Chapter 3

No! I couldn't let that happen!

I struggled, but the bodyguards held me down firmly.

I couldn't be without my hands! The national research institute! My future!

I needed these hands to operate precise instruments! Without them, everything I had would be ruined!

"Eleanor! You can't!"

I screamed, hoarse.

"I didn't steal! I didn't..."

But she merely watched, impassively, as if observing a silent film that had nothing to do with her.

A bodyguard stepped forward, roughly grabbed my left hand, and squeezed my index finger.

"No!"

*CRACK!*

A crisp sound of bone shattering echoed. The agonizing pain made my vision go black; I nearly passed out.

It hurt!

But this pain was less than a thousandth of the agony in my heart.

I looked at the woman I had poured my heart out to and loved for ten years, at her beautiful profile,

Now, I only felt disgust.

I hated her! I hated myself even more! Why was I so blind back then, to fall for this woman who couldn't tell right from wrong, this cold and heartless woman!

To protect her fragile pride, I had hidden my top-tier university degree, even willing to give up my career for her.

Ten years of devotion, ten years of youth, all for this outcome today!

I truly regretted ever loving her!

*CRACK!*

The second finger was broken.

"Ah!"

I convulsed with pain, cold sweat instantly soaking my hospital gown.

Eleanor stood there, expressionless.

The third.

The fourth...

Excruciating pain surged like a tide, wave after wave, almost consuming my consciousness.

I bit down hard, absolutely refusing to admit to that fabricated charge.

One, two, three...

The bodyguard grabbed my right hand.

My future, my dreams, shattered inch by agonizing inch before my eyes.

*CRACK!*

When the ninth finger was brutally snapped, I no longer had the strength to even scream.

My life, too, seemed utterly broken at that moment.

But my dignity was not crushed. I had not confessed to theft!

Eleanor looked at my pathetic state, frowned, and her face turned pale.

She suddenly turned to the doctor.

"Reattach them."

With that, she almost fled in haste, without another glance back at me.