Twisted Ties of Love

Chapter 285

The video was edited and only five minutes long.

Izabella sat blankly in front of the computer. When the video appeared, her blocked memories leaked out like a flood, overwhelming her entire consciousness in an instant, then slowly turning into pieces of broken ice. They were bright like a cracked mirror, each fragment recording her lost memories.

Those memories were like arrogant demons, howling and competing inside her, trying to hide her most fearful memories. But as the video played, the locks containing these "demons" broke one by one, leaving them exposed and bloody in front of Izabella.

As a gunshot echoed in the video, Izabella's eyes reddened, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She clutched her head tightly and fell screaming from the chair.

"No! Ryker!"

Her brain was feeling like exploding. She held her head tightly, desperately trying to suppress those emerging memories. But it was useless. Those images were clear and cruel, forcing her to confront them directly.

"Don't leave...”

—"Cry Baby, I can't carry you home this time."

—"Bella, I'm not in pain. Don't be sad for me."

—"I'll help you with anything you're scared of, including people."

—"Bella, I'm sorry. Ryker is just a stupid little boy who can't protect you..."

"Ahh!" Izabella cried painfully. After the video finished, the account automatically logged out, and the computer screen went dark. The people in the internet cafe were startled by the sudden scream, and their attention was drawn to the corner filled with crying.

Izabella covered her mouth with her hands, trembling like a bundle. Tears fell one by one, each feeling scalding painful as they dropped onto her hands.

She choked out a whisper: "No wonder I couldn't find you no matter how hard I tried. We're not in the same world anymore."

Blocked memories are terrifying, but not the most painful. What plunged her into despair and struggle was witnessing Ryker's death with her own eyes. She called Brett ten times, but he never answered, and in the end, Ryker's life was lost to this "gamble."

Ryker, who gave her all his cookies and made her donut earrings. The Ryker who promised to protect her forever is now dead, blood-stained and lying right in front of her eyes.

He was still the same little boy who carried her home nineteen years ago, the one who gave her donuts to stop her crying, and died right in front of her when she finally recognized him.

Izabella gasped painfully. The long-healed scars on her body began to ache again, with veins bulging on her neck, and she tore at her hair as she clutched her head.

Her heart was already riddled with holes, and her soul shattered along with it. Izabella wrapped herself in a small box, thinking she could escape the past. But the box was filled with needles, and no matter how she tried to avoid them, they would still pierce her.

The owner of the internet cafe came over after hearing the noise, looked at Izabella who was curled up on the floor, and asked quietly: "Miss, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

Izabella didn't seem to hear him, and her beautiful eyes were like pitch-black abysses, empty and fearful.

The owner reached out to touch her shoulder gently.

At that slight touch, Izabella trembled like a frightened bird, her downcast eyelashes quivering.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" the internet cafe owner asked.

Under the strong stimulation, Izabella briefly shut down her senses. She watched the man's mouth open and close in front of her, but she just couldn't hear his voice clearly.

She leaned against the chair beside her, stumbled, and fell to the ground again. Her hair messily covered her face, making her look like a madwoman.

Her hand was pressed down by the chair, and a large patch of skin swelled, but Izabella didn't seem to feel any pain, as if she had gotten used to it.

She wobbled to her feet and said hoarsely, "He's dead. From the start, I was nothing but a mistake."

She mistakenly thought Brett was the one who saved her when she was eight, and had been worshipping a heartless and ruthless demon as her dream for so many years.

Her stomach clenched, and Izabella hung her head as blood oozed from her slightly open mouth, staining her hair red. She slowly walked away like a ghost, and the people around her automatically distanced themselves from her, fearing she was a madwoman who would hurt others.

Walking out of the internet cafe, she stood on the street, looking up at the foggy sky, as if a dark grey despair draped over her head. An invisible giant hand was gripping her, tightening bit by bit, making her skin constrict and her bones shatter, and her soul within trembled.

A black luxury car quickly stopped in front of her, and Izabella's pupils flickered as she saw Brett come out of the back seat. He was wearing a white shirt that didn't quite suit his character, towering and elegant, though his face was a bit pale from the recent stomach pumping.

"Come back with me." Brett glanced at her outfit and knew she wanted to run away. He was initially angry, but when he saw her thin body, swollen eyes, and the blood on the corner of her mouth, his heart seemed to turn cold and shatter like ice.

He walked over and took Izabella's cold hand. To his surprise, she didn't resist and obediently followed him into the car.

"You wanted to run away?" Brett asked, holding her body with one arm.

"Yeah, it's just a pity that you're not dead yet. Got scared halfway through, huh?"

Brett clenched his teeth, tasting a hint of blood. His recently cleaned stomach began to burn again. He asked in a hoarse voice, "Izabella, do you really hate me that much?" Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

Izabella laughed as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. Her body shook violently like a tiny grass in the rainstorm.

"Do these hands still look clean?" She shakily held out her ugly hands in front of Brett.

Brett's breath hitched for a moment, and his secret fear which he had always tried to suppress suddenly erupted, and the terror in his eyes seemed to swallow him like a storm.

After a long time, he tried to speak, but his throat was choked.

"You remembered everything?"

"Yes, I remember everything. Brett, how can I not hate you? You left my family in ruins and delivered me into the hands of the kidnappers where I was tortured! How can I not hate you? It must've been hard for you to come up with so many lies to fool this stupid girl during the months I lost my memory."

Brett's throat choked up, he wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.

The hatred in Izabella's eyes grew thicker, almost like scalding flames, branded onto him.

Izabella suddenly spoke softly, sarcastically: "I'm curious, how can you see these scars on me and tell the story of our love? Don't you feel guilty and disgusted?"

"I'm sorry." Brett never thought that an apology would be so difficult and so ineffective.

"You want to solve my wounds with just one 'sorry'? Can I also shoot you and say it was an accidental discharge?"

She would never accept Brett's apology. Otherwise, what would her finger full of steel needles mean? What would the scars on her body mean? How would Ryker's death count?

Thinking of Ryker, Izabella's tears flowed again, the pain unbearable.

"I know saying sorry can't solve the problem. So, Bella, give me a chance to make it up to you, okay? Blame me for being arrogant, blame me for not believing you got stomach cancer and letting you get hurt." Tears welled up in Brett's eyes as he tightly held Izabella's hand. If they weren't in the car, he would have knelt down.

Izabella's icy gaze made him shudder, and he didn't know what to do to make her stop looking at him like that.

"Izabella, please give me a chance to atone. Even murderers have their day in court, don't just give up on me. I really know I was wrong. The reason your baby was aborted this time was because of your stomach cancer. The doctor said you couldn't get pregnant, and I've already found a medical team studying cancer. You'll be saved soon."

Izabella looked at him quietly, and after hearing about the child, she smirked: "The only thing you did right was to kill that child. You're right, he shouldn't have come into this world. If I had regained my memory earlier, I wouldn't have let him stay in my belly for that long, four months."

"Brett, congratulations on killing your second child, you deserve to be childless." She laughed coldly, her eyes like a venomous snake.

Brett's pupils trembled, "No, what you said is not true." Izabella loved their children so much. How could she say that the dead child shouldn’t exist? Would she be so disgusted by anything related to him?

Izabella laughed again, ridiculing Brett's arrogance. Those clear and clean pupils gradually shattered, getting darker and darker like ink blending in...

Izabella's eyes were filled with nothing but pain and hatred, the kind of hatred that seared into her bones.

With her reddened eyes, she calmly said, "I have a video for you. Watch it when you have time, and watch it over and over..."