Chapter 227 Piercing the Soul
Byron nodded seriously.
"I'm being serious. So, Amelia, please help me out this time!"
Amelia looked Byron up and down carefully. After confirming he wasn't joking, she sighed and said, "Starting today, I'll come over for two hours every afternoon to teach you how to cook."
"Okay."
Amelia left shortly after.
When she got back, she saw Faith coming toward her. Amelia deliberately put on a stern face and asked, "Are you hiding any secrets from me?"
Faith knew she had just returned from the Shadow Operations Division and couldn't help but blush.
"I was just about to tell you."
Amelia smiled.
"Such great news - you should have told me earlier."
"I was just too embarrassed to tell you."
"What's there to be embarrassed about? Everyone's free to date!"
Faith's face turned even redder.
Amelia opened her mouth and shared a little news with her.
"On the 20th of this month, Byron has a big surprise for you."
"Really? What surprise?"
"You'll find out then. Until that time, just pretend you don't know."
"Okay!"
After that, Amelia set aside two hours every day to teach Byron how to cook.
Meanwhile, Janet's first trial verdict came down.
Death penalty.
Janet refused to accept it and filed an appeal. Because Janet was Marlon's daughter, this matter made the trending topics several times, causing quite a stir.
Public opinion was very unfriendly toward the Rojas family.
Marlon was running around busy because of this, asking many people for help.
Amelia and Samuel discussed it and quietly went to see Marlon.
Then they also made a trip to Mark's house.
These things were all done in secret - the Hays family didn't know about them.
During this time, Tessa wasn't doing well either.
She had been labeled as someone who brings bad luck, and no wealthy family was willing to associate with her.
Billy was also exhausted.
But Liam was doing quite well, using his excellent hacking skills to establish himself at the Network Security Bureau.
When Tessa learned this news, she regretted it even more.
If only she hadn't called off the engagement back then, she would be living a completely different life now.
But it was too late for regrets. After trying to contact Liam several times without success, she finally faced reality: Liam had long since moved on from her.
When men become heartless, they're far more heartless than women.
When they say they don't love you anymore, they really mean it.
They won't even give you a shred of pity.
Tessa soon developed depression and had to rely on sleeping pills to fall asleep every night.
......
On this day, Amelia rarely had free time. According to their previous agreement, she went with Maeve to visit Isaac at the psychiatric hospital.
Isaac was in a three-person ward.
One roommate was a schizophrenia patient, and the other had bipolar disorder.
Isaac didn't have a mental illness, but he felt he might soon really develop one.
When he learned someone was coming to see him, Isaac was extremely excited.
Not because he fantasized that the visitor could get him out, but because he desperately wanted to see a normal person.
Talking to normal people was the only way he could stay somewhat normal himself.
But when he saw that the people in the visiting room were Maeve and Amelia, Isaac's excitement was extinguished like a bucket of cold water had been poured on it.
"You're not dead yet?" he said coldly, his expression full of disappointment.
Maeve's heart ached.
Even though she no longer liked Isaac and even found him disgusting, hearing these words still affected her mood.
Just as she was wondering what to say in response, Amelia spoke first. "If she were dead, do you think you'd still be alive and well? Her life is more precious than yours."
Maeve didn't know which word in Amelia's statement triggered Isaac.
He suddenly became ferocious, roaring, "Bitch! You're both bitches! You should die! You should all go to hell!"
The psychiatric hospital orderlies pressed Isaac down and tied him to the chair.
After a while, Isaac finally calmed down a bit.
"We're all human, everyone's equal!"
"She just happened to be born into a better family than me!"
"If she had been born in the countryside, she wouldn't be doing better than me!"
Hearing these words, Maeve understood - it was Amelia's statement that "her life is more precious than yours" that had triggered Isaac.
Isaac cared most about his background.
Even at this moment, that was all his mind was filled with.
Maeve suddenly felt it was all pointless.
She had come to see Isaac just to ask one question: why, at that moment, his first thought was to kill her.
But now, she wasn't interested in that answer anymore.
She didn't want to see Isaac for even one more second.
"Let's go," Maeve said.
Amelia didn't ask why she wanted to leave right after arriving without saying a word.
She could guess.
So she simply nodded.
"Okay, let's go."
When they reached the door, Isaac suddenly called out Amelia's name.
"I have something to tell you!"
Amelia's steps paused slightly, but she still turned around.
She told Maeve to go out first, and she would follow.
Maeve nodded and left.
After a moment, Isaac spoke. "Amelia, I never provoked you. Except for that time we ran into each other at the mall when I led you to the Iron Fist Mafia people, but you weren't hurt at all - instead, I was the one who got beaten up by them."
Amelia looked at him expressionlessly.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Isaac's face showed some pleading.
"I never hurt you. It was my mom who bought you back then, and later it was my mom who sold you to human traffickers. Can't you, for that reason, tell them to let me out?"
He continued, swearing, "After I get out, I'll never appear in front of you again. I'll leave Goldenvale, go far away, and never come back!"
Amelia still looked at him expressionlessly, just as before.
The pleading in Isaac's eyes slowly faded.
He didn't understand.
"The person who bought you and sold you was my mom. You could have just killed her. Why do you have to drive me crazy? I never hurt you!"
Amelia finally spoke.
But what she said left Isaac confused.
She asked him, "Do you remember Lyric?"
"What Lyric?" Isaac was puzzled.
Amelia gave him another hint. "A big black dog named Lyric. You raised it."
Isaac was still confused.
"I've raised many dogs, I don't remember. What about that dog?"
Amelia suddenly smiled.
"You see, the perpetrator doesn't even remember how they hurt someone, but the victim has been dwelling on it for so many years."
"What do you mean?"
"Isaac, you'll be trapped here for the rest of your life. Even if you become a real lunatic, you still won't get out. Unless you die."
With that, she turned and walked away.
No matter how much Isaac called out behind her, she never looked back once.
And Amelia's psychological shadow about being bitten by a dog completely disappeared from that moment on.
After leaving the first floor, Amelia found Maeve.
Maeve looked like she was in a very bad mood.
Amelia thought for a moment, then pulled her along to find the psychiatric hospital's director.
She gave the director a sum of money.
"Isaac's 'condition' seems to be getting worse. I hope you can prescribe him more medication."
The director immediately understood.
"Yes, Ms. Richardson. If you agree, we can also add electroshock therapy."
"You may." Amelia agreed.
Only then did Maeve's mood improve.
She had almost lost her life because of Isaac.
Seeing Isaac still standing in front of her so perfectly fine made her really uncomfortable.
Only now did her mood improve.
Because she knew Isaac would slowly, while conscious, turn into a lunatic.
With her mood improved, Maeve's face showed a bit of a smile again.
"You're still the smart one. I really didn't know how to deal with someone like him."
Amelia said, "To deal with someone like him, you have to think about what he wants most. Right now, what he wants most is freedom, to be a normal person, but we're slowly turning him into a lunatic, so he'll break down."
Maeve nodded.
"No wonder my grandpa said you're smart and told me to learn more from you."
Amelia smiled briefly, then asked seriously, "Did you tell your grandpa? About Steven's death."
"I did."
"What was his reaction?"
"He didn't have much of a reaction. He just told me to start getting involved in the company's business. And to learn more from you."
Roman wasn't angry.
Amelia breathed a sigh of relief.
Maeve patted her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I explained everything clearly - that Steven tried to kill you first. My grandpa is a reasonable person, but he does look much thinner than before."
Amelia was silent for a moment, then said, "Your grandpa's body is being sustained by my medicine, but it can't last much longer. You need to prepare yourself mentally."
"Can't his life be extended any longer?"
Amelia said, "Keeping him alive is possible. But being alive has different forms - dignified and undignified. Using machines to maintain brain function is also a form of being alive."
Maeve understood.
She let out a long sigh.
The two went to have some desserts together before their moods gradually settled.
After they parted ways, Amelia went to see Piper.
She was a fair person - since she had seen Isaac today, she naturally had to see Piper too.
Unlike Isaac, Piper looked haggard, as if she had aged ten years.
When she saw Amelia, she screamed and went crazy for a long time.
"I should have just killed you back then! Then you wouldn't have been able to make us end up like this!"
Amelia said expressionlessly, "That's right, you really should have killed me. Since you didn't kill me, of course I'm going to get revenge."
"Bitch! Bitch!"
"You and Isaac really are alike - you only know how to curse with words like that."
Piper suddenly looked at her.
"You went to see Isaac?"
"That's right."
"Isaac, how is Isaac doing?"
Amelia smiled and said, "He's getting along very well with his roommates at the psychiatric hospital. I heard yesterday a psychiatric patient peed on his bed. The hospital director said that patient has schizophrenia and thinks he's a dog - peeing was his way of showing friendliness."
"You, you!" Piper's face turned blue with anger.
Amelia didn't give her a chance to speak and continued, "Oh, by the way, after I saw him, he sent you his regards."
Piper's blue face looked a bit better, and her eyes became somewhat brighter.
"What did he say?"
Amelia still smiled warmly.
"He said the person who bought me and sold me was you, and told me to kill you and let him go."