Bride of Retribution: Aloof Billionaire's Dominant Game-Chapter 516 - 279 How cruel is fate?

Joseph Shaw sat on the sofa in the office. The pack of cigarettes Atlas Hallow had on him was already finished by Joseph, and the air was filled with a faint scent of tobacco; if it weren’t for the air purifier, it would have probably choked someone out by now.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and it grew increasingly severe, as if he were being struck by a large iron hammer. His heart was strong, and his annual check-ups never showed any problems, but it was now hurting him terribly.

Cold sweat started breaking out on his forehead, and the pain began spreading from his brain to his stomach. Whenever he was nervous, his stomach would cramp, but it seemed like it had been years since he last felt this kind of anxiety.

He suddenly stood up and dashed out in a frenzy; Atlas Hallow followed suit, unaware of what was happening.

"Call Charlotte Miller and ask her if she’s still with Annie Gray, hurry..." Joseph Shaw spoke in a quiet voice, as if he were alarmed by something, feeling particularly strange.

Atlas Hallow saw that Joseph Shaw’s expression was not at all joking, picked up the phone, and dialed Charlotte Miller’s number.

Charlotte Miller was sitting at Annie’s door, hugging her legs, when she accidentally dozed off. The excitement from Annie registering yesterday made it hard for her to sleep, since she was witnessing such a momentous occasion; then they had walked for so long as the weather heated up, making her tired, enough to fall asleep sitting on the ground.

Yet she was drowsy and restless, and the sudden ring of her phone in the quiet air jolted her awake immediately.

Ignoring her legs which were starting to numb, she rummaged through her handbag for her phone. As her fingers touched the photos she picked up for Annie, it felt as if she had touched a terrifyingly hot coal.

The call was from Atlas Hallow. As Charlotte swiped to answer, Atlas’s magnetic voice tenderly resonated over the phone: "Charlotte, are you together with Annie right now?"

"She’s in her apartment. I’m outside and haven’t left yet," Charlotte whispered, as if afraid the person inside would hear her. She tried to stretch her legs, feeling really uncomfortable with the numbness.

"Have her knock on the door. If Annie doesn’t open it, call security to break it open, hurry..." Joseph Shaw practically roared, his handsome face seemed to redden with urgency, stepping on the accelerator without pause, barely stopping at red lights.

With such a loud voice, there was no need for Atlas Hallow to relay the message; Charlotte had heard Joseph Shaw’s words herself.

Although Charlotte had always disliked Joseph Shaw’s behavior, she felt that he wouldn’t ask her to do this without reason. So, she pressed Annie’s doorbell once. When there was no response, she pressed it a second time, and a third... 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Her whole heart suddenly panicked—was it because she was too upset to open the door, or had something happened that made it so she couldn’t open the door nor hear any noise inside?

Thinking of this possibility sent chills down her spine. She frantically rushed into the elevator to find security downstairs.

A beautiful woman arrived unexpectedly, urgently demanding they break open the homeowner’s door—a rather peculiar request. How could they pry a door open? It was illegal. While the security hesitated, Charlotte sensed danger.

Her voice was almost tearful with urgency: "She might be in trouble. Don’t delay—quickly... I will take responsibility for anything that happens; here’s my ID card. If something is indeed wrong, are you prepared to shoulder the blame? I’m her good friend. Trust me."

Charlotte took out her ID card and placed it on the security’s desk. Seeing Charlotte’s red-rimmed eyes, the security realized the situation might indeed be serious, so he quickly called for the locksmith in the apartment complex. Together, they took the elevator to Annie’s floor.

The locksmith, being a professional, had the door unlocked with his tools in less than two minutes.

Charlotte rushed inside, but the quaintly decorated apartment seemed devoid of Annie’s presence.

Not in the living room, Charlotte immediately dashed into Annie’s bedroom, which was also empty.

Only the bathroom door was tightly shut, and from within came a faint sound of running water.

Charlotte’s heart pounded wildly. She truly sensed something was amiss, terribly frightening, just behind this bathroom door.

She took a deep breath and abruptly pushed the door open, instantly overwhelmed by a horrifying, bloody smell.

Charlotte was so startled by the scene before her that her soul almost flew away.

In her crescent-white dress, Annie had not even changed out of it. She sat quietly in the bathtub, her wrist freshly slit, dying the entire tub of water a vivid red. The pungent scent of blood emanated from there.

With her wrist submerged in the water, the wound was almost indistinguishable. All the color seemed to have drained from Annie, leaving her face as pale as a doll.

The strong, capable Annie had done the most cowardly act—she simply couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

"You fool..." Charlotte wept, reaching out to lift Annie, but found her hands had no strength at all.

Just then, she suddenly felt a shadow looming over her, pushing her aside. Joseph Shaw rushed into the bathtub, lifting Annie horizontally and racing out.

"Get the car started, hurry..." he yelled at Atlas Hallow, his tears already dropping onto Annie’s paper-white body.

Annie’s body felt cold, devoid of warmth, a fear Joseph Shaw had never experienced—fear that her body might never warm again.

Atlas Hallow drove, Charlotte sat in the passenger seat, Joseph Shaw tightly held Annie, his handkerchief pressed on her wound, yet his grief-stricken demeanor disgusted Charlotte.

Knowing it, having pushed someone to their death, how could he still dare act so?

Now, with Annie at such risk, Charlotte refrained from arguing with Joseph Shaw; she just hoped for Annie’s recovery. Life, after all, was more important than anything.

At the hospital, Joseph Shaw switched places with Annie and rushed her into the emergency room, Atlas Hallow already alerting the hospital for urgent care from the car.

When the operating room doors shut, the cold white lights were chilling, cruelly devoid of warmth.

Charlotte still had patches of blood on her person, the blood spilled from Annie’s wrist. In the long hallway, their breathing and the intense scent of blood were all that filled the space.

Charlotte’s hands were clenched tightly, nails almost digging into her soft palms.

At that moment, she suddenly felt truly fortunate; if anything happened to her, her mom would stand outside the OR, or perhaps Luna Miller, Mia, and certainly Atlas Hallow would be there too.

But for Annie, it seemed not a single relative remained in her world; outside the OR awaited only her friend Charlotte, and the sickening Joseph Shaw.

This sensation was deeply melancholic; perhaps this was why Annie sought someone to rely on, someone who would wait outside the OR, sign the operating form—someone to escape the lonely, passive plight. Yet ultimately, Joseph Shaw, that scoundrel, had destroyed Annie’s bit of hope, pushing her to the path of death.

Atlas Hallow removed his suit jacket, draped it over Charlotte’s shoulders, and gently pried open her tightly clasped hands, interlocking his fingers with hers.

Her head rested against Atlas’s shoulder, appearing helpless and confused, surrounded by nameless emotions that made each breath feel painfully poignant, and inexplicable tears brimmed in her eyes once more.

She felt deep sorrow for Annie; too competent and independent a girl, yet actually so fragile and lonely, using her independence and competence to mask herself. But why must fate be so cruel?

From now on, Annie’s wrist would bear an ugly, centipede-like scar—a permanent reminder of the nightmare at the marriage registration office today.

Standing by her, Atlas Hallow’s unique scent diluted the hospital’s disinfectant smell mingled with the bloodstains on her clothing; as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, Charlotte felt a little less afraid.

"She’ll be alright, so young, she’ll be alright," Atlas reassured Charlotte, glancing at Joseph Shaw leaning against the OR door, whose entire demeanor emanated an indescribable sense of despair and defeat, gone was any vibrant spirit.

The emergency room light remained on, and the nurse had brought a stack of papers to Joseph Shaw: "Are you Miss Annie’s relative? Please take these forms to pay first."

Charlotte looked at the documents in the nurse’s hands and, fueled by an unknown strength, rushed over rapidly: "I’m her relative, I’ll pay!"

If Annie were awake, she’d rather not owe that scoundrel anything.