Chapter 344: Like a ray of light
"What is this place?"
When Ivy opened her eyes, she found herself tied to a chair in a dingy, dark room.
The last thing she remembered, she had rushed to the Chen mansion, packed her stuff, and left.
After talking to Aunty Lu, she could barely think straight.
Ivy had forever been burdened by the guilt of owing the world too much, of never being enough. Her childhood had been filled with memories of new men everyday that her mother brought home. Some of them had tried to make advances on her.
She hated her mother for that life, but her mother was her only living comfort in the world as well. So when she died, Ivy was left completely alone.
Later, she had a boyfriend whom she loved. She thought he was her forever. Instead, the man cheated on her.
At some point, she genuinely thought she was the problem. But somewhere down the line, she met amazing people.
She encountered Maxim, Logan, Diana, Daisy, Ryle, and Angel. All of them changed her life in ways more than one.
The day Daisy took her to the Chen mansion and Ivy started working for her, she thought she had finally found a forever home.
Yet, ironically, everything was back to square one.
Ivy laughed bitterly until her voice cracked, and she broke down into heavy, sobbing tears.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the dark room.
A group of men walked in. Ivy instantly recognized them, they were her mother’s debtors from the past. The very same people who had injured her and she had run away from when Daisy saved her.
And they were the same people who had hauled her in their car when she was going to airport.
"We finally got you, bitch!" the leader mocked, stepping into the dim light, "Your mother made a hell of a mess with her debts when she was alive. Now that she’s dead, you’re the one who has to repay it. But look at that attitude of yours."
He leaned in closer, a nasty sneer on his face, "You actually put us through so much hassle just to get to you. Some of our people were even arrested. It looks like you managed to find some pretty strong backers."
Ivy stared at them, cold sweat dripping down her face.
One of the man pulled closer to her and grabbed her chin, "But looking at that pretty face, we can’t be mad. You have the potential to continue your mother’s work and pay us well, you know...?"
His stinky mouth hovered too close to her face and Ivy knew where this was going. She had spent her whole childhood being too exposed to this to not understand.
But bound to the chair, battered and bruised, she had no strength left in her, neither to argue nor to fight.
She had a feeling it would only make them more violent.
And she did not want to feel more pain...
As the man completely eclipsed over her face, she closed her eyes, hot tears running down her cheeks.
Boom!
The heavy metal door of the room suddenly blasted off its hinges, crashing into the wall.
Ivy’s eyes snapped open and she looked ahead in disbelief.
A squad of elite bodyguards flooded the room in seconds, weapons raised.
Right behind them, Daisy marched in, her face radiating bone-chilling coldness.
Beside her, Ryle sat in his wheelchair, his expression so dark it looked demonic.
The group of men hovering over Ivy panicked, instantly pulling out weapons and grabbing Ivy.
The leader pressed a blade against her neck. "Stay back! Don’t move or I’ll—"
"Since you knew she had someone protecting her, you should have known your place," Ryle’s voice cut through the air like a death knell.
Bang!
Without a second of hesitation, Ryle raised his gun and shot the leader straight in the head.
The man collapsed instantly, blood pooling on the cold floor. The other thugs threw their weapons up, completely terrified.
Nobody had seen this coming. Nobody thought Ryle would act that fast even.
Ivy was bleeding from a cut on her forehead, her mind completely confused.
Yet, seeing them here, a strange warmth bloomed in her chest. Warm tears spilled from her eyes.
In minutes, all the men were taken down by the elite bodyguards that had accompanied Ryle and Daisy.
"I... I don’t deserve any of this," Ivy choked out when they finally approached her, her voice trembling, "My mother... she wronged you. I... I’m a curse..."
She had not even wanted to face them when she left.
She couldn’t believe that fate would be so pathetic to her that it put her on crossroads with the people she considered her family.
"I... will manage it from here. Please... Please leave me alone.’’
Hearing her words, Ryle’s fingers curled tightly around the armrest of his wheelchair, his heart aching.
Daisy rushed forward, quickly cutting the ropes that restrained her.
"Daisy..." Ivy looked at her with teary eyes, hoping to catch her thoughts on her face.
But, without another word, Daisy pulled Ivy tightly into her arms, pressing a warm kiss against the top of her head.
"It’s fine, Ivy. It’s all over," Daisy whispered gently.
The sound of it was so comforting and gentle that Ivy broke out in a sob.
Her body shook violently as she sobbed and wailed and screamed.
The sound was full of anguish, and it made Ryle’s heart clench in pain.
He couldn’t even imagine what she must have gone through and endured...
He looked at Ivy’s hand again and there was a small birthmark on her palm, just as he had seen it before.
But along the line of her palm, a huge part of her wris was covered in scars. And those were no birthmarks or wounds, they were visible cuts... deep cuts that were not inflicted by anyone else, but her.
How Ryle wished he was wrong when he saw it before...
But sadly, he had not seen it wrong.
The corner of his eyes turned red, the memory of the little girl he had gently held in his arms for the first time, flashed in his mind like it was just yesterday.
’Raelynn, we call her Raelynn,’ a young Ryle had insisted secretly.
’Why Raelynn?’
’It means light. She is like a ray of light.’
Overwhelmed by all the events, Ivy fainted directly into Daisy’s arms.
