Free Web NovelChapter 99: Chapter 99: Come Die With Me
"SCREECH—"
The Maybach slammed on its brakes, stopping at a safe distance.
Flames shot into the sky ahead, reaching at least twice the height of a person!
Beneath the gloomy sky, nothing could be seen but the blinding fire and the burnt-out husk of a car frame.
Sonia Quincy threw open the car door and got out, running forward heedlessly despite the menacing flames.
"Sonia! Come back!" Jasper Linden jumped out right after her, not even bothering to close his door as he sprinted to catch up.
But he stopped abruptly halfway there, because Willow Quincy had appeared in front of them.
Willow Quincy wasn’t surprised that Sonia had found him. He dragged his numb body forward a couple of steps in her direction, then spread his arms like a victor.
Sonia knew it was him, but she didn’t pause for a second. In fact, she started walking even faster.
As she walked, she pulled a small knife from her pocket, facing into the wind. Just as she neared Willow, she suddenly yanked the sheath off the blade, rushed forward, and raised the knife high, aiming its tip at his chest!
Willow didn’t flinch or dodge. He maintained his open-armed pose, as if waiting for an embrace, looking as though he would gladly welcome death if Sonia were the one to deliver it.
But Sonia didn’t drive the knife home.
She held the blade suspended in front of Willow, her eyes red as she demanded in a hoarse voice, "Where is Felix?"
Willow smiled cheerfully. "He’s not here anymore."
"What do you mean, ’not here’? If he isn’t here, where is he?"
Willow raised an eyebrow. "Where else could he be? He’s dead, of course."
"..."
The light in Sonia’s eyes instantly froze.
Willow watched her reaction with satisfaction and continued, "Felix Preston is dead. He died in the flames right in front of you."
"The fire burned him until not even ashes were left!"
"..." Sonia’s body seemed to turn to stone. She stood rooted to the spot, unable to move, staring blankly at Willow with a vacant gaze.
After about five seconds, she decisively turned the knife and plunged it toward her own chest—
But the expected pain never came. With a sickening SQUELCH, the blade sliced through Willow’s palm instead.
Willow’s eyes widened in horror. He had grabbed the sharp knife with his bare hand, using his own flesh as a shield to stop her.
Sonia stared at him, her expression blank and venomous, her eyes showing no flicker of emotion.
Enduring the searing pain, he wrenched the knife from Sonia’s hand and threw it forcefully to the ground.
"Sonia, are you fucking crazy?"
"I’m not crazy." Sonia’s reply was calm. "I just don’t want to live anymore."
"..." Willow’s heart clenched with waves of pain. He stared at Sonia, his face—splattered with blood—a mask of terror and fear. The smile was long gone.
"You don’t want to live? Is it because of Felix Preston?"
"Yes. It’s because of Felix Preston."
"..." Her ironclad reply left Willow speechless.
The night wind was strong in the remote suburbs. When a gust hit her head-on, Sonia swayed, momentarily unsteady on her feet.
But she was pregnant, her body much heavier than usual. How could she be so unsteady in such an ordinary wind?
’Maybe I’m just too weak.’
She gave a derisive smile, which looked exceptionally bitter in the light of the towering flames.
The wind whipped her hair into a frenzy, the strands dancing wildly as if they could never be contained.
"Willow Quincy, do me a favor," she said suddenly.
Willow stared intently at her, not daring to respond.
But that didn’t stop her from making her request.
"Kill me. Kill me just like you killed Felix Preston. I really don’t want to live anymore. Without Felix, I’ll be forced to live alone in this world, breathing the same air as you. It’s too disgusting. I can’t stand it."
"..." Willow took a deep breath, every word he spoke dripping with intense hatred.
"Sonia, I think you’ve really lost your mind."
"Heh heh heh..." Sonia suddenly laughed out loud. "Isn’t it good that I’m crazy? Isn’t me being this crazy exactly what you wanted to see? Didn’t you want to see my family destroyed and my loved ones dead, for my life to be worse than death? Didn’t you want to strip away all my happiness and leave me to live a lonely, miserable life in this world?"
"Everything you did to Felix Preston—you did it all to get revenge on me, didn’t you?"
"I didn’t!" Willow’s denial sounded weak, yet it was delivered with force.
"You didn’t?" Sonia was still smiling. "Then what was it for?"
"..." Willow averted his gaze, lacking the courage to speak the answer.
Sonia took a step closer to him, her voice calm but desperate. "Willow Quincy, what was it for? To torture me? To get revenge for Cecilia Quincy? Or was it simply because you couldn’t stand to see me happy and wanted me to struggle in the mud for the rest of my life?"
"...It wasn’t." Willow was in so much pain, he could barely breathe.
"Still not it? Then there’s only one possibility left."
...
Willow’s eyes shot up, his heart skipping a beat.
Then he heard Sonia say, "If you don’t want to torture me, and you don’t want to get revenge for anyone, then the only reason left is that you’re tired of living and want to die with Felix Preston?"
Willow frowned. "No..."
"Let’s go. I’ll take you to your death." Sonia had no more patience to listen to him. She grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him toward the roaring blaze.
"You’re tired of living, and I don’t want to live either. So let’s go together. Let’s go find Felix Preston together."
"Sonia!!" After a second of stunned shock, Willow quickly grabbed Sonia’s arm and hauled her back.
Sonia’s mind was already drifting. She was in no mood to deal with Willow anymore; she just wanted to get to Felix as quickly as possible.
’Felix’s eyesight is poor. The road to the underworld is so dark and cold, how will he be able to see...’
Her eyes were fixed only on the blazing fire. No matter how Willow tried to stop her, she kept pushing toward it.
She was determined to die, her eyes completely devoid of any spark of life.
Willow was terrified by her state. He was afraid she was truly determined to die, and after a moment’s hesitation, he finally told her the truth.
"Felix Preston isn’t dead."
...
"Felix Preston is still alive."
Those two short sentences brought all of Sonia’s sanity flooding back. A flicker of life returned to her dead-gray eyes as she spun around, almost frantically, and grabbed Willow. "Where is Felix Preston?"
"Felix Preston is here! Sonia, come back!"
Jasper Linden dragged a barely conscious Felix Preston out from a grassy patch by the roadside and screamed at the top of his lungs at Sonia, "Felix Preston is still alive!"
"Felix..." Sonia was trembling with emotion. She threw Willow aside and turned to run.
But Willow, unwilling to let her go, grabbed her tightly, refusing to let her leave his sight.
"Let go of me!" All of Sonia’s suppressed emotions erupted in that moment. She struggled violently in his grip, completely disregarding his injuries.
"Willow Quincy, what the hell do you want?!"
"I want you!"
