Wife Swap on Our Fifth Anniversary Chapter 4

I held Buddy's still-warm body.

Staring at him in disbelief.

The person before me suddenly felt so strange.

He could so callously disregard a living creature that had been with him for five years.

So what did my feelings mean to him?

I sat dejectedly on the cold floor.

Lily buried herself in his arms, crying softly.

"Honey, all these years I've kept my boundaries, never disturbed you two. But she already agreed to play the wife-swap game, yet still had that dead dog target me."

"You have to avenge me."

Ethan's friends also looked at me with righteous indignation.

As if I were some unforgivable criminal.

Ethan's gaze was dark.

It fell on me, making me wary.

"What do you want to do?"

"Chelsea, when you do something wrong, you must be punished."

He dragged me to an abandoned kennel in the suburbs.

Inside were vicious stray dogs.

"You like dogs? Then go stay with the dogs."

I turned to run.

But Lily grabbed my hair and threw me to the ground.

"Bitch, you hurt me and think you can run?"

I fell awkwardly onto the filthy ground.

"It was Lily who bullied me first! Buddy was just protecting me. It's all her fault. Why punish me?"

"Ethan, let me go now!"

Faced with my hoarse questioning, Ethan's expression remained cold.

"Lily is my wife now. Naturally I'll favor her unconditionally."

His words were resolute.

But tears kept sliding from my eyes.

He could actually be so biased for Lily's sake.

Ethan gripped my chin hard, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"As long as you behave, I'll give you whatever you want."

"Stay here and be good. When Lily's anger fades, I'll let you out."

One by one, the stray dogs were released from their cages.

I was pinned to the ground as the dogs viciously tore at me, my entire body covered in bloody wounds.

Lily stood beside Ethan.

Smiling triumphantly.

"Bitch, seduce my husband and dare to hurt me—this is what you get."

She pulled out her phone, pointing it at me to record video.

"Hahaha, this is too funny. I'm going to show everyone this video. I'll title it 'Old Woman Battles Mad Dogs.'"

Ethan lovingly kissed her cheek.

"Good, whatever you say."

I don't know how long passed.

I felt like I was dying.

Only then did Ethan have someone lock the dogs back in their cages.

As consciousness faded, I felt him gently lift me and carry me toward the hospital.

The car stopped at the hospital entrance.

Ethan supported me as we walked toward the hospital.

But a car came speeding from the distance.

Lily suddenly shoved me hard into the middle of the road.

Having lost so much blood, I had no strength to escape.

I could only watch helplessly as the car ran over both my legs.

The excruciating pain twisted my features.

I stared hard at Ethan.

Almost word by word, I questioned him.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Meeting my reddened gaze, Ethan froze.

"...You hurt Lily's leg, so you have to repay her with yours. That's only fair."

I coughed up a mouthful of blood, splattering directly onto the ground.

Lily hooked her arm through his.

"Stop pretending to be pitiful. The hospital's close. You can crawl there if you have to."

Ethan crouched down, reluctantly wiping the blood from my face.

"Chelsea, I've arranged doctors and post-op care for you. Just crawl there and you'll get treatment."

"Lily and I still have a candlelight dinner to attend. We can't waste time here."

"Baby, I'll come see you after this game ends."

They walked away arm in arm, farther and farther.

My vision blurred more and more.

Just as consciousness faded completely, I saw many, many people running toward me anxiously.

"Miss! What happened? Don't fall asleep! We've been looking for you for so long!"