Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Suffocation
"..." Aiden fell silent.
When Aiden didn’t respond, Tristan grew anxious. "Is something wrong?"
"It’s nothing. Maggie just fell asleep. How about I have her call you back when she wakes up?"
"No need. Since she’s asleep, just let her rest." ’As long as I know Maggie’s okay, I can rest easy. Whether or not we actually talk isn’t important.’
"Okay..."
Tristan lowered his gaze and hung up the phone.
He stood by the window for a long time before finally turning around.
But the moment his eyes fell upon the woman standing in the living room, his face instantly darkened.
Without a word, he walked to the sofa and sat down, his face grim.
"So, you’re not leaving? You stayed here just to call her?" Seeing Tristan sit down so calmly without a word, she couldn’t help but demand an answer.
Tristan’s head was throbbing. He had no desire to explain himself—especially not to this woman. He owed her nothing.
At that thought, he let out a scornful laugh and said coolly, "Why else do you think I stayed?"
"So, you’ve already found her? You found her, so why didn’t you tell me?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"Don’t you know how worried I was? I even... I even..." ’I even thought about trading my life for hers.’
’But him? He’d clearly found her, yet he pretended he hadn’t, all while humiliating me again and again.’
’Even what? That she’d even figured out how to deal with Maggie? Or maybe she wanted to tell my parents, so they’d send Maggie even farther away?’
As these thoughts flooded his mind, Tristan’s rage finally exploded. He shot to his feet, strode over to her, and clamped a hand around her neck. "What right do you have to worry?" he roared viciously. "If it weren’t for you, Maggie would never have been forced abroad!"
"What does this have to do with me? Tristan, you—COUGH... COUGH COUGH..."
"Nothing to do with you? How could it have nothing to do with you? If it weren’t for you, she never would have been forced abroad! Do you even know? She’s dying! She barely has two days left to live, and you people still couldn’t stand the sight of her!"
The more Tristan spoke, the greater the rage in his heart grew. If anything actually happened to Maggie because of this, even killing this woman wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his hatred.
"Tristan..." With his hand clamped around her throat, she felt like she was about to suffocate to death.
She waved her hands in panic, trying to get him to release his grip.
But he was lost in his own world, wishing he could just strangle her to death.
She started to cry. Closing her eyes, she simply waited for death to arrive.
’If he wants to kill me, then so be it. Living like this is worse than death anyway.’
A tear escaped the corner of her eye, slid down her cheek, and fell onto the hand Tristan had wrapped around her neck.
Suddenly, Tristan felt a cool wetness on his hand. The sensation startled him into yanking his hand away. He watched as the woman’s body went limp and started to collapse toward the floor. He reached out and caught her by the waist, a sudden, inexplicable panic seizing him. He was afraid.
’Just now, I almost strangled her to death.’
"Why? Why did you let go?" Mika Summers lifted her tear-filled eyes to Tristan, her lips twisting into a mocking smile.
’If you wanted to kill me, why stop?’