Filed to story: My Husband Regrets Divorcing Me (Audrey & Cornell)
Dangling upside down, Audrey felt blood rushing to her head, her vision beginning to fade. Struggling to open her eyes, she saw that the person below was Erick. Erick had actually arrived.
Davey, who had come out hastily with only four bodyguards, found them quickly overpowered by Erick’s people.
Davey peered out and, spotting Erick, said with a smirk, “What a day, all the people who deserve to die have shown up.”
“You maniac, let go of my sister, or I swear I’ll kill you!” Erick shouted.
Davey pulled a gun from behind, aiming it at Erick. “How exactly do you plan to kill me, you fool? Do you think your men can outdraw my bullet?”
With Audrey in his grip and Erick at gunpoint, both appeared cornered and outmatched.
Davey, losing his patience, shouted, “Maybe you can convince your sister to tell me where she hid Casey, or she’ll be the first to go, then you!”
Erick stood firm. “Davey, I’ve already involved the police from Houghton and Aurora. I’d think about giving up if I were you.”
Davey sneered, “You really don’t get it, do you? I’ll only count to three.”
He ominously announced, “At three, you’ll watch your sister’s brains paint the pavement, then you two can lie there together.”
Erick’s skin crawled, and he shouted, “Try it, I dare you!”
Davey’s smile was sinister as he began to count, “Three… Two..”
But just before he could say “one,” a figure moved swiftly by.
Audrey was thrown aside by some unseen force, and a loud thud echoed.
It sounded like someone had fallen from a great height.
Audrey’s heart raced. The cold smell of cedar filled the air.
The smell was unmistakably Cornell’s. Could it really be him?
Audrey’s face drained of color as she hurried to the window.
At first glance, she noticed a man on the ground, surrounded by pools of blood. She couldn’t see anything else.
“Erick…” she whispered, on the verge of calling out when a familiar voice interrupted her. “Aren’t you going to help me up?”
Turning around, Audrey saw Cornell clutching a cross beside the church, his eyes fixed on her.
She blinked several times, hard. It was no illusion. It was truly Cornell! He was the one who had rushed over and pushed Davey down!
Audrey stared down from the high window and then at Cornell, speechless and overwhelmed by emotion. It was incredibly risky. He had to have lost his mind…
Before Audrey could process it all, Erick had come up, pushing her gently aside to pull Cornell inside.
Once Cornell was inside, Erick breathed a deep sigh of relief and exclaimed, “Thank goodness the plan worked!”
It turned out this had all been part of their plan, with one attracting Davey’s attention below and the other sneaking up for an attack. Still, the plan was incredibly risky.
“Erick, our mom is…” Before Audrey could finish, Erick cut in.
“Don’t worry. We’ve found her. She’s safe in the hospital for a check-up. We’ll visit her soon.”
In a bold move, Audrey had hidden Casey in the bushes by the car, convinced that the most perilous places could prove to be the safest.
She had deliberately left signs along the road leading Davey toward the church, pulling out all the stops. The rest was left to fate.
She was certain Erick and his people would come to her rescue.
Yet, Audrey hadn’t anticipated Cornell’s arrival.
Seeing the crutches hastily discarded on the ground, Audrey’s heart pounded. She could sense Cornell’s desperation a few moments ago.
Audrey, who had remained tearless even in the face of death, finally allowed herself to cry. “Erick, you’re out of your mind to come up with such a risky plan and let him carry it out…”
Cornell’s leg hadn’t fully healed yet. Any mistake, and he could have been the one sprawled in that blood.
Erick was taken aback. Honestly, he hadn’t expected Cornell, at that decisive moment, to leap off the ledge with Davey. Luckily, Cornell had timely clung to the cross, sparing himself from the same fate as Davey’s.
They had intended to strike covertly, and with Davey’s erratic behavior, nobody could predict he wouldn’t throw Audrey down.
Erick, if in that position, would have done whatever it took!
Therefore, Erick offered no defenses, simply confessing, “It’s my fault, completely my fault.”
Watching Audrey cry, Cornell extended his arms, though his hesitation was apparent.
“Please, no more risks like this!” Audrey, seething with a mix of frustration and lingering fear, suddenly stood to head downstairs.
But she rose too swiftly, became dizzy, and fainted.
“Audrey!” Cornell and Erick both cried out in shock.
Cornell caught Audrey, and Erick swiftly intervened, saying, “Let’s get her to the hospital.”
As they hurried downstairs, police sirens filled the air, while Erick’s assistant stayed behind to talk with the authorities.
Davey, lying in a pool of blood on the ground with his eyes wide open, remained unattended. No one looked back at him. His death was deemed justifiable.
At the hospital, Audrey experienced a horrifying dream.
In it, Cornell fell from a window, and she chased after him, only to discover a blurred, bloody figure on the ground. “No!” she screamed in agony.
Seeing her in such torment, with tears streaming down her face, Cornell kept calling out to her, “Audrey, Audrey…”
Awakened by his voice, Audrey slowly opened her eyes and, seeing him in front of her, immediately sat up and embraced him tightly. Tears streaming down her face, she exclaimed, “Cornell, you’re alright! What a relief!”
Cornell hugged her back just as tightly, gently patting her quivering back. “I’m fine, I’m fine…” he murmured soothingly, trying to ease her until Audrey’s crying slowly eased.
Still hiccupping, she managed to say, “How could you… That was so reckless, you know! Please don’t do that again…”
Cornell gently brushed her hair back from her face, looking at her with tender eyes. “Look, I’m perfectly okay.”
Audrey noticed he didn’t seem to take her concerns seriously, and a spark of anger ignited in her. “If this happens again, I swear I’ll stop talking to you. I mean it!”
Cornell nodded. “I promise, I’ll be more careful.”
But internally, he added a silent exception for anything that involved Audrey. That was one promise he found impossible to keep.
His calm deserted him when it came to her. Every moment she was out of sight, he couldn’t find peace.
Suddenly, Cornell asked her, “Audrey, are you willing to be with me?”
These words seemed to carry a special kind of magic.
Tears filled Audrey’s eyes as she listened. To be with him meant sharing both joys and sorrows. Yet, since his return, Cornell had shouldered all the difficulties, protecting her from any distress.
How could she not keep falling for him, time and again?
Perhaps saying “falling for him time and again” wasn’t quite accurate.
It was more that their hearts had always been connected.
A mix of pain and joy swelled in Audrey’s chest. In a soft whisper, she began, “Actually…”
She finally revealed the truth. “My wedding with Stefan was a sham.”
“I’m aware,” Cornell replied tenderly.
Audrey, taken aback, asked, “How did you know?”
“Erick told me,” Cornell replied.
Audrey was left speechless. She couldn’t decide whether to call her brother a fool or a good helper. “So, you’ve known about it all along? Then why didn’t you…” she started, but then hesitated.
Seeing her pause, Cornell asked, “Didn’t what?”
Audrey’s cheeks flushed, embarrassed to say it aloud. She meant to ask how he had kept his feelings hidden for so long. Then it struck her. Maybe his pretending not to know was a sign that he didn’t care as much anymore.
A mix of annoyance and insecurity surged through Audrey. “Do you… Do you not feel the same about me anymore?”
Audrey was consumed by the sense of insecurity. Maybe his recent suggestion that they be together was just for the sake of their kids, to give them a complete family. Not because he still harbored feelings for her.
This thought terrified Audrey. What if Cornell’s feelings for her had indeed faded? In that case, she would keep her feelings hidden. She would love him, but she refused to love without self-respect as she once did.
Cornell, however, grasped her hand and placed it over his heart.
“Listen to this. Does it seem like I’m indifferent?”