Chapter 20
But this nightmare was nothing like the ones before.
This time. Calvin became Nettle in his dream.
He experienced, firsthand and in vivid detail, the agony Nettie had once endured–all through her eyes.
The pain he had inflicted on her, the wounds he’d caused, Calvin now suffered himself in that haunted world X
He watched himself, as Nettle, pleading and sobbing on the ground, begging for mercy. But the “Calvin” in his dream just stood by unmoved.3
Worse, he ordered the bodyguards to throw him out–dumped him in a snake–infested cellar, abandoned him in the wilderness, deserted him in every place he had once left Nettie to fend for herself.
Again and again, Calvin jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat, only to be dragged back down by exhaustion, unable to fight off sleep for long.
Over the next week, Calvin’s decline was impossible to ignore. He looked haggard, hollow–eyed, and once, lost in thought while driving. nearly crashed into a guardrail.
The sudden, thunderous impact finally snapped him out of his nightmare. He barely noticed his own injuries, immediately turning to Wettle in panic.”
Nettie, are you alright? Did you get hurt? Are you okay?”
Only after Nettie assured him she was fine did Calvin relax, letting out a shaky breath 8
“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Nettle gazed at Calvin–at the bloodshot eyes, the exhaustion etched into every line of his face.
A strange, heady sense of satisfaction bloomed inside her
Looks like the medicine was working.
But she kept her face carefully neutral, even gracious. “It’s alright, it wasn’t your fault“}}
Calvin was deeply moved by her understanding, but before he could say anything more, Nettie suddenly asked, “Is something troubling you lately? You don’t seem yourself.”
Calvin froze, then let out a bitter laugh.8
He’d imagined, long ago, that if Nettie ever came back to him, he’d fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness the moment he saw her.
But now, faced with her, he couldn’t find the words.
How could he admit it? Admit he’d been wrong–not just that he hadn’t trusted her, but that he’d hurt her over and over, all for the sake of an adopted daughter. That he’d believed Charis’s lies, that he’d left Nettie stranded on the cruise ship–left her to die in the explosion
Guilt and regret threatened to drown him. Yet when he met Nettie’s clear, innocent eyes, the words caught like thorns in his throat–impossible to swallow impossible to spit out.
After a long, heavy silence, Calvin forced a smile. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”
Nettie didn’t press him further but inwardly, she thought. I gave you a chance, Calvin
Why can’t you u ever admit you
you were wrong? Why won’t you confess? Is it fear? Cowardice? Or does it just not matter to you?
Because of the accident, the two of them had no choice but to turn back and head home.
But that night, Calvin’s nightmare returned, suffocating and relentless. Lost in its grip, he suddenly found himself in front of Nettie’s room–on his knees, bowing over and over, unable to utter a single word.
His desperate, frenzied movements startled Nettie awake. The commotion was so loud that the house staff downstairs rushed up, alarmed.3
When they saw Calvin’s state, they were struck speechless, frozen in shock.8
At last, the butler was the first to recover, grabbing Calvin and forcing him into the car to take him to the hospital.
After the chaos was finally under control, the butler turned to Nettle with an apologetic smile.3
He tried to explain, but every word tilted in Calvin’s favor
He insisted Calvin was innocent, that he’d never known Charls–seemingly so sweet and innocent–hid such a venomous heart
He said Calvin had only ever pitied Charis’s tragic past, had wanted to protect her, to care for her.
And that’s why, again and again, he’d made mistakes–mistakes that had ended up condemning Nettle to hell.
