When I Went Blind, My Regretful Husband Wanted Me BackChapter 1
I found myself locked in the darkroom once again. The oppressive blackness surrounded me; the only sound was my labored groans of pain.
Clutching my aching abdomen, I weakly pounded on the door, desperation bleeding into my voice. “Aunt Nori, open the door. I’m bleeding heavily. I need to go to the hospital.”
But from outside came Riley Griffin's same mocking tone. “There are sanitary pads in the room. Handle it yourself, and stop whining. You’re disturbing my drama.”
“Riley, I want to see Vernon.”
“Vernon’s busy in my room, in the middle of a video conference. He doesn’t have time to listen to your sobbing.”
“Please, let me go to the hospital.”
I bit back the pain, lowering myself to beg.
Riley’s voice dripped with disdain. “It’s just cramps. Are you going to die from it?”
“I’m not letting you take painkillers. Too many could mess with your fertility.”
Her words were sharp, like a slap across the face.
——
I touched the blood pooling beneath me, and a deep, gnawing dread surged through my chest.
I hadn’t had my period in nearly three months. Could I be pregnant?
I was struck by panic. My uterus had always been a source of torment, each cycle more agonizing than the last. Vernon Hamilton, my husband, had sought countless doctors to help regulate my condition, hoping it might one day allow me to conceive.
Before Riley came into the Hamilton family, I had at least been able to take painkillers under medical advice to ease the pain. But ever since her arrival, she had forbidden me from even that small mercy.
Every time the pain hit, she would lock me away in this dark room. She knew my fear of snakes, so she would throw in toy snakes and play with the hissing sound on a loop, tormenting me in every possible way, physically and mentally.
The more I thought about it, the more terror gripped me. My body was drained from the excessive blood loss, and I no longer had the strength to keep begging.
Summoning the last of my strength, I crawled into the corner, feeling my eyelids grow heavy. And then, I drifted into a deep, exhausted sleep, my only hope that Vernon would come.
I dreamed.
It was a memory from five years ago. Vernon had already been a rising star in Asheville’s financial world. Young, handsome, and wealthy, he could have any woman he wanted.
But he chose me. A woman with no impressive background.