Transmigration; A Mother's Redemption and a perfect Wife.-Chapter 346; Mental breakdown 2

"She isn’t a prisoner, Ting Cheng. This is a woman that you love. If you restrain her, then you would go back to the fighting life you always had." Huo Qi said quietly, unable to stop himself.

"She was safe, I made sure of that," Huo Ting Cheng corrected, his voice sharp as a blade. "Safe from the world that destroyed her. Safe from the family that betrayed her. Safe from her own broken mind." He straightened, his hand falling away from Tang Fei’s face.

"And then I made the mistake of listening to her and everyone else who said she needed ’normalcy,’ ’social interaction,’ ’independence.’ So I gave her freedom. I let her do her things, make friends, live a normal life."

He turned back to them, and the rage that had been simmering beneath the surface finally erupted.

"And look what that freedom brought her! She is being attacked mentally! Someone is deliberately trying to trigger her memories, to break her all over again!" His fist slammed down on the desk, making both men flinch. "I gave her the world, and the world tried to destroy her. Again."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

"So yes," Huo Ting Cheng said, his voice returning to that eerie calm. "I will bring the Tang family here. I will question them. I will extract every piece of information they have. And then I will decide whether they live or die based on their usefulness." He paused, his gaze drifting back to Tang Fei.

"And she will return to the East mansion out of the City... Permanently."

"You can’t be serious," Huo Wu heavily breathed. "Sixth Master Huo, she’s not that broken girl anymore. She’s recovered. She has her life, friends, and children...."

"The children will come with us," Huo Ting Cheng interrupted. "They’re young enough. We’ll homeschool them at the estate. Private tutors, everything they need. They don’t need the outside world either. It’s safer if we’re all together, behind walls that can’t be breached."

Huo Qi’s mind raced. This was worse than he’d imagined. Huo Ting Cheng wasn’t just planning to interrogate the Tang family, he was planning to lock his entire family away, to create an impenetrable fortress and trap them all inside.

"What about her will?" Huo Qi asked desperately. "What about what she wants? Sixth Master Huo, you can’t just...."

"Can’t?" Huo Ting Cheng’s laugh was bitter, hollow. "I can do anything I want. I built this empire. I control this city. And I will use every resource at my disposal to protect what’s mine." He moved closer to them, his presence overwhelming. "You think I care about her will right now? She doesn’t remember what happened. She doesn’t understand the danger she’s in. She’s like a child wandering into traffic, she needs someone to pull her back, even if she fights against it."

"This isn’t protection," Huo Qi said, his voice harder now. "This is an obsession. This is control masquerading as love."

"Call it whatever you want," Huo Ting Cheng replied coldly. "I call it survival. Hers and mine. Because if I lose her again, if she breaks again..." His voice faltered for just a moment, a crack in the armor revealing the terrified man beneath. "I won’t survive it this time. I barely survived it the first time."

He turned away, walking back to the windows, his silhouette dark against the city lights. "The mansion has a new wing. Private quarters for the family. Soundproofed, secure, with every amenity one could want. I had it built months ago. Just in case."

Just in case.

"She’ll fight you," Huo Wu said quietly. "When she realizes what you’ve done, when she understands she’s trapped, she’ll fight. And it will break what you’ve built between the two of you all over again."

"Then I’ll sedate her," Huo Ting Cheng said simply, brutally. "Like today. As many times as necessary until she accepts her new reality. The mind is adaptable, gentlemen. It can be conditioned. The memories were erased once; her resistance can be erased too."

Huo Qi felt sick. This was no longer about protecting Tang Fei, this was about owning her completely, about molding her into something docile and compliant, locked away like a doll in a music box.

"I’ll give you both a choice," Huo Ting Cheng said, still facing the windows. "You can help me. Execute my orders, bring the Tang family here, and help secure my wife and children at the estate. Or..." He paused, letting the threat hang in the air. "You can leave. Walk away now. I’ll handle everything myself, and you’ll never see any of us again."

It wasn’t really a choice. They both knew that. If they walked away, Huo Ting Cheng would descend completely into madness, and there would be no one left to protect Tang Fei from her own husband.

"How long?" Huo Qi finally asked, his voice defeated. "How long do you plan to keep them locked up?"

Huo Ting Cheng turned, and in his eyes was the answer Huo Qi had dreaded.

"Forever," he said simply. "Or until the threats are eliminated. Whichever comes last." He glanced at his watch. "You have twelve hours. The Tang family needs to be in those interrogation rooms by dawn. And I want the mansion prepared for our arrival by tomorrow evening."

He walked back to Tang Fei, kneeling beside the sofa, his hand reaching out to stroke her hair with a gentleness that contradicted everything he’d just said.

"She’ll understand eventually. Once she realizes how much safer she is, how protected. She’ll thank me."

But as Huo Qi watched the sleeping woman, her face peaceful in drugged oblivion, he knew the truth. When Tang Fei woke up to find herself caged again, all the progress, all the healing, all the love she’d rebuilt with Huo Ting Cheng would shatter.

And this time, there might be no coming back from it.

Not for either of them.

The silence that followed Huo Ting Cheng’s declaration was heavier than any sound. It was thick with the chilling weight of his words and the terrifying future they painted. Huo Wu and Huo Qi stood frozen, the fear a tangible thing in the air between them.