Chapter 14

Mister Yoseph was slightly taken aback but replied, "Not that I'm aware of, sir. The psychiatric hospital is having a dinner party tonight." "Did Meredith join?" "Sir, I heard from the warden that Miss Meredith is not allowed to leave her room. Hence I think that she wouldn't be attending the dinner party." "True," Josiah scoffed. Josiah knew that Meredith was a woman with pride. It was impossible that she would lower herself and attend a dinner with a group of patients with mental issues. "Sir, if you would like to hear about Miss Meredith, I can call the warden right away." "It's fine, leave it," Josiah said. Though Josiah rejected his secretary's request, he could not help himself but dialed the warden's phone number on his phone. However, the warden was not picking up. Meredith used up almost all the strength in her and finally delivered her child. Meredith, who was still in a daze, vaguely heard Miss Linda who was saying, "Throw the child into the fire." Upon hearing this, Meredith, who almost lost consciousness, quickly moved her body that was in pain and pleaded weakly, "No, please don't kill my baby…" Reaching out her hands, Meredith struggled and finally grabbed onto Miss Rosa's shirt. She fell off from the bed that was now stained with red blood. Meredith desperately wanted to snatch her baby from Miss Rosa's hands. "Please don't kill my baby, I'm begging you…" Staring at Meredith who was crawling on the floor, Miss Rosa flung away her hands ruthlessly and walked out of the room without even looking back. "No - !" Seeing Miss Rosa disappearing from her view, Meredith started crying her heart out. Meredith finally got up on her feet, but before she could even chase after Miss Rosa, she fell onto the ground again and lost consciousness. Meredith had a dream. In that dream, she saw her child being trapped in an ocean of fire and her child was reaching out to her, crying out, "Mommy, save me, please help me…" Meredith tried her best to pull her child out of the fire but she could not move her legs. All she could do was to see her baby being burned alive while she did nothing. "No! My baby!" Meredith shouted and opened her eyes. But what she saw was Ysabelle who was scoffing at her with an evil look on her face. Tears started welling up in her eyes. In her hoarse voice, Meredith asked, "Ysabelle Layne, where is my child?" "Your child?" Ysabelle smirked and said, "It burned to death. Right there in the woodshed." Meredith was startled as she thought to herself. 'So the dream was real!' Her child did ask for her help! Struggling, Meredith fell off from her bed. While crying her eyes out, Meredith staggered and stumbled her way back to the woodshed. The woodshed was already gone. All that it left were ashes. Not caring about her safety or whether her hands would get burned, Meredith rushed into the pile of ashes and started digging frantically while she whimpered, "Baby, my poor baby, where are you? Mummy's here for you!" But she could not find her baby no matter how much she tried to dig. Towering over Meredith whose limbs were sprawled across the ground, bawling her eyes out, Ysabelle crouched down and sniggered coldly, "Meredith Leighton, Josiah was the one who gave the orders. So, you should be blaming him. Oh wait, or maybe you should blame yourself for marrying a man who doesn't love you at all." Meredith dug her fingers deep into the soil as if the soil were both Josiah and Ysabelle. Meredith was fuming in rage and despair. She despised and resented both of them. "Oh dear Meredith, your husband loves another woman while you're here, pathetically hanging by a thread. He even killed you and your child, tsk tsk, don't you think you're a bit pathetic?" Shaking her head, Ysabelle mocked, "If I were you, I would have ended my life since I've got nothing else to lose, rather than staying alive just to save my enemy's life." "Oh, for your information, there's a cliff close by, just a hundred meters to your left. You can consider jumping off there," Ysabelle laughed and went on, "this is my last gentle reminder for you. Oh, and save your thanks!" Nothing left to lose… Meredith cried until she laughed, and laughed until she cried again. Ysabelle was right. She had indeed lost everything. In just one night, she had lost her best friend and her child. And the person who caused her loss was Josiah Shelby and the woman in front of her. Even if she wanted to die, she must take Ysabelle with her. The look in Meredith's eyes changed. Along with her scarred face from the fire, Meredith's face contorted in anger. Ysabelle who was smiling smugly a while ago suddenly had the urge to escape after seeing how Meredith was staring at her intently. Meredith got a hold of a knife behind her and started charging toward Ysabelle. With a push, Ysabelle fell onto the ground and saw the knife being stabbed into her lower belly. Her dress was immediately stained with blood. "Help, help me…" Ysabelle whimpered as she struggled. "Meredith…you're nuts!" Meredith had indeed gone mad. But who would not have? Just when she was about to stab Ysabelle again, Meredith was held back. "Let me go! I will kill this woman to seek justice for my baby!" Like a madwoman, Meredith struggled with all her might as she glared furiously at Ysabelle who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. "Miss Meredith, you'll need to pay with your life if you kill Ysabelle," Miss Rosa reminded her as she tried to hold back Meredith. Seeing how Ysabelle lay in the pool of blood lifelessly, Meredith dropped the knife in her hands and started laughing maniacally. She had to pay with her life? Meredith had got nothing to lose anymore when God had taken away everything she had. Using up the last bit of strength that was left in her, Meredith staggered and stumbled all the way to the cliff. Underneath the cliff was a sea with turbulent and raging waves. Ysabelle was right. Just a leap and she would be free from all the misery and despair. She would be able to stay by her poor child's side forever. 'I'm sorry, mom…I'm sorry, Qira…I'm sorry, my baby. I wasn't able to protect you and even brought tragedy onto you…' Meredith thought to herself. Meredith started climbing onto the cliff until she was standing by the edge. With a leap, she dropped into the ocean with raging waves. She felt herself being enveloped in cold, cold water. As soon as she received the news of Meredith's death, Ysabelle finally got up from the floor. She purposely left the stab wound untreated and left the psychiatric hospital in pain. As soon as she saw Josiah, Ysabelle showed the wound to him and started wailing, "Josiah, Meredith started a fire just to escape and even stabbed me! And I heard from the staff that Meredith ran all the way to the cliff and…she…" Ysabelle sobbed pitifully as she tried to explain the situation to Josiah. She was still waiting for Josiah to comfort her and to ask her about the wound. But Josiah did not do any of those. Josiah who had always been calm and collected suddenly got anxious. He felt his stomach drop. Josiah tried to act calm but his voice trembled as he urged Ysabelle, "Go on, say it, what happened to Meredith?!"