Chapter 12

Ysabelle froze. After a while, she finally came back to her senses and yelled into the phone, "Are you guys blind? How is it that you only find out about it now?" Fuming with rage, Ysabelle then ended the call. After racking her brain for some time, Ysabelle called Miss Linda again and said to her, "See you at our old place. I'll teach you how to get rid of both of them…" … "Edith, guess what good food I've brought you today?" Qira asked. In the small darkroom, Qira was beaming like stars in the night sky. "Hmm, let me guess. Eggs? Or fruits?" As Qira was mentally unstable, Meredith had been interacting with Qira like her younger sister. In the past five months, Meredith was forced to work, forced to eat cold bread and cold pasta, and forced to give blood to Yena. If it was not for Qira, her child would have died of hunger. "You guessed it wrong, it's a chicken drumstick!" Qira took out a drumstick behind her back and beamed. "Edith, I've saved this for you specially. Here, eat this while it's still hot." In the past, Meredith would have taken the food as she knew she had to eat well for the baby in her tummy. However, this time, she held Qira's hand in hers as she studied her gaunt figure, and said, "Qira, you should have this yourself. Look at you, you've lost so much weight." "But the baby needs more food than me." "I know. If it wasn't for your care and help, my baby and I could have died." Meredith held back her tears and said, "Promise me that you'd take care of yourself when I'm gone, okay?" "Edith, are you planning to escape?" Qira lowered her voice. Meredith nodded her head. She knew that she would not be able to hide the bump anymore. She was worried that Josiah would force her to kill the baby again if he found out. "Qira…" Meredith tightened her grip around Qira's hands and sobbed, "If things go wrong, please forget that you've ever met me. But if I get out of here alive, please wait for me, I will come back to get you out. I will help you to find your brothers and sisters." "But…" Feeling worried, Qira started crying, "I'm worried that Miss Rosa would betray you." With her necklace, Meredith had bribed the other working staff, Miss Rosa, without Miss Linda's knowledge, to let her escape. Miss Rosa was tempted by the expensive necklace and gave her word to Meredith that she would let her out tonight during the dinner party. Meredith knew well enough that it was a risky move. However, there was nothing else for her to do aside from this. Meredith had waited for this day for far too long. Hence, she could not allow herself to give up simply because she was scared While the working staff was busy with preparations, Meredith seized the opportunity and snuck into the woodshed in the backyard. Miss Rosa had told her that she would be able to escape through the back door from the woodshed. Hiding at a corner in the woodshed, Meredith placed her hand on the bump of her stomach and murmured under her breath, "My child, don't worry. I will do whatever I can to save you." Just when everyone had left, Meredith found out that the backdoor was locked. There was no way she was able to escape. Did Miss Rosa betray her? Or… With a loud bang, Meredith heard someone closing the door. Feeling suspicious, Meredith walked over to the front door to realize that someone had locked the front door as well. Outside the door, Meredith noticed Ysabelles' silhouette. It was Ysabelle Layne! What was she doing here? Meredith slammed the door over and over while yelling, "Ysabelle Layne, open up the door!" "My, my, Meredith. Were you planning to run away? What a cunning little witch you are!" Ysabelle sniggered with her arms crossed in front of her. She pulled into a smug smile and provoked further. "What's wrong? Were you planning to run away with that child of yours? Aren't you worried that Josiah would kill both of you?" Meredith felt her legs give away and almost fell onto the ground. It was over. Her plan had failed. Meredith started panicking as she knew that Ysabelle would never let her and her child go. At the crucial moment, Meredith kneeled down on the floor and begged, "Ysabelle, please, I'm begging you, please open the door, I…I only want my child to stay alive. You can have Josiah all to yourself…please, I'm begging you." "Meredith, trust me, I really want you and your child to be safe. But Josiah had made it clear to kill that child of yours." "No, please don't…" Ignoring Meredith's desperate pleas, Ysabelle said coldly, "Meredith Leighton, you brought this on yourself." With that, Ysabelle threw gasoline into the woodshed followed by a lighter that was already lit up. With a loud bang, the bright flames of the fire lit up their faces. At the sound of Meredith's horrified shrieks, Ysabelle, on the other hand, had pulled into a smug smile on her face. 'Meredith Leighton, so you want to escape to keep that child of yours? In your dreams!' Ysabelle thought to herself. The fire caught onto the wood pieces quickly and spread over the woodshed in a blink of an eye. Meredith was terrified. Using all the strength in her, she tried to open the door while screaming for help, "Help! Help me!" A dinner party was going on in the front yard and music was playing loud. Hence, no one would be able to notice that the woodshed in the backyard was on fire, let alone notice Meredith's desperate call for help. Meredith tried to look for another way to escape. Covering her mouth with her hands while coughing strenuously, she noticed a window and started making her way to the window. "Ah - !" The heavy smoke had blurred her eyesight causing her to trip over something on the floor. Meredith fell onto the floor, hitting her belly. She felt a piercing pain coming from her belly.