She returned to her room, wanting to sink into deep sleep.
Suddenly, the door was kicked open.
Walter’s mother yanked her off the bed, digging fingers into her arm as she dragged her downstairs. “The child has a fever, and you’re sleeping here? Have you no heart?”
When Amy was shoved into Nathan’s bedroom, Walter and Michelle stood guard by the child’s bed. Each held one of the boy’s hands, faces etched with worry.
On the bed, Nathan wrenched his hands free the moment he saw her, burrowing under the quilt, trembling violently. “Don’t hit me, I won’t do it again.”
“I’ll be good, I promise. Please don’t make me stand in cold water… it’s so cold…”
Amy stood frozen in disbelief, but Walter’s mother seized her hair, slamming her body against a table.
“Amy Carter, you poisonous witch!”
“You killed your own child, and now you want Nathan dead too!”
“How did our Davis family end up with a viper like you?”
“If anything happens to Nathan, I’ll make you pay with your life!”
“If it weren’t for my son insisting on you, a worthless pauper like you–not even fit to be a mistress–would never have entered our home!”
Amy’s thigh struck the table corner, blood instantly soaking through her white nightgown.
Ignoring the pain, she tried to explain, “I never did those things. Check the security footage if you don’t believe me.”
But Michelle knelt, tears streaming. “The young master grew up without a father. He’s timid, afraid to even raise his voice. Please, I beg you, stop terrifying him.”
“If you truly hate him, let us live in the storage room. We’ll stay out of your sight.
“I know I’m just a tutor and have no right to ask this… but seeing the bruises on his legs, I couldn’t stay silent…”
Her voice broke. Walter’s mother ripped back the quilt, revealing dark bruises covering Nathan’s thighs and calves.
“Amy Carter, how dare you treat my grandson like this? Today, I’ll beat you to death!”
Enraged, she stepped forward and slapped Amy hard across the face.
Amy’s head snapped sideways. The explanation died in her throat when she met Walter’s icy glare.
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Chapter 6
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She knew–he believed them.
Ten years together, day and night… yet he trusted their lies about her being a monster.
Walter finally spoke, his voice low and heavy. “This time you’ve gone too far. I never imagined your grief for Robert would twist you into harming a child!”
“Confinement in the Reservoir. Don’t come out until I say so.”
Amy’s pupils trembled; something shattered deep within her eyes.
When the bodyguards touched her, she didn’t struggle. Doll–like, she let them lock her inside the Reservoir.
Icy water rose past her ankles, her waist, then flooded her mouth and nose. She closed her eyes.
Four years ago, she’d stood beside a swimming pool, watching Robert float lifeless on the water.
Since then, she’d feared water–couldn’t even use a bathtub.
Every night, Walter would wait outside the bathroom. If she sighed softly, he’d rush in, hold her, whispering comfort until her trembling eased.
He ordered all ponds in the back garden filled with flowers, even dismantling the koi pond designed by the top Spiri- tual Advisor for Davis Manor House.
He abandoned his beloved scuba diving and surfing, opting for vacations far from oceans or rivers.
Yet now, he punished her with her deepest terror.
Suffocation rushed in, dragging nightmares of watching their child die four years ago.
In darkness, she saw that small, familiar silhouette reaching out, crying out for her as Mommy.
Amy shed tears.
Some love and trust had rotted away unnoticed, buried in the earth with him.
She sank into the depths, consciousness fading.
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