Chapter 81
“Matilda tried to off herself in the slammer, slashed her wrists open.” Carl’s volce sunk to a somber whisper, “Mr. Boyd, Matilda, she was the Jall’s punching bag. And when she was heavy with child, they’d starve her out, pushed her to the brink of death.”
“Who the hell allowed this to happen?!” Yvan’s fury was palpable as he slammed his fist against the desk, ashtray clattering to the floor. His fingers trembled with rage as he clenched them into a fist, demanding. “Who did this to her? Who was it?”
“There’s a whole crew involved, so it’s a bit of a mess to untangle.” Carl admitted, barely containing his own fury. “But I swear, I’ll dig up every last one of them.”
Yvan took a deep, steadying breath, murmuring after a long silence, “Carl…do they think, because back then I loathed Matilda, that it gave them carte blanche to do. whatever they pleased?” Even if it meant…taking her life
Carl’s fist tightened on the other end of the line, his voice laced with an undercurrent of resentment, “Mr. Boyd, I wouldn’t presume to guess what you’re thinking.”
Hear that? His trusty assistant was practically accusing him!
Yvan closed his eyes for a moment, and then slowly reopened them, his handsome. face now masked in a chilling calm, “So, the inhumane treatment in prison led Matilda to her depression, didn’t it?”
Carl remained silent, yet his gaze confirmed everything. Yes.
Yvan was the one who sent her to prison, and turned her into a madwoman!! Yvan’s body shook with the effort to maintain his composure, “And the baby, how did it survive?”
“Matilda’s delivery day, it was an illegal surgery, no anesthetics; they cut her open, she nearly bled out on the table. It was Gideon who did everything, even got down on his knees and begged those quacks to save Matilda’s life. To cover the steep medical bills, Gideon sold one of his kidneys on the black market.”
As Yvan absorbed this horrific account, his heart clenched in shock, his pupils constricting at the unanticipated onslaught of brutal truth that pummeled him into the abyss.
“So…Matilda lost her finger during that time as well.”
Carl swallowed hard, dredging up the darkest chapter of their past to relay to Yvan.
12:45
Chapter 81
“In debt to loan sharks for Matilda’s hospital bills, the mob came collecting. They took one of her fingers as a warning.
Later, they were locked up in prison; the mob couldn’t reach them there. Matilda and Gideon dodged a bullet. Once they got out, Gideon sold what was left of their life to settle the debts, taking Matilda and Logan to start anew.”
These revelations, just hearing them, were enough to tear Yvan apart limb from limb! His whole body trembled with the realization of the pitch–black days Matilda had endured, the lengths Gideon had gone to protect his sister.
That was why she lost it when Mia insulted Gideon – because he was the one who’d risked his life for her, the only man in the world who’d ever stood up for her.
Yvan clutched his head in his hands, a guttural roar escaping his throat. His heart. contracted with excruciating pain.
Why did it have to be like this? Why?!
He’d only wanted to lock her away, to make her life a living hell as payback for Rachel but the agony Matilda suffered was beyond any torment, beyond living hell. Her heart, it must have died a thousand, ten thousand deaths!
Why did this happen?!
