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Hidden Desires - Family Secrets-Chapter 163 I was angry but had nowhere to direct it Part 1
"Follow me..." Luna’s arms trembled slightly as she shook off my hands and turned to walk towards the door.
In that fleeting moment, I saw tears streaming down her face.
As she walked, she lifted a hand to wipe her face.
Although I could only see her back, I knew she was wiping away tears.
I followed Luna.
She didn’t walk with me but led the way, and as we passed, the servants who saw her coming looked terrified.
They quickly turned their heads or looked down, afraid to meet her gaze, as if Luna was some kind of demon.
Their fear was mixed with surprise.
Luna led me to the basement and stopped in front of a door, her figure motionless.
I stepped beside Luna and looked at her profile.
Although she had wiped her tears away, her eyelids and lashes were still damp.
"Do you know? This is the first time someone has seen me cry. I didn’t grab them for any other reason than I couldn’t stand their actions. What I can’t accept is that they hurt you. "
"No one is allowed to hurt you, including those thugs, those coal mine bosses, and so on. But I also don’t want to go against your wishes. You’re a good man. You rush to find them and care for them, which might seem unbelievable to others. "
"Why care for them if they hurt you? But I know your character, so your actions don’t surprise me. Just think carefully about what you’ll say when you see them. What can you say? Are you going to reconcile with her? Have you thought about how you’ll handle your relationship with them after this?"
Luna stood in front of the door, her eyes fixed on it, her head not turning as she spoke.
Her tone regained a hint of coldness but was still clear and calm.
As I listened to Luna, who was initially frantic to find Betty and Michael, I suddenly calmed down.
Yes, I was eager to find them, but what could I possibly say when I did?
"Actually, I have selfish thoughts. I thought about keeping them confined here so you could always stay by my side. I won’t deny that I really had this thought. For you, I dare to do anything, but I still gave up on that idea.
You might not love me, but I don’t want you to hate me. I’m really happy to have reunited with you. I had decided to live alone forever, never to marry, but then your family had a crisis.
Honestly, I felt a glimmer of hope and excitement, but seeing you so sad and desperate, I was in pain. If I had to choose, I would rather your family still be happy and fulfilled. Even if I can’t have your heart, just knowing you’re happy is enough..."
Luna continued, her words stirring emotions, but by then, my heart was in turmoil.
I was primarily worried about Betty and Michael, but as Luna spoke, I couldn’t bear to interrupt or hurt her.
"What have you done to them?" I finally asked, calming myself.
I didn’t respond to Luna’s confession, knowing it would hurt her, but at this critical moment, her declaration was doomed to fail.
She is a rational woman, but when it comes to matters of the heart, she seems quite naive.
I remembered this crucial question, harsh as it was, I still had to ask.
Luna had taken them, but what had she done to them?
Had she crippled them? Tortured them?
"I haven’t done anything to them. I didn’t hit them or torture them. I know if I had mistreated them, you would definitely hate me. But I can’t easily forgive them. They drove you to despair, almost to death, and I want them to taste that despair, to know what it’s like to lose something they care about... Compared to those thugs, they are much luckier..."
Luna turned to glance at me as she spoke, her words still ambiguous, leaving me puzzled.
"There’s a way to check on them. Do you want to see their condition on the computer monitor or go there in person?" Luna asked, seeing that I hadn’t spoken.
Her question caught me off guard.
After thinking it over, I realized I didn’t want to face Betty and Michael directly.
I wouldn’t know how to act or what to say, yet I was eager to know their current state.
"Let’s go to the surveillance room..." I finally decided, not daring to confront them directly.
Luna heard my answer and turned to head upstairs.
I followed her to a room that seemed to be her study.
The bookshelves were neatly arranged, and there was a computer on the desk.
Luna powered up the computer and opened an interface with two surveillance windows.
I hurried to the computer as Luna stepped aside to give me space.
My eyes glued to the screen, the figures of Betty and Michael finally reappeared before me through the digital display.
In the screen, Betty and Michael were not confined together.
The computer showed two small screens, each displaying a separate room where Betty and Michael were held.
I clicked on Michael’s room first, enlarging his video.
To my shock, Michael was bound, not tightly wrapped, but crucified, his arms spread wide like Jesus on a cross.
Michael’s face was pale, his eyes closed, and from the rise and fall of his abdomen, it was clear he was still breathing, seemingly in a deep sleep.
Just a few days without seeing the once robust Michael, he had noticeably lost weight.
"What have you done to him?" I asked, my voice tense.
Did I hate Michael? Yes, I hated him as he was the third party responsible for the current situation, but I couldn’t just ignore him because he was Laura’s son.
Remembering Laura’s face and her last words made my heart ache.
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Deep down, I wasn’t ruthless enough.
Though there were no visible injuries on Michael in the video, his emaciated appearance spoke volumes of his weakness.
It was impossible that Luna hadn’t tormented him.
"I haven’t done much, just let him taste the flavor of despair, to experience what you felt..." Luna said coldly, standing beside me.
I turned to look at her, perhaps my eyes carried a hint of reproach.
Although I knew Luna did this for me, Michael was still just a kid.
"If he weren’t just a kid, I wouldn’t have just tied him to the cross; I would have nailed him to it. He likes that woman so much, right? So, I made sure he couldn’t see her, couldn’t touch her, and I didn’t feed him. Just let him quietly wait for death on that cross. Of course, I won’t really let him die. I’ll save him at the last moment. It’s been less than five days; they say the human limit is seven days. This unbearable hunger, feeling death creeping closer, that’s the real torture and despair..." Luna spoke through gritted teeth, looking at the screen.
Remembering her methods with the thugs, perhaps she had indeed shown some mercy here.
I wanted to scold Luna, but the words wouldn’t come out.
After all, everything she did was for me.
I was angry but had nowhere to direct it.
I turned back to the screen.
About 21 minutes had passed since I started watching Michael’s feed.
It was time to check on Betty.
Taking a deep breath, I switched to Betty’s camera.
I had avoided her until now because I was afraid of being too soft-hearted and scared of seeing her in a tormented state.
But now I had to face it.
In the screen, Betty was in a quiet room with a bed and a TV.
There was food beside the bed, untouched.
Betty had no visible injuries, and she was wearing the same clothes she had on the night she was taken, neatly dressed but with disheveled hair and a very pale face.
Like Michael, she had also lost a lot of weight.