Chapter 15
“If you hadn’t stopped Jeremy from contacting me, Norah could have been saved!
“You would do anything just to marry me. Are you finally satisfied now that Norah is dead?
“Do you know how she died, Selena? Let me tell you. While we were having our wedding, Norah was trapped in a blazing fire! I could have saved her if you hadn’t stopped Jeremy from telling me!
“She had already been burned alive by the time I got there!” Justin raged on.
With every word, the fury in his eyes grew. His grip tightened around Selena’s throat.
Selena’s feet lifted off the ground as he strangled her, her face turning red, lips darkening to a sickly purple. Her eyes rolled back, and she couldn’t even form a single word in defense.
Pure fear overtook her. Never had she seen Justin like this before–mad, ruthless, and beyond control.
Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. Struggling against suffocation, she forced out broken words weakly, “I… I’m sorry… Justin… Justin…”
Every syllable drained her last ounce of strength, but Justin did not let go. He watched coldly as she teetered on the edge of death. Only when she was about to lose consciousness did he finally release his grip, letting her collapse onto the floor.
“I would be too merciful if I let you die this easily,” he spat icily. “From now on, you will repay everything you stole from Norah. You will experience every ounce of pain she went through.”
Selena gasped for breath, clutching her throat. She had truly believed she would die just now. But in the next second, she realized that death would have been a blessing,
Justin pronounced her punishment, “We’ll start with the kidney.”
“No… No!”
Guards stormed in, grabbing Selena by the arms and dragging her away.
They didn’t take her to a proper hospital. Instead, she was brought to a private medical facility in Justin’s territory.
Inside, she was strapped tightly to an operating table. The thin nightgown she wore barely covered her body.
“Mr. Johnson, the pain will be excruciating if we don’t use anesthesia. She may even go into shock from blood loss,” the doctor advised Justin against it.
Justin’s eyes were cold as he lifted Selena’s shirt, his fingers brushing against the scar on her waist.
For so long, he had trusted her because of that scar. But now, as his fingers traced the skin, he finally noticed the truth–it was nothing but a crude tattoo.
How ridiculous!
As he retracted his hand, disgust filled his gaze. His instruction carried no trace of hesitation. “Cut her open right where the tattoo is. Since she dared to deceive me, let’s make it real!”
The gagged Selena thrashed desperately with tears streaming down her face.
Even so, Justin didn’t spare her a single glance before turning and walking out of the operating room.
The doctor sighed. He had no idea what Selena had done to provoke Justin. “Well, not my place to question it.”
The sharp scalpel sliced through Selena’s skin.
With no anesthetic, Selena was in so much pain that she nearly passed out. She felt everything–each layer of skin being cut open, every fiber of muscle and fat being peeled apart, and the sharp pain as her blood vessels were severed
And then, the deep, gut–wrenching pull as her kidney was extracted, still pulsing with life.
Selena screamed in agony at the top of her lungs. The sheer torment—both physical and psychological–was too much to bear. She thrashed violently before slipping into unconsciousness, only to be wrenched back awake by another wave of excruciating pain.
Again and again, the cycle repeated until she felt like she was on the verge of death.
The needle pierced her torn flesh, stitching the wound closed. Each stitch sent searing pain through her body, making her wish she could slam her head against the wall just to end it.
She sobbed uncontrollably.
Beside her, the kidney that had been ripped from her body lay in a pool of blood. The sight of it burned into her vision. It was impossible for her to ignore it.
At last, the surgery was over. Selena’s body had turned deathly pale, her consciousness slipping away as she passed out.
The tattoo she once used to deceive Justin… had now become a grotesque, permanent scar.
