Getting no response, Leona Grant’s expression twisted in pain. "Annabelle Linton, come out..."

Seeing this, Ashley Grant’s heart ached, and her eyes instantly reddened. "Brother..." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Leona Grant lost consciousness again.

He had another dream.

In the dream, Annabelle Linton’s long, wavy hair cascaded down to her waist like seaweed. She was dressed all in red, her beauty bewitching and dazzling.

Her eyes, in particular, glowed with a faint purple light. Her face remained expressionless, yet she exuded a powerful aura.

She appeared before him, watching him with her usual lack of emotion—utterly cold, like a blast of frigid wind.

Thinking of how he had treated her in the past, he pressed his lips into a thin line and said, "Annabelle Linton, I know I was wrong before. Can you forgive me?"

She gave him a cool look, her expression still blank as she walked past him.

She was so nonchalant and unburdened, as if she could walk out of his life at any second.

He grew frantic. Grabbing her arm, he pleaded, "Don’t go, Annabelle Linton! I really know I was wrong. I know... I know you don’t love me anymore, but I don’t care. I just want to stay by your side. I’ll pay any price, no matter what it is!"

"Oh?" She stopped and turned to face him, the corner of her mouth lifting in a barely-there smile. "You’d really do anything for me?"

He gazed at her, mesmerized by her heart-stopping beauty, and numbly nodded.

Annabelle Linton gave a gentle smile, radiant as the brightest star in the sky. She rose onto her tiptoes, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, her breath like a sweet fragrance, "Then... go to hell for me."

As soon as the words left her lips, a knife materialized in her hand, and she viciously plunged it into his chest.

The pain came without warning. He froze for a second, then a slow smile spread across his lips as he placed his hand over hers on the hilt. "Annabelle Linton, do you love me?"

She laughed, her smile full of scorn.

He pushed the knife deeper into his own chest and gave her a devilish smile. "Say you love me, then do it again."

She said, "I love you."

And with that, she stabbed him in the chest again.

Blood stained his white shirt red, dripping down. DRIP. DRIP. He seemed to feel no pain, his smile only deepening as he gripped the knife and pushed it in harder. "I want to hear it again."

Annabelle Linton smiled faintly, released her grip, and walked away.

He tried to go after her but found he couldn’t take a single step. Finally, he collapsed to the ground.

His vision blurred as he watched her.

She dissolved like seafoam, fading away piece by piece until she was gone.

He reached for her, but his hand grasped at nothing.

...

"Annabelle Linton... Annabelle Linton..."

Leona Grant woke up again that night. The room was empty. He stared vacantly around the hospital room.

’Where’s Annabelle Linton?’

He realized that more than anything, more than ever before, he needed to see Annabelle Linton.

Leona Grant pushed himself out of bed. The movement tore his wound open, and blood began to trickle down his skin. He seemed oblivious as he walked out of the room, barefoot.

The moment he stepped out of his room, he saw Annabelle Linton in the room next door.

His gaze fell on her slender back.

She was sitting in a chair, bent slightly over as she wiped Aaron Wyatt’s hands.

As she wiped them, she clutched his hand, her own eyes red. Her voice was hoarse. "Aaron Wyatt, please wake up, won’t you? You’ve been asleep for three days."

She reached up to wipe her eyes. "How can you just keep sleeping here without a word, ignoring me? Why did you take that bullet for me that day? Do you have any idea how guilty I feel, or how worried I am about you...?"