When My Eyes Opened Again Chapter 06
A basin of freezing water splashed over me, shocking me awake; when I opened my eyes, I found my hands and feet tightly bound.
And the two people standing before me, my kidnappers… were actually Carmen and Lucas!
“Sis… why do I have this feeling she can see us? Did her sight come back?”
Carmen frowned as she stepped closer, waving a hand in front of my face, but I just stared blankly, not even blinking.
Just then, Lucas walked toward me with a knife, a playful smirk dancing on his lips.
“How can you tell if she’s really blind doing that?
Let me try.”
With that, he actually lunged forward, thrusting the blade straight at my eyes.
Just as the tip of the blade was less than a centimeter from my eyes, Carmen hastily called out to stop him.
“Stay careful. We’re only here to teach her a lesson today. She’s already blind as it is, there’s no need to actually mutilate her eyes. It won’t do us any good if Brady digs into it.”
Lucas scoffed and tossed the knife aside. “Your brother isn’t that stupid. I was just testing her. Looks like she really is blind, though—not even flinching with a blade right in her face. Hahaha!”
Collapsed on the ground, my chest heaving violently, I shouted at the two of them:
“Carmen, Lucas! How dare you kidnap me?!”
Carmen looked a little surprised. She walked over step by step and stomped down hard on my injured forearm, grinding her heel into it.
“Recognized our voices that fast, huh? Too bad the show I prepared hasn’t even started yet.”
Grabbing my arm, she dragged me over to a large water vat and kicked hard behind my knees.
“Ah!”
I crashed onto the muddy ground, my knees slamming down with a sickening thud, cold sweat breaking out from the sharp pain.
Immediately after, my hair was yanked back, and my entire upper body was shoved down into the water vat.
I didn’t know what was in the water, but the stinging fumes instantly brought tears to my eyes; as I choked down a few mouthfuls, a burning ache tore through my throat.
They stood by watching me thrash desperately, only pulling me up by the hair right before I drowned, only to plunge me back in after barely two seconds…
I lost count of how many times they repeated it before they finally grew bored and stopped.
I was thrown heavily to the ground, utterly exhausted, my eyes swollen, every single breath searing my throat with excruciating agony.
Fortunately, my fingers brushed against the phone that had fallen earlier, and I hid it behind my back to call my emergency contact.
“Wretched girl, still trying to pull tricks?”
Hearing the noise, Lucas snatched the phone from behind me and raised it to smash it, but Carmen walked over.
She took the phone, saw that I was dialing Brady’s number, and curled her lips into a mocking sneer.
“Chloe, who do you think Brady will answer first if I call him right now?”
With that, she leisurely pulled out her phone and dialed.
Barely two seconds later, my screen showed the call rejected, and Brady’s voice came through Carmen’s phone:
“Honey, I was just in a meeting. What’s wrong?”
Carmen raised an eyebrow at me, then deliberately feigned a panicked voice:
“Hubby, my tire suddenly blew out halfway through my drive. What should I do?”
“Where are you? Don’t panic, I’ll be right there.”
The rustling sound of someone getting up came through the phone, and Carmen curled her lips into a smile before hanging up.
“Let’s go, Sis. It’s time to stage the accident scene.”
Before leaving, Lucas Jenkins gave my chest a vicious pinch with a smirk, “Little lady, I’ll make sure to have more fun with you next time.”
I glared with hatred at their retreating backs, but I didn’t even have the strength left to crawl up.
A drizzle began to fall outside; I could only rub the ropes against a sharp corner until they frayed, then limped all the way back to the villa.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Brady didn’t return a single one of my calls.
Under the warm yellow lights of the villa, Carmen had changed into clean clothes and was nestled against Brady, watching television.
Seeing me return, she walked up to me with a feigned look of shock, “Good heavens, Mrs. Voss, what happened? How did you end up looking like this?”
As she spoke, she grabbed my arm, pretending to check my wounds.
But the next second, I clamped down on her wrist and slapped her hard across the face.
Smack!
Carmen and Brady were both stunned.
I spoke coldly: “Drop the act. Weren’t you the one who conspired with Lucas to kidnap me?”
Clutching her reddened cheek, Carmen shook her head at Brady with teary eyes.
“I don’t understand what Mrs. Voss is talking about…”
Brady also frowned deeply, a chill creeping into his voice:
“Chloe, what kind of madness has gotten into you?
Carmen had a flat tire and was stuck on the highway with her brother all day. How could she possibly have kidnapped you!”
His sharp gaze bore into me, as if he were staring down a vile criminal.
It reminded me of what Carmen had said before leaving this afternoon:
“You’d better keep today’s matter strictly to yourself. After all, you’re just a blind woman with no proof whatsoever that we kidnapped you. If you make a scene, Brady will only think you’re a raving lunatic!”
Now, Carmen spoke with that exact same innocent tone:
“Mrs. Voss claims she was kidnapped, but she couldn’t even see who took her. How can she throw such slander onto my brother and me?”
I gave a cold sneer: “What if I say I have proof?”
Ever since my birthday, I had been carrying a voice recorder with me, keeping it on at all times.
Naturally, this recorder had captured everything that happened this afternoon.
Yet to my utter disbelief, before I could even take out the evidence, Brady shoved me away.
He looked at me coldly:
“Carmen told me earlier that your psychiatrist said you were ill, and I didn’t believe it at first. But over the last two days, you’ve stabbed someone and now made baseless accusations. Chloe, what exactly do you want?”
“Mr. Voss, please don’t blame Mrs. Voss anymore…”
Carmen furrowed her brows and said, “Her heart has been knotted up because of her eye condition. The only thing we can do right now is get her medical help.”
Clenching my fists tightly, I said in a deep voice: “What do you mean by that?”
Brady glanced at me, sighed softly, and said to Carmen, “Let’s wait a bit longer. I’m afraid those people might mistreat Chloe…”
Carmen immediately replied, “Rest assured, Mr. Voss. I’ve already coordinated with the psychiatric hospital in advance. They’ll do their best to treat Mrs. Voss as gently as possible.”
A psychiatric hospital…
Behind my back, had Brady actually discussed sending me to a psychiatric hospital with Carmen?
Seeing Brady keeping a grim face and remaining silent, Carmen put on a worried look:
“Last time she stabbed my brother, this time she framed me. Next time… who knows if she’ll target the baby? Are you just going to stand by and watch her hurt the child?”
Brady’s expression wavered.
After a brief silence, he looked at me and said in a low voice, “Honey, pack your things. You’re sick, and you need to go to the hospital for treatment.”
I parted my lips in disbelief, my voice trembling: “Just because of what Carmen said, you believe I’m mentally ill and want to send me to a mental hospital?”
Brady didn’t say a word, but I knew that was already his answer.