Chapter 56
Hearing Ella's words, Joshua felt dazed.
Each word she spoke was like a sharp needle, cruelly piercing into his heart.
The father of those two children wasn't dead? Had he come looking for her?
Was it because of the children's father that Ella faked her death to get away?
Joshua didn't want to believe that Ella, standing before him, had staged her own death just to leave him and reunite with the children's father.
It absolutely couldn't be like that.
Joshua tried to stay calm and coaxed gently, "Ella, don't talk nonsense. I don't blame you for not coming home after not dying. Just come out first, and we can talk about everything when we get home, okay?"
Ella laughed coldly.
"Go home? You mean Tranquil Villa? Go back there to watch you and Scarlett having sex in my bed?"
This Joshua, his character was rotten to the core.
To be with Scarlett, he was vicious enough to drug Dorian with sleeping pills.
No matter how much Ella had loved him before, she could never go back with him now.
Between them, there was nothing to discuss except divorce.
"What are you talking about?"
Joshua frowned deeply, his handsome face darkening.
Watching Ella's cold and distant manner, he felt inexplicably panicked.
He was afraid what she said was true.
Afraid she didn't want to go home with him because of another man.
Joshua grew somewhat angry.
"When did Scarlett and I have sex in your bed? Can you stop wrongly accusing people like this?"
Ella didn't want to waste words with Joshua.
She was afraid that if she dragged this out, the people in the castle behind her would start shooting.
For the sake of Joshua's life, Ella had to make this quick.
"Joshua, listen carefully. I don't love you, and I don't want to keep this marriage going for Grandpa's sake anymore. Go back and draft the divorce papers, then come find me."
Ella turned to leave.
Joshua called out to her calmly.
"Ella, make things clear with me first. Did you fake your death to be with the children's father?"
Did she know how he had spent this past month?
Joshua had thought Ella was really dead, that she could never come back.
During this month, he'd been filled with remorse, guilt, pain, and torment.
He'd even visited her grave no less than ten times.
And it turned out Ella had faked her death.
She was alive, yet she didn't come home.
Joshua tried to steady the suffocating feeling in his chest, waiting for Ella to give him an explanation.
Ella stopped but didn't turn around.
With her back to him, she denied, "I didn't fake my death. But Joshua, I personally saw you and Scarlett having sex in my bed, and that's when I left with Dorian."
"Since you drugged my child just to be with Scarlett, then I'll grant your wish—I'll never go back for the rest of my life. Leave now. Except for sending divorce papers, don't ever appear before me again in this lifetime."
Really feeling there was no need to keep entangling with him, and afraid Michael in the castle would shoot, Ella hurried back inside.
Joshua didn't press further.
He remembered now.
Last night he had felt unwell, and Scarlett came to his room to take care of him.
They had gotten entangled on the bed.
That time frame seemed to be exactly when Ella appeared and took Dorian away.
But he and Scarlett. It wasn't a romantic entanglement.
He hadn't touched Scarlett at all.
And he hadn't drugged Dorian either.
Watching Ella walk away without looking back, Joshua felt completely abandoned.
Unable to find a sense of belonging.
Joshua's eyes turned bloodshot, his lips trembled, and his throat felt so sore and swollen he couldn't make a sound.
He was like a bug trapped in a spider's web, unable to break free or even breathe.
He just stood there frozen, motionless.
After Ella entered the house, she quickly went upstairs to find Michael.
She found him in the room, standing by the window with a gun raised.
Ella rushed over. "Michael, don't do anything rash. I've already made things clear with him. He'll leave."
Michael turned around and looked at her, beckoning. "Ella, come here."
Ella approached him.
Michael pulled her slender shoulders into his embrace, lowered his head to nuzzle her cheek, and gestured for her to look along the gun barrel.
"Tell me, can I hit him?"
Ella saw it, at the end of the gun barrel was Joshua at the door.
He was still standing there, not leaving.
Why wasn't he leaving?
Didn't he love Scarlett?
She'd already made everything clear to him. Why wasn't he leaving?
Really afraid Michael would shoot, Ella pleaded, "Please don't shoot, okay? Didn't I come back?"
"Besides, killing is illegal, unless you want to get arrested."
Michael acted as if he hadn't heard.
He took her hand and made her grip the gun, then spoke close to her ear.
"Ella, don't be afraid. If I kill him, no one will dare compete with me for you."
As he spoke, cruelty spread through his eyes. Gripping Ella's hand, he pulled the trigger.
Ella didn't want this and struggled with all her might.
But her strength was no match for Michael's. The bullet still fired.
She watched as Joshua suddenly crouched down.
He'd been shot.
Ella was so frightened she immediately pushed Michael away and shouted hysterically, "I already said he would leave! Why did you still shoot? You're absolutely crazy, a devil!"
Afraid something had happened to Joshua, she turned to rush over.
Michael grabbed her, laughing maniacally.
"You're worried about him? You have feelings for him? You actually dare to care about him?"
Michael threw down the gun and grabbed Ella's shoulders, going mad.
"Yes, I'm crazy! Haven't you known that since we were kids? If you'd stayed by my side forever, I would've been fine by now."
"Don't you know you're the one who drove me to be like this?"
"Ella, I'm telling you, for the rest of your life, you'll never escape me. Listen carefully—don't you dare care about any other man, or I'll kill your children too."
Michael's eyes were bloodshot and cruel, his expression twisted.
He really looked like a devil from hell, inspiring terror.
Ella was frightened by Michael's appearance.
She collapsed to the floor, trembling uncontrollably.
Michael crouched down, pulled Ella into his arms, and became exceptionally gentle again, coaxing close to her ear.
"Ella, don't be afraid. As long as you don't leave me, I won't hurt you."
In that moment, Ella felt utterly hopeless.
If she'd known that being rescued would mean falling into another terrifying abyss, she truly would have rather died in the sea.
At the castle entrance.
Joshua painfully pulled a syringe dart from his leg.
Looking at the castle in the distance, he knew this dart was a warning from the people inside.
The Johnson family?
Very good.
Daring to take his wife and still stay in Silverlight City. Wasn't this challenging his authority?
Just then, people sent by Brian arrived.
Seeing Joshua injured with his leg bleeding, he hurried forward to support him.
"Are you okay? How did you hurt your leg?"
Joshua endured the pain and, after getting in the car, ordered, "Surround this castle for me. Call the police to handle this."