Chapter 10: The Escape Plan
“I am tired,” she said softly. “I don't want to do anything anymore.”
Slowly, a clear tear slipped from the corner of her eye, not to elicit sympathy, but a physiological reaction, the ultimate response to despair.
Damian looked at her utterly defeated appearance. The cruelty and suspicion in his heart finally found a measure of satisfaction.
He knew it. This woman was nothing without him.
Her so-called talent and dreams were merely cheap tricks to get his attention.
He just needed to apply a little pressure to crush them into dust.
He released her wrist, where a hideous red mark had already formed.
“Wouldn't it have been better to do this sooner?” he looked down at her. “Evelyn, remember your place. You are my wife. Your value is staying in this home, not going out to make a show of yourself, pursuing those impractical pipe dreams.”
He tossed the design drafts onto the floor, ground them under the tip of his expensive custom leather shoe, then turned and left the bedroom without looking back.
Evelyn did not move until his footsteps completely faded downstairs.
She slowly crouched down, her fingers gently brushing over the design drawings that Damian's shoe tip had pressed.
Fortunately, fortunately she had given in. These design drafts had not been shredded or burned.
Night deepened.
Damian did not bother her again. He probably thought she had been thoroughly tamed and posed no threat.
Evelyn lay on the bed with her eyes open, staring motionlessly at the ceiling.
This performance had exhausted all her mental effort, but she knew this was her only chance.
She quietly slipped out of bed, barefoot, and felt her way to the deepest part of the walk-in closet.
This area was filled with old items she no longer used, including a leather bag she had bought after college graduation. The style was long outdated, and Damian had disdainfully tossed it here.
Her hand searched the bag’s lining. Her fingertip quickly touched a cold, hard object.
A very old smartphone.
It was her discarded one. When she replaced her phone, she had forgotten to dispose of the old one and casually stuffed it into the bag.
Thank goodness Damian never paid attention to what he considered “trash.”
She pressed the power button. The screen flickered a few times, then stubbornly lit up, showing a pathetic 5% battery life remaining.
Time was critical.
She dared not turn on the light. Using the faint moonlight filtering through the curtain gap, she hid in the corner of the closet and dialed the number she knew by heart.
The phone rang only once before it was answered.
“Evelyn?” Ethan’s voice held a trace of tension and urgency.
“It's me, Ethan, I need your help.”
“What happened? Did Damian do something to you again?”
“He locked me up and ruined my design drafts.” Evelyn quickly recounted the events, her voice pleading. “I must leave here, immediately.”
Ethan on the other end fell silent for a few seconds, seemingly thinking quickly of a countermeasure.
“Alright, listen to me, tomorrow, you need to find a way to make yourself ‘sick,’ the more severe the better, so he has no choice but to take you to the hospital.”
“Pretend to faint?”
“Exactly. It's the quickest and most plausible method. Leave the rest to me.” Ethan’s voice conveyed a reassuring strength. “Remember, no matter what happens, don't panic. I will arrange everything.”
“Okay.”
The phone screen flickered once. The battery was critically low.
“Ethan, I...”
“Don’t be afraid, Evelyn. I will always watch over you.”
The call disconnected.
Evelyn held the cold phone, leaned against the wall, and slowly let out a breath.
Early the next morning, when the maid came to deliver breakfast, she found the bedroom door locked from the inside.
She knocked for a long time, but there was no response from within.
The maid panicked and immediately ran to notify Damian.
Damian was downstairs reading financial news. Hearing the news, his brow furrowed in impatience.
Another new trick?
He grabbed the spare key and quickly went upstairs, already calculating how he would make Evelyn remember her place if she was just throwing a tantrum.
He inserted the key into the lock and turned it.
The moment the door opened, Damian saw Evelyn collapsed on the carpet.
She was wearing pajamas, her body curled up. Her face was ashen, like a piece of paper, her lips completely colorless, and her forehead covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.
Damian’s heart skipped a beat.
“Evelyn?” he called out tentatively.
She was unresponsive.
He quickly walked over, knelt down, and reached out to touch her forehead. It was cold and clammy to the touch.
“Damn it!”
He cursed, then immediately picked her up in his arms.
“Call an ambulance! Now!” he roared at the astonished maid by the door.
The hospital was filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Evelyn lay on the emergency room bed.
Ethan, wearing a white coat, held a newly released test report and spoke seriously to Damian, who stood nearby: “Mr. Green, the situation is not good. Based on the test results and clinical symptoms, your wife has acute appendicitis, and there is a risk of rupture.”
Damian looked at Evelyn, who was lying unconscious with her eyes closed on the bed. His annoyance and suspicion were intertwined.
“Appendicitis? Why so sudden?”
“Acute appendicitis onset is usually very sudden and progresses rapidly.”
Ethan adjusted his glasses, speaking with an undeniable professional tone. “We must perform surgery immediately to remove the appendix. Otherwise, if it ruptures and causes peritonitis, the consequences will be extremely severe.”
“Surgery?” Damian’s brows were tightly knotted.
He hated the feeling of things being out of his control.
“Yes, immediately. I have already arranged the operating room. We need your signature on the consent form.” Ethan handed him a document and a pen.
Damian stared at the document, then at Evelyn’s colorless face.
He didn't want a death on his hands, especially during the critical period when his company was about to go public.
“Fine, do the surgery.” He finally took the pen and scribbled his signature.
“The surgery will take about an hour. You can wait in the lounge outside.” Ethan retrieved the document and subtly signaled to the nurse beside him.
The hospital bed was pushed toward the operating room.
Damian stood still, watching the door slowly close, feeling a strange emptiness in his heart.
He walked to the window at the end of the corridor and lit a cigarette.
He just wanted her to obey him. How did it escalate to needing surgery?