Chapter 2
When I reached Gianna’s name, I suddenly threw the pen away.
Mick’s hand stopped.
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
I swallowed the sob in my throat, picked up the braille paper, and pressed out, “I don’t want it.”
It had taken me six years to come to New York and become a designer whose name people remembered.
And now, Mick wanted me to hand everything over to someone else.
He looked at the paper. Impatience almost surfaced in his eyes, but he softened his voice anyway.
“Baby, I’m giving you security.”
“You can’t see, you can’t hear, and you can barely speak. What will you do if someone bullies you in the future?”
Mick was still lying to me.
Braille had once been my only way to communicate with the outside world.
And my outside world had only been him.
The night I was attacked, I was drowning in the double blow of losing my mother and becoming disabled.
I planned to jump off a building.
Mick was the one who rushed in and held me tight.
After that, he taught himself braille. He placed objects in my palm for me to feel, then pressed the corresponding braille into paper so I could learn.
So when I saw and heard the truth, my heart hurt so badly it felt like it would explode.
The living room fell silent.
Until Mick’s phone rang.
After that, he taught himself braille. He placed objects in my palm for me to feel, then pressed the corresponding braille into paper so I could learn.
So when I saw and heard the truth, my heart hurt so badly it felt like it would explode.
The living room fell silent.
Until Mick’s phone rang.
He answered, and Gianna’s sobbing immediately came through.
“Mick, save me... My dad is going to beat me to death...”
A man’s roar came from the other end. It was Gianna’s father.
“You said you’d find your brother a woman to have a child with. Where is she?”
“Luca has mental problems. When I die, who’s going to take care of him?”
“If you don’t find him a woman to give him a child, I’ll beat you to death!”
Gianna cried so hard she could barely breathe.
“Mick, Elena doesn’t know anything now anyway... Please help me. Just one night.”
“He’ll kill me...”
Mick’s grip on the phone slowly tightened.
A few seconds later, he said, “Okay.”
I turned and tried to run, but it was too late.
Mick grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms.
“Elena, haven’t you always wanted a child?”
“I’ll give you one.”
I raised my hand to push him away, but he acted like he couldn’t feel it. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me upstairs.
Ten minutes later, the estate doors flew open.
Gianna rushed in, her hair messy and her eyes red.
She took a small bottle of medicine from her purse and shoved it at Mick.
“My dad paid a lot for this. He said it makes pregnancy more likely.”
Mick poured the medicine into a cup of hot latte and brought it to me.
Then he placed a braille note he’d prepared in advance into my hand.
It said, “Latte. Drink it while it’s hot. It’s good for your body.”
I looked at that cup of coffee and suddenly wanted to laugh.
I shook my head.
I’m allergic to milk. Did you forget?
Mick didn’t care how I reacted. He pinched my jaw and tried to pour it down my throat.
“Enough!”
My rough, hoarse voice tore out of me as I knocked the cup from his hand.
“How long are you going to keep lying to me?”
Glass shattered.
Almost on instinct, Mick pulled Gianna behind him.
Their faces were full of disbelief.
“Elena... You’re better? You can see and hear?”