Free Web NovelChapter 705: Is There Any Hope?
From the caller ID, he noted that it was Mr. York.
Without walking away, Michael took the call in Wendy’s presence. There were no secrets between him and Wendy.
"What is it?" Michael knew that it had to be an urgent matter for Mr. York to call him at this hour.
"It’s Yvonne Taylor, Sir," Mr. York replied.
Michael’s face darkened as he frowned at the mention of that name.
Although he had kept Yvonne in captivity all this time, he had been too busy to deal with her.
Turning to Wendy, he noted the change in her expression and knew that she had heard what Mr. York had told him.
Switching to speaker mode, Michael asked, "What about her?"
Mr. York replied, "She wants to meet you for one last time."
"I don’t see the need for us to meet. She has committed many unforgivable deeds.
Just send her to the authorities."
Yvonne was guilty of many counts of attempted murder, albeit none of her attempts had succeeded in getting anyone killed.
Nonetheless, she would be locked up for the rest of her life once she was handed over to the authorities.
Since Michael did not want to deal with her himself, he had opted for the best option, which was to have her sent to the authorities.
"She said that all she wants is to meet you for one last time, after which, she will not bother you again," Mr. York repeated Yvonne’s words verbatim.
Michael was about to respond when Wendy cut in and said, "Go and meet her."
After hanging up, Michael took Wendy’s hand and said, "Let’s go together."
He was not inclined to go and meet Yvonne on his own. Bringing Wendy with him would also send a very clear message to Yvonne.
Wendy nodded, not declining the invitation.
While on the way there, Michael asked Wendy, "What else do you remember about Yvonne?"
"Just bits and pieces. I remember that she was obsessively in love with you and that she wanted to kill me," Wendy recalled the events of the past.
"And, I think that she looks exactly like me. Is that correct?"
At the mention of Yvonne looking exactly like her, images of the incident in the helicopter floated into Wendy’s mind.
At that time, there was indeed someone who looked exactly like her in the helicopter. That was probably Yvonne.
"She underwent surgery to look exactly like you," Michael said with a sigh.
He proceeded to give Wendy a quick summary of everything regarding Yvonne.
After Michael’s brief account, Wendy experienced a surge of conflicting emotions.
She was already regretting her decision of encouraging Michael to meet Yvonne for the last time.
But alas, they had already arrived at the camp.
Taking Wendy’s hand, Michael walked over to face Yvonne, who appeared to be somewhat unstable.
Her hair was all messed up and there were many bloodied wounds all over her body.
Although she still looked like the mirror image of Wendy, there was obviously a world of difference between them by comparison.
Throughout her captivity and torture, Yvonne had believed that she would be eventually killed. However, Michael had ordered that she must be kept alive.
During this period, she had been tormented endlessly until she just wanted to die and end it all.
And today, she had asked to see Michael for one last time before begging him to kill her. She no longer wanted to live like this.
What she had not expected was that Wendy was still alive.
Not only was she alive but that she was here, facing her.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and Yvonne went into a mental meltdown.
"Wendy Stewart?" she screeched at the top of her lungs.
"Why are you still alive? I cannot believe that you are still alive!
"What gives you the right to still be alive? You must die! Die already!"
Yvonne struggled wildly, intending to surge forward to hit Wendy.
However, since she was chained up, there was no way she could even get close to Wendy, much less touch her.
In any case, while Yvonne was struggling wildly, Michael had already stepped in front of Wendy, protecting her.
Seeing Michael’s protective stance, Yvonne went berserk, screaming, "Why are you shielding her? You can’t do that!
...
Looking at how miserable Yvonne was, Wendy felt somewhat sympathetic towards her. She did not expect Yvonne to end up in this state.
However, recalling what Michael had told her in the car on the way here, she decided that Yvonne had gotten her just deserts. Yvonne had tried to kill her any times. If she not been lucky, she would have died long ago. Wendy could not feel sorry for someone like Yvonne.
"You wanted to see me. Here I am," Michael said curtly. "Like you said, this will be the last time, so say your piece. If you have nothing to say to me, I will send you to the authorities."
"I do want to see you for the last time, but I don’t want to see her," Yvonne wailed hysterically. Why did you bring her along? Send her away! Kick her out now! I can’t stand the sight of her!"
It was grossly unfair that she had been left with nothing and Wendy was still alive and well. This was not fair at all!
Yvonne had already accepted her imminent death. She had lost her will to live anyway. But why did she have to see Wendy again right before dying? This was even more torturous than her own death.
Despite all that she had done, she failed to make Michael fall in love with her. She had also failed in her plan to stay by his side. Why was Wendy able to stay by Michael’s side so effortlessly?
Michael held Wendy’s hand tight as he replied coldly, "Wendy is my wife. I’ll only love her for the rest of my life. To this day, do you not feel the slightest remorse for what you have done?"
"Remorse?" Yvonne suddenly burst out laughing. "Why should I feel remorseful?
What have I done wrong? "All I did was fall in love with you. And yes, I do have regrets. I regret not killing Wendy. I regret letting her live. It’s all too unfair, Michael.
So very unfair."
Not wanting to prolong his conversation with Yvonne, Michael instructed his men, "Send her to the authorities. Hand over all evidence of her crimes as well."
Yvonne shook her head vehemently. She protested, "Why don’t you just kill me now?!" She had long lost the will to live. She knew that she had lost everything, and there was nothing more she could do about it. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"Please just kill me, Michael," Yvonne swallowed hard and pleaded. "You have tortured me enough."
"I don’t want to kill you," Michael replied as he turned away. He looked at Wendy’s swollen belly and said, "For the sake of my unborn child, I will not kill."
The old Michael would not hesitate to kill Yvonne. But now, he had no wish to kill anyone. He did not want blood on his hands.
"For the sake of your unborn child... Hahaha!" Yvonne laughed hysterically.
Saying nothing, Michael took Wendy by the hand and walked away as Yvonne watched them. Her wild laughter gradually turned into wailing.
Michael and Wendy had just arrived back at the mansion when his cellphone rang. It was Mr. York. Michael guessed that it was about Yvonne.
"Sir, on the way to the authorities, Yvonne jumped from the car. She’s killed herself."
Michael was not at all surprised. There was a tense silence before Michael spoke up, "Give her a decent burial."
After a long pause, he added, "Bury her next to Harold."
Michael ended the call and gripped Wendy’s hand tightly, sighing deeply.
Smiling faintly, he said, "It’s really late. Let’s get some sleep."
...
Pretty soon, one month had passed. During time, Mrs. Lucas had visited Anthony at the hospital on many occasions. After all, Anthony was her son. In fact, Michael had checked on him covertly too.
Michael was not afraid of being seen, he simply felt that Anthony had gotten his just deserts and so did not deserve to know that he had been checking on him. By visiting Anthony, Michael was merely fulfilling his obligation as a son.
On this day, Michael went to the hospital with his grandmother and Wendy. Anthony was lying on his bed, his face deathly pale. He could neither move nor speak.
Sighing, the attending physician asked, "Mr. Lucas, have you come to a decision?"
The one-month observation period had ended.
"Is there any hope?" Michael asked a tad sadly.
"I cannot say with absolute certainty that there is no hope. However, I can say that the probability is extremely low," the doctor replied honestly.
"It’s been a month. He should have regained consciousness by now if there’s any hope of him waking up."
"Prolonging his life with machines would only extend his suffering."
"I understand what you’re trying to say," Michael inhaled sharply.
Wendy could sense that Michael’s grip on her hand had tightened significantly.
When she tried to move her hand to comfort him, she realized that his grip was so strong that she could not move.
Turning to his grandmother, Michael asked, "Grandma, what do you think?"
His grandmother did not try to hide her sorrow as tears welled up in her eyes.
Wiping her tears away, she sighed long and deep and said, "Since there’s little hope of him ever waking up, let’s put a stop to his suffering."
"Okay," Michael nodded and released Wendy’s hand. Then he walked over to Anthony and looked down at him, saying, "Dad, this will most probably be the last you hear me addressing you as my father.
"You have done many wrongs. I wonder if you had any regrets during this one month. I hope you’ll be a good person in your next life. Be a good husband and a good father. I hope we’ll never meet again in subsequent lifetimes. Forget about us being father and son again. I hope that we won’t even end up as friends. I don’t want to have anything to do with you.
"I hope that you have repented," Mrs. Lucas said to Anthony. Wiping away her tears, she choked as she said, "In our next lives..." Like Michael, she wanted to sever all ties with Anthony, but she could not bring herself to say so. She could not bear to do this to her own son.
Nothing is more painful than having to watch your own child die. Her pain was indescribable. Wendy walked over and held Mrs. Lucas, trying to comfort her, but she didn’t know what to say. It seemed that nothing would sound appropriate, so she stayed silent.
At that moment, Michael noticed tears streaming from the corners of Anthony’s eyes. Pointing excitedly at the tears, he asked the doctor, "Is he crying?"
"Does this mean there’s hope of him waking up?" Michael wondered.
The attending physician sighed, "That’s just his reaction to what he heard. It does not mean that he’s going to wake up." As he spoke, he stole a glance at the vital signs monitor. He saw that nothing had changed. Anthony’s condition remained thesame. He was not going to come round.
