the hospital by force.
"I have to stay here. I have to wait until my mother wakes up!" Celine tried to resist, but Leo's pull was too strong.
"Have you still not realized? You have no rights over yourself," Leo said, quickening his pace until Celine nearly tripped.
Celine's eyes welled with tears, but she fought to hold them back. Her breath hitched against the tightness in her chest.
Don't cry, Celine. He will be happy to see you cry. Don't let him be satisfied, Celine told herself as she struggled to control her breathing.
In the parking lot, seeing Leo arrive with Celine, Martin immediately stepped out and opened the car door. Leo shoved Celine into the car roughly and climbed in beside her. The car sped off instantly.
"Shouldn't you be going on a date right now?" Celine asked.
"I canceled it," Leo answered shortly.
Celine straightened her seating position. "Oh. Perhaps you are still very much in love with me. You're so obsessed that you married me because you couldn't forget me, right, Leo?" she mocked.
Leo's temper flared. He gripped Celine's chin so hard it compressed her mouth. "Watch your tongue! In truth, I would prefer it if your mother died, just so you could feel what I felt!"
Leo paused for a moment, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he glared at her. "But I have to treat your mother as a bargaining chip for this marriage. Like I said this morning, I only married you to give you a lifetime of hell!"
Leo released his grip with a violent shove, causing Celine's head to strike the side of the car.
The car stopped in front of Leo's luxury home. As soon as they got out, Leo dragged Celine inside.
When they reached the living room, Leo froze. He was shocked to see a young woman in glamorous attire already waiting for him.
"Hello, Leo. I came here because you didn't show up for our meeting. But as it turns out, you were busy with your little ex-girlfriend," said Jane Miller, the woman Leo was supposed to have met that night.