He Locked Me in an Oven for Her, So I Called My Brother to Bury Them Both Chapter 08

He Locked Me in an Oven for Her, So I Called My Brother to Bury Them Both Chapter 08

Asher trembled as he reached for me, tears streaming down his face.

“Callie, I really know I was wrong. Punish me any way you want. Just give me one more chance to make it up to you, please…”

“No.”

Once I understood the truth, every last bit of affection for Asher was gone.

What I thought had been mutual love had only been a calculated scheme.

“Asher, you got where you are because of me. And I swear, I’m going to take it all away.”

Asher froze, tears falling onto the sheets. “Callie, I don’t want any of it. I only want you. I truly love you. Please, just give me one more chance…”

I cut him off coldly. “Love me? Your love is locking me on a scorching metal plate at 170°F?”

Asher’s pupils shrank violently. He mumbled in disbelief. “170°F? That’s impossible. I know the maximum a person can bear is 140°F. I only ordered an extra 10°F when I lost my temper. How could it reach 160…”

I said nothing. His lips trembled as realization hit him. “It was Khloe… Callie, I really didn’t know. I never meant to hurt you, never meant to kill our baby. I’ll punish her, you have to believe me…”

I closed my eyes wearily. “Asher, I almost died.”

He fell silent at once. His hand, which had been reaching for me, dropped limply to his side. Tears blurred his eyes as he looked at me. “I’m sorry…”

“Asher, let’s get a divorce.”

Reaching this end wasn’t as painful as I’d thought. I just felt completely drained.

I stared at his tortured face and suddenly remembered my first pregnancy, when I’d lain in his arms, dreaming of our future.

He told me back then that our baby and I were the entire meaning of his life. He would fight with everything he had to protect us forever.

Now, everything had gone wrong. Between him and me, nothing remained but hatred.

Tears ran down my cheeks. I tilted my head up, trying to keep them from falling.

Asher flinched. He’d never thought I, who had loved him so deeply, could say such words with such finality.

“Callie, I really do love you. I was just deceived by Khloe. Give me a chance to make amends. Don’t divorce me, please.”

It takes two to tango. Even without Khloe, I, without the Griffin family’s protection, would have been trampled by Asher in the end.

His kindness had only ever been for the power behind me.

I wiped my tears and ignored him, calling softly toward the door. “Wyatt.”

Wyatt stepped inside at once.

Bodyguards behind him dragged the sobbing Asher away.

Before he was taken out, Asher suddenly broke free and rushed to kneel by my bed. “Callie, believe it or not, I truly love you. I killed our baby, and I will pay for it.”

Maybe he knew Wyatt wouldn’t let him off. Maybe he truly did feel remorse. He gave me one long, deep look, then turned and left.

Watching his figure disappear, my heart felt strangely calm.

Wyatt gently wiped the tears from my eyes, pain in his gaze. “Callie, I failed to protect you. But you will get better.”

Looking at the bandages covering my body, I knew I would never fully recover from such severe burns.

I shook my head and squeezed his hand. “Wyatt, I’m just paying for my own mistake. I deserve this. Time proved I made the wrong choice. You were the one who showed me who he really was. And luckily, it’s not too late to turn things around…”

If Wyatt hadn’t stepped back from the spotlight, maybe even now I would still be unable to see Asher for who he truly was.

I dared not imagine what would have happened if he’d completely taken over the Griffin family and Wyatt’s power.

Wyatt brought in the world’s top specialists. After three months in the hospital, my wounds had mostly healed.

On the day I was discharged, we returned to the Griffin Estate.

In the basement were all the people who had watched me suffer in the heat chamber.

Without exception, their hamstrings and Achilles tendons had been cut.

Khloe crawled on the floor, begging for mercy. I took the gun from Wyatt and shot her six times in the legs.

It was only a few days earlier that Wyatt had laid all the evidence out before me and I learned that every one of my miscarriages, one after another, had been Khloe’s doing.

Those six shots were to avenge the child I had carried in my belly.

I ignored the wails behind me and turned away.

One month later, a large-scale armed hijacking by pirates took place on the high seas.

Because it was on the high seas, the bodies were found badly decomposed. After being left unclaimed for a long time, they were eventually buried without ceremony on a nearby island.

As for the once mighty and dominant Brooks family of Acoland, within just a single month, the Griffin family took over one holding after another.

On the day the Brooks family disappeared completely, Asher smashed his own head against the wall in the basement and died.

The name Wyatt Griffin had disappeared without a trace for three years. When it resurfaced, it caused no small upheaval throughout Acoland.

In just one year, the Griffin family expanded rapidly in both worlds, feared by all.

I never forgot the lessons of that nightmare. Instead of hiding behind Wyatt, I grew strong and built my own career.

Three years after Asher died, the company I founded alone went public.

Sitting by the window, looking down at the city lights sprawling beneath me, all the pain and wounds from back then had finally drifted away like smoke.