Page 19 of Billionaire’s Cruelty

A faint sound interrupted us.

“Help…” Chen’s voice, weak and broken.

“We should help him,” I declared, guilt gnawing at my chest.

I should have helped him before. But the truth was, I cared more about Jenny. Her life mattered more to me.

“Let’s wait another minute.” Jenny murmured, her words sending another chill down my spine.

On the floor lay the husband she had once loved. The father of her children. The man she had tried to win back, time and again.

“Qing Qing.” I whispered, using her childhood nickname again—a desperate plea.

She wrapped her arms around my waist. “Please.”

One. Two. Three…

I counted silently, the seconds dragging by. When I reached sixty, I moved to Chen’s side. Tearing off my sleeve, I pressed it against his throat, trying to stem the flow of blood.

“Stay with me. Stay with me, you bastard,” I muttered.

Chen let out a faint, familiar smile—the kind reserved for trusted friends. It twisted something deep inside me.

Mario returned, his face hard. “Give me your phone.”

“Can’t you see I’m a little busy?” I snapped.

Without a word, he frisked my pocket, pulled out my phone, and slammed it to the floor. The screen shattered under his boot.

“What the fuck, Mario?”

“It’s what they do in the movies,” he said with a shrug. “Don’t want them tracking us.”

Idiot. That was who I had to rely on.

“Grab me a towel—he’s soaking through…” I barked.

“Why? We should just watch him die.” His tone was casual, but the words were ice-cold.

He returned with a towel, tossing it to me.

I padded the towel on top of the bloody sleeve.

“Call an ambulance,” I ordered.

“Why?” Mario protested.

“Because you broke mine.”

“It should come from me.” Jenny’s voice was quiet but firm. She pulled her phone from her blood-soaked dress, her fingers trembling as she held it. For a second, she just sat there, staring at the screen like she was weighing every possible outcome. Then, with a sharp breath, she hit the green button.

“Help,” she cried, her voice raw with panic. “Please, my husband—he hit me, and now he’d bleeding everywhere. Please come, hurry!”

She dropped the phone with a dramatic finality, her performance chillingly perfect.

“Unbelievable,” I muttered under my breath.

Chen was too weak to even say another word at this point. His breaths came in shallow gasps, his lips trembling as blood pooled around him.