Melody let out a piercing scream.


    In the dim light, a dark, chilling smirk touched Joshua''s lips. "But we already have. What do you suggest we do now?"


    Melody''s face was pale and twisted with pain. Sweat dripped down her forehead. All her earlier arrogance had vanished. She wasn''t one to endure pain well and quickly broke down, sobbing, "I''ll talk... I''ll talk. I''ll tell you everything. Someone found me and offered me a reward to cause trouble for Abby. I already hated her, so I agreed without a second thought. Please, I''m begging you, let me go! I was just following orders... And I never meant to really hurt them. If-if I really wanted to hurt them, I wouldn''t have used ice water..."


    Joshua stared at the woman before him, a bloodthirsty urge he could barely suppress churning in his chest. The feeling had been there ever since he saw Ste get hurt, and it hadn''t subsided. Yet, the more he felt it, the brighter his smile became.


    "So, you''re saying I should thank you for holding back?"


    Looking at the man smiling so brightly, Melody was so terrified she felt her entire body go limp. "I''m sorry, I was wrong! I really know I was wrong... Please, let me go!"


    Joshua sighed softly, feigning regret. "Miss Vasquez, as much as I''d like to let you go, you hurt Star''s head and her hand. That made me very unhappy."


    A bizarre, wicked smile yed on Joshua''s lips. "Star doesn''t like it when I kill people, so I''ll let you live today."


    Then he said tly, "Cut off both her hands, sh up her face, and then dump her back at the Vasquez family''s doorstep."


    With that, he turned and left without another nce, leaving Melody''s horrifying screams behind him.


    After returning, Joshua took a shower and changed his clothes. When he went back to the bedroom, Ste was still fast asleep. He slipped back into bed, pulled her into his arms, closed his eyes, and drifted off.


    At the Burton estate.


    Despite the scandal Aurora had caused, Sellers still went to the Williams family''s home to see her after the worst of the storm had passed In the end, Sellers hadn''t lost much. At the engagement party the ones who had been humiliated were McCoy and Aurora, it hadn''t really affected him. He was never going to marry Aurora anyway, so he didn''t need to care too much. As for the rumors circting outside... as the head of the Burton family, he had ways to suppress them.


    Aurora''s condition had improved slightly. She was no longer as despondent as before, but her face was still pale. She hadn''t left the house, not evening downstairs for meals. It was clear the incident had hit her hard.


    Sellers exchanged a few pleasantries with Aurora, and then she gave him a crucial piece of information.


    "Sellers, Adah Gardner once told me that Joshua disappeared for six months. When he came back, he was covered in scars, clinging to life by a thread. Adah said it looked like he had been subjected to inhuman torture. After that, he seemed... different. Also..."


    Aurora stood by the window, her slender, frail figure reflected in the transparent ss. She wore a white dress, her long hair unbound, looking like a wandering ghost.


    She gave a faint, eerie smile. "The fact that he has undergone hypnosis is hardly a secret in the Gardner family."


    The Gardners were known for their emotional instability, prone to breakdowns from external stimuli Because of this, they had developed many Countermeasures, and hypnosis was one of them.


    However, when the cooped


    became severe even hypnosis could no longer contr Gardner''s ''illness.'' At that point, the person was considered a lost cause, beyond saving.


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