Just then, a girl tugged nervously at Everett’s sleeve.

“Everett, pouring water over ice will make it stick to skin like glue,” she said timidly. “If she moves even a little, her flesh will tear. She’s due any day now—something terrible could happen...”

His hand, mid-gesture, paused in the air.

He hesitated.

But before the moment could shift, a soft, pitiful voice came from behind him.

“Everett... let it go. My time in the ICU wasn’t as unbearable as you imagine...”

Maeve’s words instantly turned his hesitation to stone. His gaze darkened.

The hand he had paused slowly lowered as his voice turned cold again.

“Do exactly as I said.”

The young girl opened her mouth to protest again, but Everett waved her off.

“What she’s going through is nothing compared to what Maeve suffered. I already have an ambulance waiting outside—what could possibly go wrong?”

With that, she fell silent.

Now emboldened by Everett’s command, the men returned to the freezer—this time, carrying even more blocks of ice.

One of them grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking me upright. They surrounded me with slabs of ice, building a wall around my body.

Then, a basin of icy water was dumped over my head.

The next second, my skin adhered to the ice like glue—bonded by freezing water. Each breath burned my throat. Each pore pulled tight with searing pain as the cold seeped into my bones.

I glanced at the clock.

I’d been trapped in the freezer for over five hours.

My limbs had turned dark purple from the cold.

To shield my unborn child, I tried to shift my body slightly—to find a posture where my stomach might retain some warmth.

But every tiny movement ripped more of my flesh from the ice.

The baby’s movements inside me had grown faint. Alarmingly faint.

I gritted my teeth, ignoring the raw pain as chunks of skin tore away. Slowly, I maneuvered my body to shield my belly as best I could.

Bright red blood began to smear across the crystal-clear ice.

By the time I managed to reposition myself, the once-clear ice around me was stained a ghastly crimson.

The laughter outside died.

Even the jeering men, who had earlier mocked me, fell silent at the sight.

Through the blur of blood and frost, I glared at Everett and screamed hoarsely, “Everett! If anything—anything—happens to this baby, then you, his biological father, are his murderers! I swear I’ll pray day and night to his spirit—so that you never know peace!”

His expression wavered.

The steel in his eyes faltered as he stepped closer, peering through the blood-fogged glass.

Then a shout rang out behind him.

“Everett! My dad just said—there’s a plane on the Richardson family’s private air route!”

Everett’s face drained of color. His expression twisted with panic and fury.

He pounded his fist against the glass, roaring at me. “Laura! What the hell is this?! You think you can scare me with your Richardson family name forever?!”

Before I could answer, Maeve rushed to his side, gently rubbing his back and shooting me a look that combined hurt with quiet blame.

“Laura, if you won’t admit your mistake, that's fine. But why must you torture Everett like this?” she said, tears glimmering in her eyes. “You know how much suffering he endured back when Mr. Richardson was alive. Now he’s gone, and the Richardson family’s wealth has long been sold off. What’s the point of staging this farce?”

Then she gently tugged Everett’s hand, her voice like a breeze as she added, “Let it go, Everett. Let her out. If something really happens to the baby, we’ll be the ones blamed. It’s not like she ever cared about us lowly nobodies anyway.”

Her words didn’t soothe him—they only fanned the flames.

His eyes lit with renewed rage. He spat out a curse, then snapped toward his men with a roar. “Turn the freezer down to negative 100 degrees! Do it—now! ”

Seeing Everett explode with rage, the people behind him didn’t dare utter another word.

They silently turned the freezer’s temperature down to negative 100 degrees.

In an instant, a wave of bone-chilling wind blasted through the air vents, hitting me like knives made of frost.

The cold robbed me of speech—my teeth chattered uncontrollably, and I couldn’t form a complete sentence.

Then, through the haze of numbness, a sharp, tearing pain erupted from my lower abdomen.

I forced my heavy head downward—and froze.

A stream of bright red blood was flowing from between my legs, winding like a small creek across the icy ground.

In the deathly cold, it steamed against the frost, creating a crimson mist.

The blood melted the ice around me, seeping through the cracks in the floor.

That’s when it hit me.

I knew what was happening.

Clutching my belly, I screamed hoarsely toward the glass. "Everett! Let me out! The baby.... Save our baby!"

He was still fuming with fury, but the moment he saw the blood—the same blood now melting ice and flowing to his feet—his face drained of all colors.

Panic replaced the cruelty in his eyes.

He grabbed the man beside him, shouting frantically, "Hurry! Get the freezer key! Didn’t we check with the doctor before locking her in? How the hell did this happen?!"

The man handed him the key.

But Everett’s hands were trembling so hard that he couldn’t even hold on to it.

The key fell—right at Maeve’s feet.

He immediately turned and gripped her arm tightly.

"Maeve! Quick, unlock the door! Let Laura out now—hurry!"

Startled by his outburst, Maeve fumbled to her feet, not even bothering to put her shoes on.

She rushed toward the freezer door, casting a glance back at Everett. Then, with her back to him, she slid the key into the lock.

In that instant, I caught a flash of something sinister in her eyes—a look of triumph, malice, and cruelty.

And then—crack!

A sharp sound echoed through the air.

Maeve turned back around and suddenly dropped to her knees in front of Everett, crying out, "Everett—the key.. it snapped!"

His face turned ghostly pale.

He stumbled forward, grabbed the broken key and demanded, "What do you mean it snapped?! How could it break? Call someone—get a locksmith now!"

By now, the blood had spread across nearly the entire freezer floor, glistening warmly against the icy white.

I was groaning in agony, unable to contain the pain.

But Maeve knelt there with crocodile tears in her eyes, voice trembling with false concern. "Everett, she hasn’t admitted her mistake yet... You said it yourself, this was a chance to humble her—everyone here is watching..."

"And what about what I went through in the ICU? Are you really just going to let that go? You promised me you’d give me justice.”

Everett hesitated. He waved off the man who had gone to fetch another key.

Then he turned back toward the glass, slapping the freezer door repeatedly as he called to me—this time, his voice filled with desperation and pleading.

"Laura, please. Just admit you were wrong. For the baby, alright?"

"Just say it. Say you’re sorry, and I’ll open the door. You don’t want anything to happen to our child either, do you? I’m begging you, Laura—just be a little softer, okay?"

The blood loss was making my vision blur.

My body collapsed into the pool of blood, and with a trembling voice I whispered toward the figure outside, "Everett... let me out... If you don’t, my father will kill you..."

Maeve’s eyes glinted with a savage smile—but her voice remained drenched in that same fake innocence. "Laura... are you really that confused? Mr. Richardson died half a year ago. The Richardson family collapsed months ago! Just admit you were wrong already—no one can save you now!"

Laughter and jeers erupted outside the freezer.

"Still dreaming, huh? Gonna have your dad kill Everett? Miss Richardson, your old man’s probably rotting in hell—if anything, he’s the one getting killed all over again!"

They laughed mockingly while tugging at Everett’s sleeve.

“Everett, this woman clearly hasn't learned her lesson! She’s just faking it. The kid is probably fine—let her rot in there a while longer!”

“Exactly, Everett! She bullied Maeve so badly—you can’t let her off easily!”

The cold storage was already slick with blood.

They couldn’t see it, but I could feel it—the faint fluttering inside my belly was growing weaker and weaker.

I started to wail uncontrollably, screaming in agony.

Everett paced restlessly outside the door. When he glanced back at me again, there was a trace of helplessness in his eyes.

“Laura, stop hoping your father is going to come rescue you again. He’s really dead. Just admit you were wrong, okay? Just say the words—I was wrong—and I’ll let you out!”

“My dear wife, give it up. Your father won’t be coming to save you this time!”

The moment his words fell, the door to the room was kicked open with a loud bang.

A squad of fully armed mercenaries stormed in.

A deep, commanding voice rang out from beyond the door—

“Who said her father wouldn’t come save her?”