Chapter 125 The Price of Obsession

Chapter 125 The Price of Obsession

Blake was caught by his collar, but showed no panic. Instead, he tilted his head back with a mocking laugh, his eyes gleaming with twisted amusement.

He raised his hand, fingers deliberately slow as he pushed Kate's grip away.

"Orchestrated? I wouldn't waste my time on something so elaborate. I merely went with the flow, curious to see if my Kate would return."

Even with that denial, he was still partially responsible for Ethan's injuries today.

Kate's eyes turned cold as ice. Without hesitation, she slapped him hard across the face, her fingernails leaving bloody scratches across his neck.

Blake winced in pain, touching the wound as if about to explode in anger. But then, inexplicably, his expression settled into an eerie calm as he smiled.

He looked absolutely unhinged.

"Your Kate? You're revolting, Blake. Let me make something perfectly clear—the Kate from before will never come back. I am who I am. There has never been two of me in this world!"

"Is that so?"

Blake rubbed the blood between his fingers, his gaze disturbingly fixated and obsessive.

"She may not return, but I can make do with you. After all, I just need to find the right memory-altering drug, and you'll transform back into her.

Then you'll obediently stay by my side, watching as that worthless Ethan kneels before me like a dog, begging for mercy."

"In your dreams!" Kate laughed bitterly, her eyes filled with contempt. "Blake, who exactly do you think you are? You're not worthy. You failed in my previous life, and you'll fail even more spectacularly in this one! You're nothing but a sewer rat hiding in the shadows, orchestrating your petty schemes. You're pathetic!"

"What did you say?" Blake's smile froze instantly, rage boiling in his eyes.

"Kate, do you really think I can't force my Kate to replace you?"

He suddenly pulled a knife from his pocket. The blade glinted in the dim light as he lunged straight for Kate's heart.

Kate's pupils contracted as she instinctively stepped back, but her heel caught on the staircase step, causing her to stumble.

The blade was inches from her face when a tall figure suddenly rushed between them, shielding her with his body.

"Ethan!"

Blood dripped onto her clothes as Kate burst into tears. She tried to help him up, but he couldn't stand.

"Ethan, don't scare me! Blake! I'll kill you!" Kate rose in a frenzy, but Ethan grabbed her wrist.

He forced a weak smile. "Don't be rash. I'm... I'm fine..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed unconscious.Ethan felt himself falling into an endless darkness.

He had a long, torturous dream where the sky was always gray and oppressive, making it difficult to breathe.

In the dream, he loved Kate deeply, enough to sacrifice everything for her, but she never saw him. Her eyes were only for Blake, that deceitful fraud.

Time after time, he warned her that Blake had ulterior motives, but she always shook her head with a smile, dismissing his concerns.

"Ethan, Blake isn't what you think. He's good to me."

"Ethan, please stop targeting Blake."

Those words pierced his heart like countless needles.

Later, Blake revealed his true nature. He imprisoned Kate, and despite Ethan's desperate attempts to save her, Blake captured him too.

He was forced to watch helplessly as Blake took a whip and methodically tore into Kate's skin, hearing her heart-wrenching screams while being powerless to stop it.

Finally, Blake smiled as he plunged a dagger into her heart.

Kate lay in a pool of blood, her eyes wide with disbelief and despair.

As for Ethan, Blake had turned him into a human wreck, leaving him to bleed to death. In his final moments, he thought he saw Kate's spirit beside him.

He wanted to speak, but couldn't.

He hated his own powerlessness, hated that he couldn't protect her.

"Kate, I'm sorry."

"Kate, I love you so much."

In his dream, he called her name over and over, tears soaking the cold floor.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ethan finally sensed a glimmer of light. With effort, he opened his eyes to see a white ceiling above him.

The smell of antiseptic filled his nostrils. He tried moving his fingers, feeling his entire body ache with pain.

"Ethan! You're awake!" A tear-choked voice sounded beside him. Kate rushed to his bedside, tightly gripping his hand as tears streamed down her face.

Ethan turned his head to look at her haggard face, his eyes immediately reddening.

"Kate, thank God you're alive!"

He struggled to raise his arm, pulling her into a tight embrace as if afraid she might vanish.

"I thought—I thought I'd never see you again."

"I had such a long nightmare. In it, I lost you. That feeling was... unbearable."

His voice trembled with relief and lingering fear.

Kate lifted her head and gently caressed his cheek.

"It's over now. The nightmare's ended. Everything's been resolved."

"Resolved?" Ethan looked at her questioningly.

Kate nodded with a smile, though her eyes were still moist with tears. Her hand never let go of his—she too feared losing him again.

That knife wound had hit a vital spot.

Thirty days. She had nearly lost him forever.

"You know, you've been in a coma for a month."

"A month," Ethan murmured. "Has it been that long?"

"Yes, a very long time. Don't ever scare me like that again."

She hugged him as tears threatened to fall once more. Ethan quickly embraced her.

"I promise. I'll never frighten you again."

He stroked her hair gently. "So, can you tell me what's happened in this month? When you say 'resolved,' do you mean Blake, or something else?"

"I mean everything," Kate replied, looking up with a sweet smile.

She hadn't expected everything to be resolved so quickly, but perhaps it was the butterfly effect.

After Blake stabbed Ethan, he was quickly arrested. His arrest led to the exposure of everyone in the Jennings household.

Embezzlement, bribery, kidnapping—all of it was uprooted completely.

She had initially thought these crimes would earn them life sentences at most, but to her surprise, Richard and Victoria had murdered Elizabeth, her mother.

Kate wouldn't let them escape justice. She pursued the case, and both received the death penalty, while Blake received a life sentence for his multiple crimes.

Kate was satisfied with this outcome. Compared to death, a greater punishment for someone like Blake was to never see daylight again.

"What about Sophia?" Ethan asked, stroking Kate's face.

Kate smiled. "Her? She lost her mind."

On a busy street, Sophia wandered disheveled and filthy. To each passerby, she would ask, "Have you seen my teddy bear?"

That teddy bear represented the only warmth Richard had shown her before she entered the Jennings family, but that warmth had long since been devoured by greed and sin, never to be found again.

Kate nestled in Ethan's arms, her fingertips lightly tracing his chest as she spoke with a sense of closure.

"Ethan."

"Yes?"

"Veronica and Lucian are getting married soon. Helena has established her own brand. They're all doing well. But I wasn't happy because I didn't have you. Don't ever leave me again, okay?"

"I won't."

In this life, they would never part again and would always be together.

(The End)