The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 784 The Familiar Place

"It seems that you are ready for your predestination of hell now," Charles sneered at Leila with a harsh look. He strangled her neck furiously, willing to kill her right away. Leila felt suffocated and gasped very hard for some fresh air. She felt as if she was taking her last breaths at this moment, and had no idea how to break out of this trap. She could clearly sense her death in the air revolving around her.

Her hands were tied up tightly. The ropes were so strong that she could not break them with her bare hands. She had no choice but to look at Charles who was strangling her to death and to accept her fate. There was no way for her to escape her misfortune now.

Leila breathed faster and quicker and her face turned unhealthily red with each breath. She was totally feeble to utter even a single word. She implored Charles to stop with intense desperation in her eyes. He stared straight back into her eyes but chose to ignore her begging, for indeed, the pain that she had caused him was much greater than what she was suffering right now. He felt a strange sense of accomplishment and peace as he saw her struggling for her life.

Andy stood aside and turned a blind eye to this scene. He had no sympathy for Leila at all, so he ignored her misery just as Charles did. He was very well aware of what she had done. He knew how agonized Charles had felt throughout this time just because of her. He also knew that he was another one to blame for Charles' pain. He did not even dare intervene to tell Charles to stop.

"Charl... Charles, please...

let...

let me... go." Leila squeezed those few words fragments out using all of her strength. Looking at the man who was trying to kill her, she started to recall all her memories with him, both good and bad. It was like a movie being played in front of her eyes in a glimpse.

To hold the hands of this man, who was trying to kill her, was once Leila's mere dream. She dreamed of being together with him for eternity. She had loved him, or to be more precise, she still loved him. She loved him so much that she decided to walk through the evil pathways in order to acquire his love. But, what all she received as a return of her love from him was mere coldness and hatred.

She had sacrificed herself to the extent that she had done things that seemed so stupid, so improbable and so outrageous, but she was not rewarded with anything she desired for in return, not even a single bit of it.

Charles' face turned even gloomier. All he needed was just a little bit more strength, and then Leila would be dead. Barely could he survive the agony once he thought of the miseries of Sheryl and the kids. It was all because of this woman in front of him! He just needed a tiny bit of more power to take revenge and he could no longer resist the urge to kill her.

"Do you... really... hate me... this... much?" Leila forced some barely recognizable words out of her mouth. As she struggled to speak, she used up all the oxygen remaining in her lungs, consequently, she suffocated even more. Her face turned even paler, but surprisingly she started to calm down.

If she could be killed by Charles, that would also be a good end for her. She could not think of a better way to die than this. At least she was dying in the arms of the man she truly loved, despite the fact that he was the one killing her.

"Hate?" Charles scoffed at this expression with a condescending tone. "You are underestimating what you have done! Do you think what I have for you is mere hatred? 'Hate' is such a simple term to use! It is beyond hatred, way way beyond that!

Not once, not twice, but for so many times you tried to split Sheryl and me apart. So many times! And you succeeded! For God's sake! Because of you, she has been away for three damn years from me! She left me, and she left Charlie! What's more? You caused harm to Charlie too! It is also my fault to be so indecisive. If I had known that you could cause all these, I would have kicked you away. Rest assured! This time, I have made up my mind." Charles continued with fury, "I will make sure that you die right in front of my bare eyes, and never appear in my life ever again to cause more misery!"

Leila was struck hopeless. She was expecting at least some mercy or consideration by Charles. Just a tiny bit of mercy was all she needed! However, what she heard was dire rage and pain. She loved Charles so much that she was not yet ready to give up. She tried to convince him again, "Charles, I have sacrificed so much for you. I have done all these because I love you."

Hearing Leila's 'explanation of her pure love', Charles let go of his hand and jeered, "Love? How ridiculous! This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life!"

Leila finally had a chance to breathe and she gasped hard to inhale some air. While she was still trying to recover her breathing, she started to defend herself. "Charles, I didn't expect you to be so apathetic." Looking straight into his eyes, she continued, "I know you have always looked down upon me. That's fine! But it is not going to change anything; it is not going to change my feelings for you; it is not going to change what I want to do. Trust me. I love you. My love for you is so great that I can barely control it. It is definitely greater than that of Sheryl."

She rubbed her painful neck with her palm gently and continued, "We all have equal rights. We all have the freedom to make our own choices. You love Sheryl. That's perfectly fine. But what about me? I love you desperately. What's wrong with it?"

She paused and gasped for more air before she could continue, "I know I have done many things that hurt others, but what I did was all for you. I just wanted to be with you. That was my only intent. I was struggling and striving for my dear love. Did I do anything wrong? If you disagreed with what I did, then what about you? You brought me here for Sheryl, right? Just look at what you have done to me. You are trying to kill me! What's the difference between you and me, huh?"

"Stop comparing yourself with me," Charles interrupted Leila with a cold tone. "You are such a vicious and callous woman, you will never know what true and pure love is. I must have committed loads of sins to be loved by the worst person like you!"

Leila's eyes became dark all of a sudden when she heard his curse. She lost all her hope immediately. It was then that she realized how much pain she had caused to Charles; a fact that she had refused to accept for so long.

Glancing at Charles, she spoke with a mournful tone, "Then kill me. I am ready for that. I have accepted my fate. I am here at your disposal now."

"Kill you?" Charles derided at this idea. "I don't want to do that. You are so dirty for me to kill. I don't wish to make my hands dirty by killing you!"

"Then what do you desire to do, if not killing me?" Leila questioned Charles in distress, "I have confessed everything that I have for you. What else do you want me to do? What I have left is only my life now." She forced a bitter grin and continued, "You promised me that once I tell you everything, you will let me go."

"Yes I did promise," Charles replied with yet another sneer. To him, Leila was not able to concede his agony and the will for revenge at all, otherwise, she would not still hold the naive thought of him letting her go.

She had hurt Sheryl so much for so many times. If Charles just let her go like this, how could he even face Sheryl? How could he face the Zhao family? If he did not kill Leila, his guilt would surely kill him! He only made the promise that he would let Leila go. However, as of whether other people would let her go so easily or not, it would not be in his hands anymore.

"Don't worry. I told you I am a man of my words. I will make sure you leave from here safely." He knew that he had gotten everything he could from Leila, so he didn't want to keep wasting his time on her anymore.

So he untied Leila and gave her his final words, "There are a couple of people waiting outside at the door. They are on my orders. If you can break out from them, I promise that I will never look for you for any reason ever in my life. But if you fail..."

After a deliberate pause, Charles continued, "But if you fail, that would be none of my business. Neither am I responsible for it."

"Charles Lu!" Knowing that Charles still wished to kill her, Leila burst into anger and tears. What was all this about? Charles was just cheating her feelings. He decided to not let her go so easily, so she questioned in despair, "Are you playing with me?"

"Playing with you?" Charles found it so hilarious that he almost burst into laughter when he heard her words. Then he spoke again without displaying any emotion, "If you think so, then yes, I am playing with you. I thought you like to play, don't you? So, let us play for the last and the final time."

"Charles, you are an asshole! Justice will surely be served for you, and you will regret whatever you have done today!" Leila yelled to Charles hysterically. She had no idea what was waiting for her outside, but one thing she was certain about was that Charles would not let her go so easily.

As she was cursing, she could no longer hold back her tears, which streamed down her face.

She regretted a lot for what she had done. If she had known the result earlier, she would never have chosen to ally with Ferry under any circumstances, not to mention to heed Holley's advice to take the risk to do all those things.

She even began to regret knowing Charles in the very first place.

If she had not met Charles in the first place, she would just have been like a normal girl, had a normal relationship, married someone at a certain age, and led a normal life till the end.

That sounded uninteresting, didn't it? But just give it a thought, a routine life like that was actually not bad.

Charles jeered as he stood up. Leila was shouting and begging, but he just turned a deaf ear and left the warehouse without even looking at her for once.

This place was very familiar. It was where the nightmare of Sheryl had taken place. For countless times, she was awakened in horror by the glimpse of the scene that had happened in this place. She was so scared, so frightened, so terrified just because of the day that was brought by Leila in her life. Now, it was Leila's turn; it was time for Leila to have a taste of Sheryl's pain. For, karma would serve Leila what exactly she deserved!

As Andy followed Charles out, he saw a bunch of people gathering at the door. They were under the supervision of Hugo. Hugo lent Charles his men graciously, as he was well paid by Charles for this. "Mr. Lu, we are all ready. Please give us your command," Hugo's man reported to Charles in excitement.

Charles smiled back and announced, "Thank you all for coming here. After this is done, I will treat everyone with some nice beers. You guys can drink as much as you want! Go ahead and good luck."