Chapter 6 Midnight Fright
Lily wrote, [I want money, and I want people.]
Daniel sighed in relief. "Deal."
Lily began her peaceful recovery, unaware that every night, her hospital room door would quietly open.
It was David.
Lily lay in bed, her brow furrowed, forehead damp with sweat, and she moaned in pain.
Another nightmare.
David tiptoed to her bedside and gently stroked her forehead with his good left hand. The moment his warm palm touched her, Lily's breathing noticeably calmed.
He carefully lay down on the other side of the bed, keeping a respectful distance. But it wasn't long before the sleeping Lily, like a small animal seeking warmth, curled up next to him, her head resting on his chest, one hand unconsciously clutching his shirt.
David froze.
The faint scent of her medication mixed with her natural fragrance filled his nostrils. Her soft body pressed against him, her breath tickling his collarbone. To make matters worse, her leg was draped over his waist...
"Damn it..." David gritted his teeth, trying to control his body's reaction.
Strangely, he usually felt uncomfortable, even nauseous, when touched by strangers. But with Lily, he felt an inexplicable sense of security.
She slept soundly in his arms, no longer plagued by nightmares. And for the first time in a long while, he felt a sense of inner peace. He hadn't slept this well in ages...
At six in the morning, Lily woke up to find herself in an odd position—her pillow on the floor, and she was resting on... air? And her blanket was neatly tucked in, as if someone had covered her.
"Strange, I slept so well last night, not a single nightmare," she thought to herself.
When Daniel came in with breakfast, he noticed a faint scent of cologne on the sheets. He immediately understood and, without even checking on Lily, stormed towards the emergency exit. "David! You bastard!"
In the elevator, David was straightening his wrinkled clothes.
"I've warned you countless times! Stop acting on your impulses! She's still recovering!" Daniel scolded.
"I didn't do anything," David replied calmly.
"Didn't do anything? Then how do you explain the scent on the bed? And the drool mark on your shirt!"
David looked down and saw a small wet spot on his shirt. Remembering how Lily sometimes drooled in her sleep, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
"She had a nightmare. I was just... comforting her."
"Comforting her! Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Last time, you were drugged, so it was understandable. But now you're fully conscious, and you're still doing this on purpose!"
David fell silent. Daniel was right. Holding her, he did feel a reaction. Every time he felt her soft body against his, smelled her scent, that primal urge would rise.
But he suppressed it.
The first time was an unintentional mistake. He couldn't let it happen again.
"She needs a sense of security," David finally said.
"She can get that from a therapist! Not from you!" Daniel fumed.
David ignored Daniel's ranting and headed straight for the elevator. But Daniel's words did make him feel a bit guilty—maybe he really shouldn't continue this.
But as night fell, he couldn't stop his legs from taking him to Lily's room.
Outside the door, Daniel observed for a while. Seeing that David wasn't doing anything inappropriate, he let it go. David's insomnia was an old issue, one that had tormented him to the brink of despair.
Five years ago, he was fortunate to meet a doctor who cured his insomnia. The doctor had left him with contact information and the formula for the medication, but during a crisis within the Jones family, that piece of paper was stolen.
David had managed to get by with the remaining medication for five years.
Recently, the medication ran out, and his insomnia returned.
But he couldn't find the doctor or the formula.
David hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.
If being with Lily meant they both could sleep well, then what reason did he have to stop?
Time flew by, and it was Lily's sixth night in the hospital. The tear in her vaginal wall no longer hurt, and the effects of the medication had almost worn off.
Though she was recovering quickly, she still needed at least another week of rest for full recovery.
But Lily didn't have a week.
She had torn the calendar by her bedside to tomorrow—July 15th, the day Eric would officially take over as chairman of Horizon Innovations Group. She couldn't let that bastard succeed!
"Dr. Wilson. I need to be discharged," Lily's voice was still hoarse, but she could speak normally.
"Are you crazy? It's the middle of the night, and your body still..."
"Tonight, I need that man's help."
Daniel understood. He sighed and made a call. "David, your creditor is here to collect."
At midnight, Eric's mountaintop villa was shrouded in an eerie silence.
In the living room, Haven was massaging his shoulders. "Eric, tomorrow you'll officially be the chairman of Horizon Innovations Group!"
Eric tightened his hold on her. "Yes. Horizon Innovations Group will be mine, and that bitch's death was worth it."
Suddenly, all the lights in the villa went out!
"Power outage?" Haven screamed, clinging to Eric.
Eric's phone screen suddenly lit up, displaying the news headline: #LilyFallsToHerDeath#. But the photo began to change—the once shattered corpse opened its eyes, staring directly at the camera!
"What... what is this?" Eric tried to turn off his phone, but the screen was frozen. The photo of Lily's face twisted into a sinister smile, blood streaming from her eyes. "Do you see me?"
Boom!
A flash of lightning revealed a white figure outside the floor-to-ceiling window!
Eric cautiously approached the window, seeing no one outside. Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he heard eerie footsteps behind him...
He spun around, but the living room was empty. Haven had vanished!
"Haven? Where are you?"
The only response was the sound of a woman crying from the ceiling, a wail so haunting it sounded like a ghost. Then, crimson liquid began to seep from the ceiling, pooling on the white tiles below.
"No... she can't be... she's dead..." Eric trembled, backing away, but slipped on the sticky blood and fell.
In the blood, a message appeared: "Why did you kill me?"
"I didn't kill you! You jumped!" Eric screamed at the empty air.
The blood slowly formed new words: "Liars... have their tongues ripped out..."
Eric desperately crawled towards the stairs, trying to escape to his bedroom. Halfway up, he heard a dragging sound from above, like something was slowly descending.
Moonlight through the skylight revealed a woman in a white dress with disheveled hair! Her neck twisted at a grotesque angle, limbs bent backward, just like when she fell from the cliff!
"Lily... I was wrong... I was really wrong..." Eric knelt in the blood, begging for mercy.
"Lily" floated towards him, her decayed fingers caressing his cheek. "I'm so cold... the water is so deep... I've been looking for you for so long..."
"I'll have a priest say a mass for you! I'll pray for you at church! I'll donate to charity! Please, rest in peace! Don't come for me!" Eric was nearly out of his mind with fear.
"Lily" suddenly laughed, a sharp sound like nails on a chalkboard. "Pray? I want blood for blood! And, your life!"
Her hand suddenly clamped around Eric's throat, cold as iron. "First yours, then Haven's, and finally Zane's and Celeste's..."