He Faked a Disease to Test Me for Three Years, I Used the Time to Earn My Escape Chapter 04
I had less than two days left in this world.
My body was growing more exhausted by the hour, and I did not want to speak.
But even when I gave no response, Ava’s smug smile only made her friends grow bolder and louder.
At first, Adrian glanced over from time to time.
When he saw Ava smiling and chatting as if nothing was wrong, he stopped paying attention.
Ava leaned close to my ear and whispered, “So what if you’re the biological daughter? As long as I’m unhappy, you won’t even be allowed through the Whitmore family’s front door.”
I looked at Ava and said each word slowly and clearly. “I just want some peace and quiet. Make them leave, would you? Jenna.”
The moment Ava heard the name “Jenna,” her pupils shrank sharply.
She forced down the panic on her face, made up an excuse, and left with her friends.
I wiped the tip of my nose.
I was bleeding again.
I stayed in the bathroom for a very long time, so long that everyone at the party had already left, and no one remembered me.
In the end, a member of the cleaning staff woke me up and asked if I wanted her to call an ambulance.
I shook my head. “No.”
By the time I returned to the Whitmore estate, the sky was completely dark.
The moment I stepped inside, an ashtray came flying straight at me.
I cried out in pain, clutched my forehead, and stumbled two steps back.
Blood ran down along my brow bone.
Adrian’s voice was terrifyingly cold. “Where did you go? Where’s Ava? Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
My mother rushed over with red eyes and slapped me across the face.
“You must have driven Ava away! Someone raised by human traffickers really is no good. If we’d known this would happen, we never should have let you come back!”
I stared at my mother, then looked at Adrian through my blood-blurred vision.
The System’s countdown suddenly rang out in my mind.
The stabbing pain in my chest abruptly intensified. Every word took all the strength I had left.
“If this was how it would end, she would have been better off dying back when she was five. Then she wouldn’t have spent all those years longing to come home, foolishly believing someone would be waiting for her.”
No one noticed the flaw in my words.
They were all too busy making calls and searching for Ava.
My father slammed his hand down on the table. “Adrian! Lock her in the storage room and let her think about what she’s done. She doesn’t come out until Ava is back.”
Adrian lifted me with one hand and threw me straight into the storage room.
The door was locked from the outside.
The world fell silent in an instant.
The blood from my forehead did not stop, and blood from my nose began running down as well.
In the darkness, I kept wiping the blood away with my hands.
I kept going until I no longer had the strength to lift them.
I did not know how much time had passed before the System’s voice sounded again.
[Reward credited.]
The corner of my mouth lifted.
I could finally go back.
There was someone waiting for me there.
At the same time, Adrian found Ava in an abandoned factory outside the city.
Ava’s evening dress was torn, and the ruby necklace was gone. She looked utterly disheveled.
She threw herself into Adrian’s arms and burst into tears. “Adrian! You’re finally here! I thought I’d never see you again!”
Adrian held Ava tightly, his voice shaking beyond control. “It’s okay. I’m here now. Don’t be scared.”
Only after Ava’s sobs quieted a little did Adrian ask, “How did you end up here? Why weren’t you with Ivy?”
As if the question had triggered her, Ava trembled all over, and tears rushed back into her eyes.
“It was Ivy. She said she was going to sell me to traffickers. I was scared and about to call Mom and Dad, but then I blacked out. When I woke up, I was here, and my phone was gone too.”
On the way home, Adrian’s face was dark with fury.
He made a phone call. “Cancel everything we arranged before. The house, the car, and the school placement. All of it. And cancel Ivy’s birthday party too.”
As the car pulled into the Whitmore estate, Adrian got out before it even reached the garage and headed straight for the storage room.
“Ivy! Get out here!”
The instant he opened the door, Adrian’s voice cut off, and his entire body froze in place.