"Cara Johnson, look at me!"
Martina Barret grabbed Cara’s hair, heaved her up from the ground, forcing her to look at herself.
Cara was as thin as a skeleton, her face gaunt. In the heart of winter, she only wore a thin, filthy, and worn-out uniform for mental patients, all skin and bones. She casted no reaction towards Martina's actions.
Martina was clearly dissatisfied.
She planned for six years and finally trampled Cara into dust; how could she be content without seeing her despair?
"You're about to die, don't you want to see your grandfather?" Martina sneered maliciously.
Hearing about her grandfather, Cara finally reacted.
Martina’s face was filled with excitement and satisfaction. Gripping Cara’s hair, she dragged her over to a curtain like a lifeless dog and flung it open.
Beyond the curtain, there lay an old man who was hooked up to countless tubes, looking frail and emaciated.
He looked conscious but couldn't speak or move. Gazing at the haggard and unrecognizable Cara, his eyes flooded with tears.
"Grandpa…" Cara stared at the old man in shock, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
Three years ago, she fell out with her grandfather over her unwanted marriage to Elijah Smith. She hadn't expected that Elijah and her cousin Martina were already in a relationship, and his marriage to her was merely to attain the shares she held in Johnson Corporation.
On their wedding night, as soon as Elijah tricked her into signing the share transfer agreement, he turned on her and locked her in a mental hospital.
Since then, she turned into a venting tool for Martina's emotions, enduring brutal torture for three years.
Her grandfather was always healthy and astute — Cara had been certain no one would be able to harm him.
"What have you done to my grandfather?" Cara's heart was wracked with pain, tears cascading down her face.
"We haven't done much, just injected him with some chronic poison on a regular basis. That old man sure cares about you. Even though he knows it's a poison, he still let us manipulate him, all for your safety," Martina burst into a malicious laugh.
As expected...
Cara felt as though she was burning up inside.
"Martina, you stole my husband, stole everything I had, and tormented me incessantly for three years. Isn't it enough? My grandfather raised you single-handedly out of kindness! How could you do this to him!" Cara's shout was full of rage. She raised her hand to strike Martina, only to be knocked aside by her, for Cara was far too weak in comparison.
"And you accuse me of being ungrateful? If it weren't for the old man refusing to lend my dad money all those years ago, would he have been beaten to death by loan sharks? Would my family have fallen apart and I ended up an orphan?" Martina retorted menacingly.
"Your family fell apart because your dad was addicted to gambling! My grandfather even helped clear his debts several times..."
"Shut up!" Martina shrilly cut off Cara with a slap.
"Ah!!!!" Seeing his granddaughter being bullied, the old man struggled in both urgency and anger.
Seeing this, Martina once again seized Cara by the hair, forced her towards the old man, and sneered, "Old man, you feel sorry now? What if I tell you that, six years ago, Cara wasn't subjected to those horrid acts, and those disgraceful photos were staged by people I hired. Would you regret your actions? After all, no matter how much Cara pleaded, you never believed her. You pushed Cara towards Elijah and me! The situation she is in today is all thanks to you!"
The old man's eyes widened.
It was as if a blade was pierced right through his heart.
Cara, too, was astounded. She turned back to look at Martina: "Martina Barret, what did you just say?"
"You idiot, you still don't understand? The incident six years ago - I planned it all from the beginning!" Martina's voice was full of scorn and arrogance. "Including Elijah, he never loved you. His arrival, all his warmth and tenderness towards you, were all a part of my plan. From beginning to end, all he ever felt for you was disgust."
"That's impossible! It's impossible! You're lying!"
Cara always thought that Elijah fell out of love later on, but at least his heart was sincere when he initially accompanied her through her lowest times.
How could this possibly be part of a conspiracy!!!
Martina finally achieved her goal.
Her laughter grew crazier: "Cara, Katrina, that old hag warned you, but who asked you to trust me so much? Do you know, the last words the old hag said before death were begging me to spare you!"
Cara widened her eyes. "What did you say? Katrina Lia… has Katrina died?"
Katrina was the housekeeper of Johnson Family, who looked after Cara since her childhood.
"Otherwise? She wanted to tell the old man, how could I let her live? Only the dead keep their mouths shut."
"Martina Barret!!!" Cara wailed in despair.
In the past, Katrina had warned her many times to stay away from Martina for her cunning.
But she never believed her, always arguing with Katrina because of these warnings.
Later, Katrina disappeared. Martina told her that Katrina had gone back to her hometown, and Cara believed her.
Never would she have imagined... that Katrina was actually killed by Martina Barret!
"And your ill-fated parents!" Martina continued, without pausing. She simply loved seeing Cara, once an elegant swan riding high, now under her merciless feet, suffering in agony, "Did you really think their car accident was just a mere misfortune?"
Cara's sobs suddenly halted.
The question from Martina struck like a bolt from the blue!
Half a month after the news about her assault spread, her parents tragically died in a traffic accident.
Martina started laughing hysterically, "Your parents were as stupid as you! They found out about the issue and my involvement, but they didn't report it to the police immediately. Instead, they called to confront me! I cried a little on the phone, made up an excuse about someone threatening me into doing it, said I would turn myself in, and they actually believed me. After hanging up, I immediately tampered with their car..."
"Martina Barret! You inhuman beast!" Cara roared in uncontrollable fury, her blood-stained, scarred hand clutching tightly onto Martina's arm.
Hatred surged wildly in her eyes!
In the three years of torment in the mental hospital, she thought Martina's cruelty had reached its peak!
But she was shocked to realize that was just the tip of the iceberg!
At this moment, she wished she could tear Martina apart and devour her alive.
But she was too weak...
"Cara, after all, whether it's Katrina or your parents, they are all killed because of you!" Martina violently kicked at Cara's thin, bony arm, which immediately snapped with a crisp sound.
"Ah!" A wave of intense pain hit. Cara cried out in agony.
Martina took a step back, disgustedly cleaning her arm, which Cara had grasped, with a tissue, "If you had trusted Katrina from the start, or say, hadn't acted so weak and vulnerable, your parents might not have kept my deeds from you. Moreover, even if you had listened to the old man and refused to marry Elijah, my plan wouldn't have succeeded!"
At this moment, the monitor beside the hospital bed started sounding an alarm.
Cara, panic-stricken and disregarding her broken arm, stumbled towards the bed.
Having heard so many cruel truths, the elderly man laid on the bed, convulsing violently. Cara cried out in pain, "Grandfather... hold on, I will call the doctor immediately!”
Then she wanted to turn back to beg Martina.
She had lost her dignity a long time ago and her grandfather was the only family she had left in this world.
As long as he could be saved, Cara would comply with whatever Martina demanded!
However, before she could react, she felt a cold, sticky liquid poured upon her.
Was… Was this gasoline?
Cara felt a sudden shock – it seemed that Martina planned to burn her alive...
She wasn't afraid of death. After being tortured for three years, death was more of a release for her.
But…
She didn't want her grandfather to die a horrible death because of her!
Trembling from fear, Cara pleaded, "Martina, you can do anything you want with me, please spare my grandfather!"
Martina calmly walked out of the ward, turning back with an ironical smile. "Cara, are you still living in a dream? My sole intention is to see you ruined, even in death, you will find no peace! Tomorrow, you'll be the front-page news - 'Heiress escaping from the insane asylum in the dead of night, burning her wealthy grandfather alive.' Doesn't that sound like a great headline?"
Cara felt sheer despair sinking in.
So this was why Martina brought her here from the mental hospital!!!
To make her the murderer of her own grandfather!
"Oh right, Timothy is already downstairs. I didn't expect that such a cold-blooded and aloof fellow would actually fall for a lowly woman like you. For your sake, he nearly gave away half of his family fortune to me and Elijah... However, you may die, but his living is too dangerous for us. Since he loves you so much, I might as well oblige him and let him die with you."
Timothy Charles?
Cara froze.
This man, strictly speaking, was a stranger to her. Due to his previous attempt to forcibly acquire the Johnson Group, she harbored no good feelings towards him.
Why would he…
"Cara, don't be so foolish in your next life."
Martina did not appear to feel the need to elaborate further. With a flick, she ignited her lighter. Staring at the flaring spark, she let out a thrill-filled laugh before tossing the lighter into the room.
There was a loud blast as the room, doused in gasoline, instantly transformed into a hellish inferno.
The flames licked at Cara's skin, the pain searing deep into her bones. The old man on the hospital bed was rapidly consumed by the fiery blaze. Her heart ached to the point of breaking as she was forced to watch him suffer amidst the crackling fire.
"Martina Barret! I'll return as a vengeful ghost for your life. Neither you nor Elijah will die a good death!"
Her shrill scream shattered the silent night ambiance of the hospital.
Moments later, someone rushed in from outside the door, frantically screaming her name, and tightly embraced her as she struggled in agony.
Cara was burning up from the inside out.
"Run, you'll die!"
She cried out for help, silently.
She didn't want anyone else to die because of her…
Please, just go…
But the person never let go.
Before she completely lost consciousness, she faintly heard a soft voice whisper, "I will never leave you alone again."
