Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
Halston remained silent, though he was breathing rapidly as he attempted to undo the chains that were trapping Flossie in there. Despite being in the water, he was sweating profusely from anxiety.
“Don’t worry too much! I’ll be fine. In fact, it’s all just a trick to lure you out. You…”
Flossie was so moved that she was about to confess everything to Halston, but just then, all the lights in the water prison turned on, and half a dozen burly men barged in.
“It’s time! Chain him up!”
Quinton stood on the highest spot in the room and peered down haughtily at the two people inside the water prison. Meanwhile, Chase was standing by his side.
“Wh-What’s going on here? Chase… Didn’t you tell me that we’d be dealing with this matter alone? How…”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Ellsworth. There are some things that I can’t control.”
Chase sighed in regret.
Next, the burly men then chained Halston up at the spot where Flossie originally stood.
Standing at a high spot, Quinton looked down at Flossie, who was still in the water prison and told her, “Hurry up and get out, sister. The water level is increasing, and soon, what’s going to come out of these holes won’t be water, but venomous creatures of all manner like snakes and bugs.”
“No!” Flossie raised her head and looked at her brother in panic. “Brother, you gave me your word! You told me you’d give me the full authority to deal with the impostor, didn’t you? So what are you doing now?”
“I wanted to let you handle it yourself, but as soon as I learned the impostor’s true identity, I knew I just had to break my promise to you. Please forgive me, Flossie.”
Beneath his mask, Quinton’s eyes became dangerously ruthless, as if he could hardly restrain himself from tearing the impostor into pieces right then and there.
“This is my own personal vengeance. I have endured crushing humiliation for so many years just so I can avenge myself one day, so I can’t just let him go.”
“Personal… Personal vengeance?”
Flossie turned around and stared confusedly at the man whose arms and legs had been chained up. In a lowered voice, she asked him, “So, who are you? Are you going to tell me yourself?”
Flossie had a hunch of the man’s true identity, but as long as she had not seen it with her own eyes, she simply refused to believe it.
“I’m sorry,” said Halston with his head hung low as he evaded the question.
Since he had chosen death, he was also prepared to have his identity exposed. It no longer mattered to him whether Flossie would forgive him or despise him even more than she already did.
As long as… she remained safe and sound.
“You’re a smart woman, Flossie. You must’ve already guessed who he is, so stop deceiving yourself and get out of there immediately.”
Quinton could never bear to see his sister be tortured, but the water level was rising fast, and there was no way that the mechanism in this torture chamber could be controlled manually, so if Flossie still would not get out of there quickly, the consequences might be disastrous.
“I… I still haven’t guessed it! I really don’t know who he is! He…”
Flossie’s eyes were reddening. She looked like a stubborn fool, and the reason she was being stubborn was that she simply could not accept the possibility that she was just a fool who had been deceived and played with all along!
“You’re still too emotional, Flossie. I can’t indulge you anymore…”
Quinton frowned and waved a hand before ordering, “Get her out of there now!”
The tall burly men then tried to pull Flossie out of the water, but Flossie effortlessly slipped through their fingers and escaped.
Then, she took a deep breath and, at lightning speed, pulled off the mask on Halston’s face…
“So it really is you!”
Flossie’s heart almost stopped beating when she came face to face with the man. She could hardly describe how she felt, but when she remembered her past interactions with “Mr. Q,” how she used to bawl out her eyes in front of him, complaining to him about how much she hated Halston Guajardo, how she then opened her heart to him and decided to love someone again, how happy and secure she felt with him… she then realized how much of an idiot she was, how she was nothing but a living joke!
“I’m sorry!” said Halston.
His eyes were filled with deep sorrow. Guilt and regret were written all over his handsome and flawless face, but still, all he could say were those two words.
“Did you have a lot of fun playing games with me, Halston Guajardo?! Did it make you proud for having successfully manipulated my feelings and stepping all over my dignity? You really are the most worthless and deceitful man I’ve ever met!”
Flossie’s anger erupted like a volcano. The humiliation wiped away all of her rationality. She quickly got out of the water and peered down at the man before coldly declaring, “A man like this deserves to be bitten to death by venomous snakes and his body corroded by acid! So, Quinton… I leave the rest to you.”
A look of pride and satisfaction cropped up on Quinton’s face.
“As expected from my very own sister! Very good, Flossie! You’re way stronger and far more capable than I expected. It’s only when a woman discards her feelings and emotions can she finally become invincible!”
“…”
Flossie said nothing, turned around, and left.
Chase noticed that the water level was fast approaching the dangerous level. He clenched his fists, and after hesitating for a while, he finally turned around and followed Flossie out of the room.
“Ms. Ellsworth.”
Chase chased after Flossie, who looked rather emaciated and lonely from the back.
“What is it?”
“Are you really going to leave now?”
“Why should I stay here?”
“You should hurry up and stop Boss! He’s not joking, you know. No one else in Carmine Pawnshop— no, no one else in Beach City can stop him except you! If you leave now, then Mr. Q… no, then that devil Mr. Guajardo will surely die!”
“Since you called him the devil yourself, then isn’t it right that he should die anyway?”
“You can say that,” Chase warned her with feeling, “but if he really dies, then he’ll really be gone forever. Won’t you be upset? Or rather… aren’t you afraid of the consequences?”
Halston Guajardo had always been Carmine Pawnshop’s deadliest enemy. Back then, when the two parties were at war with each other, Chase was one of the main forces fighting against him, and he even had his leg injured by the Guajardo family, an injury from which he still suffered long-term effects even now. Naturally, Chase also hated Halston Guajardo with a passion.
But when he remembered his interactions with Halston Guajardo in the past four years, he realized that the man was not as heinous as he thought. He definitely did not deserve to die so easily.
“Hmph, upset? Why would I be?”
Flossie turned her back against the water prison and sneered, “Should I be upset that he’d played me like a puppet? Or should I be upset that he raised up my hopes, only to once again obliterate them into pieces? Or should I be upset that he gave up on me again and again?”
She had always been a woman with high self-esteem and pride. The first time she got hurt, she was still strong enough to lick her wounds and heal herself. But now that she was hurt by the same person again and again, she would not just be pitiful if she forgave him again, but also pathetic!
“You’re right, Ms. Ellsworth. He should never have deceived you, but… what if he was forced to do it? No matter what, his love for you had to be real, or he would never have rushed here without hesitation, even though he knew full well that he was running headlong into a dead end, all just to keep you safe and sound.”
“That’s because he’s an idiot!” Flossie gritted her teeth, her eyes reddening. “In that case, he’s getting what he deserves!”
‘What a foolish man!’ she thought. ‘You should’ve known that it’s a trap! It’s none of my business that you just run into it like an idiot!’
“I have nothing more to say, Ms. Ellsworth. Just think about it yourself. I only hope that you don’t regret it later.”
After saying that, Chase heaved a long sigh and glanced at his watch before speaking in a tense voice, “By this point, the snakes, bugs, and rats should’ve all been released. If it had been someone else, we would’ve heard them shouting and howling in pain, but this guy is still completely silent. He really is a tough one!”
“…”