Chapter 4

The man from the ship let out a cold laugh.

"Since Mr. Gilbert regrets it, then we do this by the rules. Miss Fox comes back with us to pay the debt."

"When you've raised the money, come buy her back."

Ray's body went rigid, and his eyes went straight to Valerie.

Still in her wedding gown, Valerie rushed down from the platform and threw herself in front of me, crying.

"Ray, let them take me."

"You were willing to give me this wedding. That's enough for me."

Ray looked at her tear-streaked face, his eyes full of pain.

Valerie had taken only a single step when she suddenly clutched her stomach, her small face draining white as she fainted into his arms.

Ray's face changed in an instant. Everything else forgotten, he scooped her up and rushed out of the wedding.

The results came back quickly. Valerie was pregnant.

But when she woke, she pulled out the IV needle, weeping.

"Get rid of the baby."

"I'm going to be sent onto that ship any moment now. There's no way I can keep this child anyway."

She turned red-rimmed eyes toward me.

"When Lena was sent onto the ship three years ago, didn't she lose her first child too?"

Ray thought of the child of ours that had dissolved into blood.

A shudder ran through him, and he couldn't stop himself from holding her tighter.

He gripped that Wishing Willow branch until his knuckles whitened, his eyes torn.

Only moments ago he had wept and sworn he would bring me back to myself.

And now he wavered again.

For a long while he looked at me, red-eyed, his voice breaking.

"Lena, one last time. This is the only child I'll ever have! This child will be yours too, later!"

"For the baby, take her place for three more days. Please!"

"I'll sell the company right now. Within three days I'll have the money to buy you back, I swear."

As the words left him, the willow-leaf mark on my wrist withered completely.

It was the last request Ray had made of me through the Wishing Willow.

The request fully spoken, the lifespan it had drained from me dropped to zero.

The moment I got into that car bound for the ship, I would die.

I looked at him in despair, and the last spark in my eyes went out.

My body, under the Willow's control, walked obediently toward the men from the ship, and there was even a gentle smile on my face.

"All right."

"As long as Valerie and the baby are safe, I don't mind dying."

Ray's head dropped hard, and he didn't dare look at me again.

The car was just about to pull off when two old figures rushed in front of it and threw their bodies across its path.

"No!" My parents knelt in front of the car, clutching at the hood.

"Please, we're begging you, don't take Lena!"

"She's already been tortured to this. If she goes back she'll die!"

The men from the ship climbed out, annoyed, and set on them with fists and feet.

"Get out of the way!"

I watched my parents beaten to the ground, and the pain nearly tore my heart apart.

I wanted to throw myself out and shield them, but my body was locked tight by the Willow, and all I could do was sit in the car with tears in my eyes and a smile on my lips.

My father lifted his head, saw the state of me, and old tears spilled over at once.

"Lena, look at your father…"

"How did you end up like this?"

Ray stepped forward to help him up, explaining in a rush.

"Dad, it's only temporary."

"Three more days and I'll buy Lena back, I'll bring her back to normal."

My father shoved him off hard and pointed at the Wishing Willow in his hand, roaring.

"Don't call me Dad!"

"Lena stood by you from nothing to all of this, lost two children for you, lost her womb! "

"She'd have given her life to save you and protect this family, and you kept a mistress behind her back, and used this evil thing to turn her into something that's neither human nor ghost!"

My mother crawled sobbing to the side of the car and grabbed my hand.

"Ray, she loves you so much. How could you bear to ruin her like this!"

My father wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and lunged at Ray.

"Give me the Wishing Willow!"

"Even if it costs my life today, I'm getting my daughter back!"

Valerie immediately clung to Ray, crying.

"Ray, let him take it."

"It doesn't matter if I die, but the baby is your own flesh and blood."

"It hasn't even been born. It can't be sent onto that ship with me!"

On instinct Ray shielded the Wishing Willow and gave my father a hard shove.

My father staggered and fell, straight down under the wheel of the car.

The driver couldn't brake in time, and the wheel rolled right over him.

Blood burst from my father's mouth.

"Dad——!"

The searing pain finally broke through the Willow's control.

Convulsing, I tumbled out of the car and crawled over to gather my father into my arms.

The men from the ship pressed impatiently.

"Mr. Gilbert, is she coming or not?"

"We'll count to three. If she isn't in the car, we take Miss Fox."

"Three."

Valerie's face was deathly pale as she held her stomach tight.

Ray looked at my father lying in the pool of blood, then at me sobbing until I shook, his face full of pain and regret.

"Lena, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

The men from the ship spoke again.

"Two."

Ray shut his eyes and gripped the Wishing Willow tight.

When he opened them, he still moved to stand in front of Valerie.

"Lena Henson, get in the car now. You have to protect Valerie and the baby!"

The Wishing Willow tore at my soul again.

My hands still held my father with everything I had,

but my body crawled toward the car door against my will, and I curled on the ground, wailing in agony.

Red-eyed, Ray lifted me off the ground and forced me toward the car, his voice so small it was almost pleading.

"Lena, I'm begging you, listen to me one last time."

"The moment you get in, I'll break the Wishing Willow."

"I swear I'll never see Valerie again, that I'll stay with only you, be good to only you!"

The light in my eyes had long since gone out.

All that was left was the last of my hatred and the one fixed thought of saving my father, and it gave me the strength to break free once more.

I pointed at my father in the pool of blood and said, one word at a time,

"Break the Wishing Willow now. Use it to save my father's life."

"The moment he lives, I'll get in the car."

Ray froze for an instant, then nodded at once.

"All right, I promise you!"

He snapped the Wishing Willow and made his wish in a hoarse cry.

"Save Lena Henson's father!"

The instant the willow branch broke, my father's faint breathing finally steadied.

The men from the ship called out the last number.

Ray, red-eyed, shoved me into the car and clung to the door, swearing.

"Lena, I'll sell the company right away, I'll pay any price to buy you back!"

"I swear, this life, I will never betray you again. I'll love only you!"

But before the words were even out,

blood surged up from my mouth, spattering his face and that snapped-off length of Wishing Willow.

My body crumpled hard into the seat,

and the last breath in me cut off completely, right there under his terrified eyes.