The Video Call from Hell Chapter 08

The Video Call from Hell Chapter 08

Serena finally stopped.

A few traces of clarity slowly returned to her clouded eyes.

Her eyes reddened at once, and tears fell one after another.

She choked out, “You found Evelyn? She’s still alive, isn’t she?”

Ethan nodded.

Serena smiled.

Then she turned toward the care facility and screamed in agony.

“Evelyn, I was wrong. I really never meant to hurt you. Please forgive me.”

“Come back with me. I’ll work hard and pay for your treatment.”

“I’ll beg God to take my life in exchange for yours.”

Suddenly, she dropped to her knees and slammed her forehead against the pavement over and over, frantic.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Take my life to pay for it. Don’t take my child’s life.”

“I was wrong. I was wrong.”

The scar on her forehead, barely healed, split open again into raw, bloody flesh.

Blood ran from the wound into her eyes.

Still, she would not stop.

Even Ethan could not hold her back.

Later, Serena fainted.

Ethan called an ambulance.

Only after taking one long, deep look back at the care facility did he climb into the ambulance with her.

At last, I understood.

The once confident and proud Serena was no longer mentally well.

I had no idea what she and Ethan had gone through over the past five years.

But as I watched that scene just now, I could not put a name to what I felt.

Hatred?

Not really.

Forgiveness?

Not that, either.

Perhaps I was only a bystander, watching a tragedy that no longer had anything to do with me.

It left an ache in my chest.

That was all.

Once the curtain fell, that discomfort would slowly fade, too.

I had thought Ethan would not come back again.

To my surprise, he returned the next day.

I had no intention of seeing him.

In a few days, I would be leaving.

I would not see him.

He would not disturb me.

That was best.

Summer rain always came without warning.

Ethan stood motionless in the downpour.

His face was frighteningly pale, and his eyes were bloodshot.

This time, the Maybach stopped in front of him.

Nathan approached with an umbrella.

“Nathan?”

Ethan looked at him in surprise.

Then rage overtook him.

He grabbed Nathan by the collar.

“It was you.”

“You hid Evelyn here so I couldn’t find her, didn’t you?”

His chest heaved violently, and the veins in his neck stood out.

Nathan tore Ethan’s hand off his collar and scoffed.

“Ethan, what exactly do you think you’re doing right now?”

“Trying to win back the ex-wife you went to such lengths to run away from?”

Ethan’s expression darkened.

“This is between my wife and me. It has nothing to do with you.”

“I’m warning you. Give Evelyn back to me, or else…”

“Or else what?” Nathan cut him off with a scoff.

“Ethan, do you still think you’re the Mr. Bradford you used to be? If I wanted to crush you now, it would be as

easy as stepping on an ant.”

“And let me remind you of something. Evelyn has nothing to do with you anymore.”

Ethan was filled with rage, his fists clenched tightly.

Yet he could not refute a single word.

Because everything Nathan said was true.

Furious and humiliated, Ethan shoved him aside and shouted toward the care facility.

“Evelyn, I know you can hear me.”

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I really know I was wrong.”

“Ever since you left, I’ve regretted it. You were so good to me. You loved me so much. How could I have been

so cruel and hurt you like that?”

“It’s not that I never had feelings for you. I love you. What I felt for Serena was only an obsession with

something I couldn’t have.”

“Hayden has grown a lot taller. He doesn’t say it, but I know he misses you. Every night, he hides under his

blanket and cries in secret.”

“Come back with me. Let Hayden and me stay by your side and take care of you, okay?”

The only answer he received was the sound of rain falling.

Ethan refused to give up and tried to force his way in again.

Like a wild animal watching its mate being dragged away by hunters, he let out a raw, heart-wrenching cry.

“Evelyn! Evelyn!”

Nathan frowned.

He threw away the umbrella, grabbed Ethan by the throat, and slammed him against the wall.

His voice was dark and ruthless.

“Shut up. Don’t disturb Evelyn.”

“She’s been sleeping more and more lately. Whenever she’s awake, the pain tears her apart.”

“Who do you think did this to her?”

He ground his teeth as if he wanted to tear Ethan to pieces.

Ethan’s eyes were bloodred.

His lips trembled, but he did not know what to say.

“You should know better than anyone, Ethan,” Nathan said, his voice trembling faintly.

“With stomach cancer, how long a patient survives depends heavily on their state of mind.”

“She has been happy for the past five years without you. The fact that she has made it this far is because of

her own strength.”

“Your presence brings her nothing but stress. It is pushing her closer to death.”

“Are you trying to kill her?”

Every trace of color drained from Ethan’s face.

Huge tears fell from his eyes.

“I’m not…”

Nathan threw him aside as if he weighed nothing.

“Get out.”

Ethan staggered to his feet.

Like a drenched dog, he disappeared into the rain, hollow and lost.

After he returned home, Ethan ran a high fever for several days.

When he drifted in and out of consciousness, he dreamed of every moment he had shared with Evelyn.

They had been so happy.

But he had destroyed his own happiness with his own hands.

After he woke up, he went to the care facility again.

He wanted to beg Nathan, even if it meant getting down on his knees.

All he wanted was to see Evelyn from a distance.

Even the security guards sounded exasperated.

“Stop coming here. Mr. Shaw has taken Ms. Carter abroad for treatment.”

Ethan swayed sharply, his limbs turning ice-cold.

In the end, he still never got to see Evelyn once.

Just then, Hayden called.

“Dad, come home right now!”

“Grandma is trying to poison herself and Serena with weed killer!”

Ethan was exhausted to the bone.

But he still had no choice but to turn around and face the wreckage of that miserable life.

The plane soared into the clouds.

I stared at the light outside the window, lost in thought.

After a long while, I said quietly to Nathan, “If I die, you have to bring me back. Bring me back to my mom

and dad.”

Nathan did not say anything.

He only tightened his grip on my hand.

Slowly, I leaned against his shoulder and drifted into sleep.