?Chapter 317:


    When I thought of the gentle, thoughtful Makenna andpared her to the hysterical woman before me, regret gnawed at my insides. Why did I ever marry Jessica? If only I had married Makenna.


    Makenna was everything Jessica wasn’t—gentle, kind, well-educated, and reasonable. She would never throw tantrums or cause a scene like this.


    Suddenly, Jessica let out a shrill scream, snapping me out of my thoughts. She clutched her ear in panic, her eyes wide with terror. “My earring! My earring is gone!” She was practically incoherent in her distress.


    I cast a disinterested nce at her and replied coldly, “It doesn’t matter.”


    My dismissive words sent a visible shudder through her. Her face turned ashen, fear gripping her.


    “My earring was still on my ear when I ced the snakes in Makenna’s ce. But now it’s gone. Did it fall at her residence?” Jessica’s voice trembled, her lips quivering, panic flooding her eyes.


    At that, my heart plummeted, and icy fear crept up my spine, making me break out in a cold sweat.


    Her mistake was catastrophic. My eyes widened as I unleashed a tirade. “Are you trying to get us killed?”


    I lost control, rushing forward and pping her hard across the face. p! p! p!


    The sound of my hand meeting her cheek echoed through the room, leaving angry red marks on her skin. Jessica’s head snapped to the side, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.


    “What are you waiting for? Get out there and find it! If they discover that earring, we’re finished!” I bellowed.


    We crept into the area near Makenna’s residence, desperately searching for the earring. The dim light cast eerie shadows around the house as I scanned the area nervously, my heart pounding in my chest.


    Jessica frantically felt around, muttering under her breath, “Where is it? Where the hell is it?”


    We searched for what felt like an eternity, but the damned earring was nowhere to be found. Jessica copsed to the ground, her lips drained of color. “It’s over. We’re done for…”


    Her words only fueled my frustration, but I forced myself to remain calm. I turned on her with a fierce re and hissed, “Shut up! Don’t let them hear you! Maybe the earring fell somewhere else!”


    Jessica trembled violently on the ground. Her pitiful state only angered me further. “If you lose your nerve and blow our cover, I swear I’ll kill you myself!”


    Jessica shook even harder, mping her hand over her mouth like a frightened rabbit, nodding at me in terrified submission.


    Makenna’s POV:


    It felt like my body was being tossed between blistering heat and biting cold. At times, it was scorchingly hot, as though I was engulfed in mes, and at other times, bitterly cold, like being submerged in a frozenke. I fought to wake up, but I couldn’t open my heavy eyelids. The agony was relentless, like a knife repeatedly cutting through me and crushing my body. The pain was so intense that I wanted to give up.


    “Hang in there. We’re almost there!”


    Through the haze, I kept hearing those words of encouragement, but my endurance was fading fast. Every part of me throbbed with excruciating pain. Just when hope seemed lost, a bright white light burst forth in my mind. Amidst the blur, a warm, familiar voice spoke again.


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