Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Ella understood that sending him down the mountain in this situation would only make him overthink things even more. Since he insisted on seeing it, she might as well let him.

"The kids have all run ahead. If you want to see it, just say so directly. Why beat around the bush?" Even though he was holding her, Ella couldn't help but snap back at him.

Joshua looked down at her. "Are you angry?"

"No, what's there to be angry about?" Ella changed the subject, speaking with a hint of challenge in her tone. "If you can carry me all the way to the top without stopping, I'll cook dinner for you myself tonight."

She didn't want to have an unpleasant argument with him here. Since they were out on vacation, they should keep things pleasant. Besides, making him carry her up this long mountain path was a small punishment in itself.

Joshua raised an eyebrow and asked cautiously, "How much farther to the top?"

"Not far, about a mile or so."

Joshua believed her and continued walking upward with Ella in his arms, full of confidence.

However, after he had walked what felt like a mile, gasping for breath, he found the mountain path ahead still stretched on endlessly. He stopped, adjusted his hold on her slightly, and asked again, "How much farther exactly?"

Ella laughed in his arms. "If you can't hold on, just put me down. Honestly, I'm not very comfortable with you carrying me like this either."

In fact, Joshua had already carried her up a kilometer of mountain path, which was quite impressive and proved his leg injury had healed quite well. But looking at him now, he was clearly reaching his limit.

"I'm not struggling. Who says I can't do it?" Joshua couldn't stand hearing such words. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he continued forward.

After all, it was an uphill path, he was carrying someone weighing over a hundred pounds, and it was hot summer weather. After walking a few hundred more meters, he was finally drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, and his arms were getting weak.

Ella insisted on getting down from his arms. "Alright, stop pushing yourself."

She walked ahead of him and turned back to say, "There's at least two more miles to go."

Hearing "two miles," Joshua completely gave up. He really couldn't carry her the rest of the way.

His arms ached, his legs were numb, and his heart was racing like it would burst out of his chest. For the sake of his life, he'd better be realistic.

He quickly caught up and took Ella's hand, watching Aurora and Dorian playing and chasing each other ahead. "Ella," he began, "can you tell me about your childhood? How did you end up here?"

Ella didn't want to bring up those unpleasant memories again, but Joshua clearly wanted to know. Since walking was boring anyway, she decided to tell it to him as a story.

"I remember that day Scarlett took me out to play, and then she disappeared in the blink of an eye. Then a strange woman picked me up and put me in a car and sold me."

"I wanted to go home, so I kept trying to escape. Later there seemed to be an accident, and when I woke up again, I couldn't remember anything."

"I became an orphan, begging on the streets every day, never having enough to eat or warm clothes to wear. It was Grandpa who brought me home. From then on, in my memory, Grandpa was my only family."

She just hadn't expected that she wasn't far from Emerald City, yet her parents had never been able to find her.

What was even more coincidental was that later, Grandpa sent her to the Thomas family, and the Thomas family had business dealings with the Lewis family. Through this twist of fate, she had returned home on her own.

After hearing all this, Joshua tightened his grip on her hand, his eyes full of sympathy. But he couldn't help continuing to ask, "What about you and Michael? Is it okay to talk about?"

Ella sighed and continued, "I was probably seven or eight years old when I saw him in the river in front of my house. He had fallen into the water, and I pulled him out. After that, to thank me, he took me to where he lived. That's how we met."

In fact, at that time, Michael was the object of envy for all the children in the village.

He lived in an old castle, with a well-dressed old butler taking care of him, and endless snacks every day.

The village children always liked to go outside the castle, hoping to get some of his handouts.

Each time he threw snacks to them, it was like he was treating beggars.

He was well-dressed, fair and handsome, like a prince from a fairy tale.

Many girls in the village dreamed of marrying him and becoming the mistress of that castle.

Ella admitted that as a child, she too had such unrealistic fantasies. But when Michael actually brought her into the castle and locked her up, not allowing her to leave, she began to feel afraid.

After spending more time with Michael, she felt he had some kind of mental illness—sometimes normal, sometimes violent, obsessive to a frightening degree.

He also often abused small animals in front of her—dogs, cats, rabbits, even farm poultry—he had killed them all with his own hands.

When killing them, he would force her to watch and say to her with a smile, "Ella, watch carefully. If you ever dare to leave me, I'll kill you just like I killed them."

Facing such a bloody and brutal Michael, who would dare stay by his side? Ella was terrified at the time and tried every way to escape.

She finally managed to escape home, but Michael would come to her door with his butler, using various methods to beg her to return.

At first, she had tried to be friends with him, but once back at the castle, he would revert to that behavior, constantly terrorizing her by abusing animals.

Later on, he simply locked her up and wouldn't let her leave. When her grandfather came to demand her release, they wouldn't let her go. In the end, they could only call the police to resolve it.

Ella couldn't bear to recall that experience—it was too bloody. Her fear of Michael had started from that time.

Joshua keenly noticed her expression change and immediately pulled her into his arms, lowering his head to nuzzle her forehead.

"Alright, I won't ask anymore, and don't think about it either." He thought to himself that Ella was only a few years old then, and Michael wasn't much older than her, so he probably hadn't done that kind of thing to her yet.

Ella leaned against him and continued, "Michael was very good to me, but he couldn't accept me leaving him. He would terrorize me by abusing small animals. That experience still gives me nightmares, which is why I'm so afraid of him."

"Also, rest assured, there's nothing between him and me—no physical contact whatsoever. So you don't need to keep testing me indirectly."

She understood what Joshua's concern was and decided to be straightforward.

This made Joshua feel ashamed. He gripped her hand tighter and explained somewhat awkwardly, "Ella, that's not what I meant..."

"I know what you're thinking." Ella smiled faintly. "You wanted to come to the castle simply to see for yourself what kind of relationship I had with Michael in the past. I didn't want to come only because this place would remind me of him abusing animals and give me nightmares. But I'm much better now, so it's fine to come with you and take a look."

If she didn't let him completely put his mind at ease, he would always have doubts.

Since she had decided to move forward with him, Ella felt all issues should be resolved promptly.

Joshua felt incredibly ashamed at this moment. He wanted to say they shouldn't go, but seeing the children already excitedly running toward the castle ahead, he couldn't bear to disappoint them.

Besides, backing out now would make him look even more guilty, as if he was doubting her. So he could only steel himself and continue walking forward, holding her hand.

When they finally reached the castle, they were surprised to find someone guarding the entrance. After ringing the doorbell, an old man wearing reading glasses and slightly hunched came out and asked warily, "Who are you?"

Ella recognized him—he was a servant who used to work at the castle. She stepped forward and greeted the old man.

The old man also recognized her and immediately became very respectful, bowing repeatedly. "It's Ms. Garcia! You've finally come back! Everything in the house has been preserved for you and Mr. Johnson, not a thing has been touched. Please come in."

Aurora and Dorian had already run impatiently into the castle.

Joshua suddenly felt some regret. He regretted insisting on coming to see this place. Looking at everything before him, watching Ella familiarly leading him inside, he realized this would only make her reminisce and constantly recall her past with Michael. He was such a fool.

But it was too late for regrets now.

Just then, Ella's phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw it was a call from Michael.

She turned to Joshua and said, "Didn't you want to see? Follow the kids inside and look around as you like. I'm going out to take a call."

With that, she walked away with her phone, avoiding him.

Joshua knew who was calling. He suppressed the discomfort in his heart and followed the children into the castle.

The castle's main hall showed few traces of Ella having lived there. It wasn't until they went upstairs to a bedroom.

Everything here seemed to exist to prove a certain fact. The walls were covered with photos of Ella and Michael from childhood to adulthood, the wardrobe contained her clothes, and the vanity was filled with various exquisite jewelry.

Most striking of all was the huge wedding photo hanging above the headboard.

The moment he saw that photo, Joshua felt like his chest had been pricked with a needle, and he almost couldn't catch his breath.

Aurora and Dorian were also curiously looking up beside him.

"Why would Mom take wedding photos with Uncle Michael?"

"Did Mom marry Uncle Michael before?"

"Mom looks so beautiful in a wedding dress."

"Uncle Michael looks so handsome too."

Dorian tugged at Aurora's sleeve and whispered a reminder, "Stop talking. Can't you see someone's face looks terrible?"

Only then did Aurora notice Joshua's gloomy expression, so she suggested, "Dad, you could take down the photo and cut out Uncle Michael's part."

For a moment, Joshua really wanted to do that. But it would only make him look petty.

Ella had already told him they were innocent, that they had only taken wedding photos, and he didn't need to care so much about it. Besides, she had even been married to Zachary before.

He looked at the large bed and the wedding photo on the wall, feeling truly uncomfortable inside. He could only turn and leave, wanting to get some air on the balcony.

As it turned out, he happened to see Ella on the phone in the garden below. Thinking about how she, now recovered to normal, still had to maintain contact with Michael, his heart felt like an overturned vinegar jar, sour and bitter.

"Dad, there's lots of beautiful jewelry in the castle. Those should all be Mom's, right? Can I take some?" Aurora ran over, playing with a necklace in her hands as she asked.

Joshua glanced at it and knew those items were worth a fortune. He patiently told Aurora, "Put it back. If you want something, Dad will buy you new ones later. Taking other people's things is wrong."

"Okay." Aurora put the necklace back somewhat disappointedly.

Joshua's gaze fell again on Ella's figure in the garden below, and the trust he had just built up began to waver again.

Because the bedroom didn't just have photos from her childhood, but many photos from when she was grown up too. That wedding photo also looked like it was taken a few years ago.

This meant that just a few years ago, Ella had still come here and lived with Michael for a period of time.

He calculated the timeline—that should have been during the period when he and she were fighting over their divorce.