Chapter 264 Why Is It Like This
He sat on the ground and only then noticed the blood on his lower leg.
Donny's hand trembled, but he still gritted his teeth and tried to roll up his pant leg.
Before he could even get the fabric to move, the pain of it dragging across his shin made a cold sweat break out over his back, and his body twitched slightly.
Donny looked up at the villa one last time.
The iron gate was already closed. From the look of it, William would not let him in again.
Donny sighed. At least he had found out where Isla was.
He lay on the ground and called for an ambulance.
Soon, someone lifted him onto a stretcher.
Only after he reached the hospital did he realize how serious the injury to his leg was.
That baseball bat had not just broken his shinbone — the fractured bone had shifted out of place and even pierced through the skin and flesh.
The white bits of bone were exposed to the air, making even the nurse beside him shiver.
The surgery to reset the bone was not particularly complicated. Donny had the operation that same day.
He lay in bed afterward, his left leg now encased in a white cast.
Donny leaned back in the hospital bed, staring up at the bulb above him, his thoughts in complete disorder.
William's behavior had no pattern, no logic.
He simply acted on whatever impulse he had.
If this went on, anyone who stayed close to him would be in danger.
But Donny would not give up. He had to make sure Isabella was properly buried.
He would not let William desecrate her body.
Back at the Spencer family villa, Isla and Juniper had been brought back.
They were locked in the dog cages again.
Except this time, there were only two cages left in the living room.
And they had been set very close together.
William had even had people modify the cages, cutting down the space they had to move.
Juniper was a smart person. William was sure she could understand what he meant by this.
Dylan did not see Donny. Though curious, he did not dare to ask too many questions.
The way William was today, his presence alone was enough to make people keep their distance.
It felt as if the old William had returned.
But William still was not handling any company business.
After getting rid of Donny, William simply locked himself in that special room.
He stayed with Isabella, feeling time pass second by second.
William had almost formed a habit.
He held Isabella's hand and gently rubbed it against his own face.
"Isabella, this is all Donny's fault. He forced me to do this."
"Do not blame me. I did not want to hurt him either."
"But I cannot let him ruin my plans."
William's eyebrows drew together when he mentioned Donny.
Then, little by little, they relaxed again.
A gentle smile rested on his face as his fingers lightly stroked the back of Isabella's hand.
"Donny's way is wrong. It will never work."
"I do not trust him. This is something only I can handle."
"Isabella, you do not need to worry about anything or think about anything. I will take care of everything."
The warm, dim light from the bedside lamp fell over them both.
William's face was almost completely hidden in shadow. He closed his eyes and simply sat by the bed, keeping watch over her.
Time crept by until the clock struck midnight.
William soaked a towel in the medicinal solution.
Then, inch by inch, he wiped down Isabella's arms, chest, thighs, and toes.
He did not leave a single spot untouched. Under the effect of the solution, the lividity marks finally stopped spreading.
But Isabella's body still showed no sign of life.
William carefully finished wiping her down, then changed her into a white nightgown.
He lay Isabella on the bed and lay down beside her.
He tossed and turned, but still could not fall asleep.
As soon as he closed his eyes, memories surged back in waves.
William turned over and reached for Isabella's hand.
The chill in her hand sank straight into his skin.
In an instant, William jerked upright as if he had been electrocuted.
He lay on his side, looking at the motionless Isabella.
Then he began to mutter to himself.
"Why did you jump?"
"Isabella, you are so cruel. Did you jump on purpose just to make me feel guilty?"
"Is this your way of getting back at me?"
William's tears dripped onto the bed.
He suddenly sat up and slapped himself across the face.
After one slap, he landed another.
He hit himself more than ten times, then suddenly jumped off the bed, knelt beside it, and lowered his head as far as it would go.
"I never told you that I really loved you."
His voice was very low, followed by a long silence.
"Isabella, I am the one who deserves to die."
"You were so good, really so good. I did not deserve you."
"It is all my fault. I lost my mind. I betrayed your love for me."
William started slapping himself again.
In order to preserve Isabella's body, he had used a highly advanced embalming solution.
Her body would no longer decay.
But faced with the dead Isabella, every time he opened his eyes, only one thought filled his mind: regret.
Confronted with this irreversible regret every single day, he chose to lie to himself, treating Isabella as if she were still alive.
He talked to her, bathed her, changed her clothes, and combed her hair.
All these things she had never enjoyed while she was alive were now done by William himself after her death.
He handled every little thing personally because he was afraid anyone else might hurt Isabella.
But deep down, he knew perfectly well that Isabella was dead.
She had died that day, when she stepped off the rooftop without hesitation.
Even though he had knelt and begged her desperately.
Isabella still jumped.
William struck himself across the face again and again.
His eyes were bloodshot, his long eyelashes wet with tears.
The tears that refused to fall blurred his vision.
William shook his head. No, it should not have been like this.
It had all been wrong from the very beginning.
It was Isabella who had saved him, Isabella who had secretly donated blood to him.
It was Isabella who had stayed by his side, always accompanying him.
She had been his wife all along.
Why, why had he not realized it then?
True happiness had always been there beside him.
She hid in his shadow, following in his footsteps, never leaving.
He hit her, cursed her, humiliated her.
And how had she treated him?
William shook his head. How had it all ended up like this?
Why?
William grabbed the electric baton. The moment he flipped the switch,
A pale white spark crackled across it.
He placed the electric baton in Isabella's hand. He held her hand and aimed the baton at his own neck.
Then he pressed the switch. As the light flashed, his whole body shook uncontrollably.
After only a few seconds, William let go of Isabella's hand. His body crashed heavily to the floor, and he blacked out.
The corners of his mouth, however, were turned upward.
Downstairs, in the two cages, Isla and Juniper's bodies were each going through their own kind of rejection reaction.