Chapter 633: Don’t Believe Him
It was down to the final chicken wing and whoever ate it would be the winner. Zen hurriedly pushed the chicken wing into her mouth. But she was slower than the dog.
The dog clawed at her face relentlessly.
She ignored the pain. But the chicken wing fell from her hand to the floor. Seeing that the dog was about to eat the chicken wing, Zen spotted the fruit knife that Wendy handed to her earlier. Picking the knife up, Zen sank the knife into the dog with all her might.
The dog screamed in pain. While it struggled, it sank its teeth onto Zen once more.
Zen’s body was covered in blood by now. She could not run and was left to fight against the dog where she was.
With gritted teeth and eyes flashing in determination, Zen forcefully pulled the knife from the dog’s body. Mustering all her strength once more, she slashed at the dog.
"Argh!" Zen screamed. This time, Zen had won. She looked upon the whimpering animal that sank to the floor. She then went straight for the leftover chicken wing that had fallen from the dog’s mouth.
Only half remained since the dog had already eaten part of it. The dog had to stop eating halfway since Zen attacked it earlier on. Zen did not seem bothered by the fact that the chicken wing had been spat out by the dog. She simply stuffed it into her mouth. As she ate, tears streamed down her cheeks.
Wendy hurried to Zen’s side and threw her arms around her as she exclaimed, "Oh Zen, why are you so foolish!"
This time, Christian no longer held Wendy back. The game had ended.
Walking forward, Christian peered down at the two women who huddled together.
Spitting the last of the chicken bones out, a bloodied Zen looked up at Christian and announced, "I won. Mr. Lucas, I believe you will keep your word."
"Are you sure?" Christian responded, scoffing.
"I ate four pieces..." Zen forced the words out as she tolerated the pain that was setting in, "Everyone saw it!"
"Yes, we did see you eat the chicken wings. To be precise, you ate three and a half.
This last one had been half eaten by the dog," Christian explained casually.
"You!" Zen did not expect Christian’s rebuttal.
Her bloodshot eyes were filled with disbelief, "Christian Lucas, I’ve won the game.
You can’t go back on your word!"
"I’m not going back on my word," Christian taunted, "It’s a fact that you only ate three and a half pieces of chicken wings. So it’s a tie."
"A tie?" Zen questioned, "So what does that mean?"
"It’s a tie. So..." Christian paused purposefully. He then continued whimsically, "However, you took out a fruit knife during the course of this game and I never permitted that."
"But you didn’t prohibit us from using it either," Zen argued, "When Wendy handed me the knife, you saw it too! If it was not permitted, why didn’t you speak up then?"
"Because, I decide on the rules! Hahaha!" Christian broke out in maniacal laughter.
"Now, I’ve ruled that this game does not permit the use of weapons.
"Since you used a fruit knife to snatch the last half of the chicken wing, you’ve broken the rules. So, you’ve lost."
...
"Christian Lucas!" Zen had always known that Christian was despicable.
What she did not expect was for him to go back on his word so quickly.
"You’re deplorable!" she screamed.
By now, Zen was lying on the floor, covered in blood. Still, she scowled at Christian with bloodshot eyes.
"Me? Deplorable?" Christian taunted, "Well, that’s true, I’m truly horrible. What are you going to do about that?"
"You-" Zen clawed at the floor as she curled her fingers into her palms.
Christian Lucas was a demon. In a fit of anger, Zen looked over at the dog that was whimpering weakly. She dragged herself over and pulled the fruit knife from its body. Raising the knife, she slashed at Christian’s body.
But she was wounded and couldn’t even get on her feet. The knife barely scratched Christian. Christian simply took a small step back, and Zen’s knife struck the space beside him.
"Do the both of you want me dead now?" Christian’s frosty tone carried no less mockery. "Both of you want me dead..."
"Doesn’t someone like you deserve death?" Zen hissed through her clenched teeth.
"What does that matter," Christian remarked before his foot landed heavily on Zen’s body. The pain left Zen gasping for air as she unwittingly shrieked. Wendy hurried to block Zen from Christian, stopping him from repeating his act.
"Christian Lucas, just direct your attacks at me!" Wendy snarled.
"Aren’t you in too much of a hurry?
"As the ones who lost, I’ll be sure that you pay the price," Christian looked down at the women condescendingly from where he stood.
"Wendy Stewart, I’ll let you know right now that this baby you’re carrying is about to bid you farewell." At this, Christian threw his head back once more and laughed hysterically. From his hearty, twisted laughter, it was as though he had experienced a great triumph.
"Christian Lucas, you cannot do this to her child..." Zen was desperate to help Wendy by now. Tears streamed from her eyes as she pleaded, "Just take it out on me, will you?
"I’ll let you do anything you want to me. I’m begging you, just let Wendy and her baby go..."
Zen mustered all her strength to bring herself to her knees as she prostrated herself before Christian, "Christian, don’t you love Wendy? You can’t bear to do something so hateful to her, can you?"
Zen did not know how else to appeal to Christian. Others might feel some sympathy.
But this was Christian Lucas. Sympathy was not an emotion he would ever feel.
"Zen, don’t do this..." Wendy reached over and tried to help Zen to her feet, but Zen refused to stand.
"Zen!" Wendy’s tone grew more grave as her eyes watered as well.
"If this doesn’t satisfy you, then go ahead and kill me," Zen sobbed. "As long as you let Wendy and her child go, you can have my life."
"What’s so scary about death?" Christian scoffed, "I don’t want you both to die. Since you’re both in my hands now, it’s so easy to simply kill you. So how could you use your death as a bargaining chip?"
"Well, then what do you want?" Zen wept. "No matter what you want, I’ll agree to it.
As long as you let Wendy go."
But Christian was not moved. He walked to a chair and lightly tapped against the surface of the table, as though thinking about something.
Shortly after, Christian spoke once more, "Oh, by the way, I just thought of something. It’s something you’d be quite concerned about, Wendy."
Wendy remained silent. As though engaged in a monologue, Christian continued, "It’s something to do with Leah."
...
"What happened to Leah?" At Leah’s name, Wendy could not help but ask.
"Look at me, I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I forgot to tell you about it," Christian cruelly teased. "Well, you didn’t know that the person who looked exactly like you was Yvonne Taylor, did you?"
Christian had no intention of telling Wendy these at first. He had believed that as long as he kept Wendy by his side, she would eventually come to love him. But that gunshot fired by Wendy had shattered Christian’s hopes. Even if he died for her, she would never come to love him. All Wendy cared about was Michael and her children.
Christian was never someone compassionate. Since Wendy had upset him, he would not let go of the opportunity to make Wendy unhappy.
"What?" Wendy was not expecting this. She had guessed that it was all the work of Christian, but it had not crossed her mind that the woman he used was Yvonne Taylor.
"Back then, I saved Yvonne. She didn’t die," Christian took his time to explain.
"Michael had put her in a car that had faulty brakes and allowed the car to roll off a mountain. It was quite steep, really. If not for me, Yvonne would have been a goner.
"I had someone stop the car halfway down the mountain. The car had turned over by then. Yvonne Taylor was really lucky. Though the car exploded, she survived the blast. Well, that fire did leave her disfigured, though. In fact, her whole body was burnt."
"When she regained consciousness, I arranged for her to have a full-body surgery.
The purpose of the cosmetic surgery was to look just like you. I got someone to train her to get to know all your lifestyle habits, and even got her to mimic your voice.
"All so that we could replace you with her when an opportunity arose. I must say, it was quite the perfect plan since she did replace you. Michael hasn’t even realized that you’ve been replaced by someone else!"
"That’s not possible!" Wendy retorted. "She may be similar to me, but she isn’t me.
Michael will definitely be able to tell the difference."
"Wendy, in these past few months, how do you think Yvonne lived?" Christian sneered, "She spent day and night imitating you. You saw it for yourself, didn’t you?
Not only did she look exactly like you, but she also even sounded just like you. For you to believe that Michael will be able to tell that she’s a fake, you might as well await the birth of their child!"
As Christian spoke, his attention was fixed on Wendy’s response. Seeing her face contort in astonishment and horror, Christian beamed. He just loved seeing Wendy like this.
Since he could not live the life he dreamed of, then he would push Wendy to her breaking point one step at a time.
"Wendy, don’t believe him. He must be saying these on purpose," Zen desperately held onto Wendy’s hand, comforting her.
Wendy breathed deeply and tried to remain rational. She looked Christian in the eye and asked, "What does any of this have to do with Leah?"
"Oh, silly me, I got sidetracked," Christian tapped on the table and laughed, "Yvonne naturally detests the lot of you, so I gave her a special drug. This drug is a low-acting poison. It can attack an individual’s immune system. If I’m not wrong, Leah has a congenital deficiency in her immune system. Well, then this poison would be perfect against her."
"What did you just say?" Wendy shot to her feet and grabbed Christian by his collar.
Seeing red, she snarled, "What did you do to Leah?"
