At Least I Had You in My Dreams

Start Reading

On their fifth wedding anniversary, Ethan Hawthorne's gift to Stella was a hundred shots of strong liquor and a stand-in who looked just like her.

To save that stand-in, Ethan forcibly took one of Stella's kidneys.

In despair, Stella fell into the deep blue water beneath Harbor Bridge.

When she woke again, she had become Iris Haven, the gentle owner of a flower shop.

A warm, gentle doctor stayed by her side, and her days were steady and quiet.

Until the day a broken man, ragged and paralyzed in both legs, knelt outside Iris's flower shop.

Their fifth wedding anniversary.

The gift Ethan Hawthorne prepared for Stella was a hundred shots of high-proof liquor.

The lights in the club private room were dim and the air was oppressive and suffocating.

Stella was pinned down on the sofa by two bodyguards in black suits.

On the long coffee table in front of her, a hundred shot glasses were stacked into a glittering little tower.

"Drink."

Ethan sat across from her with his legs crossed, his voice as cold as something dragged out of an ice cellar.

Stella's stomach was churning and crampingshe had a severe stomach ulcer that had gotten worse over the past two years.

"Ethan, I really can't drink anymore..."

Her voice was hoarse, with a plea as humble as dust.

Ethan sneered, leaned forward and pinched her chin, so hard that he almost crushed her mandible.

"Your parents loved drinking so much that they drove drunk and killed my whole family.

As their daughter, what do these hundred cups mean? "

Stella's eyes were red, tears hitting the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry..."

She had said those three words for five years, until they became instinct.

"My parents have already paid for it with their lives. Isn't this... enough?"

"If they die ten thousand times, can they bring my parents and sister back!"

Ethan swung his hand away, his eyes filled with frightening hatred.

"Stella, this is only the fifth year, and you already can't take it?"

He stood up straight and took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, as if he had touched something dirty.

Then he winked at the bodyguard behind him.

"Force it down."

The two men stepped forward. One pried her mouth open, and the other poured the liquor in.

The burning liquid rushed down her throat like a red-hot blade.

Stella coughed violently, her face was smeared with wine and tears, her stomach was on fire, and she was convulsing.

She fell down on the dark carpet, as embarrassed as an abandoned dog.

When will this endless torture end?

She doesn't know.

A soft female voice suddenly broke the dead silence.

Stella looked through blurry teary eyes.

There was a girl standing at the door, in a white dress with long hair and a bright smile.

Stella's breath hitched, and her heart seemed to be clenched.

Alina Locke.

This girl looks so much like her twenty-two-year-old self.

No wonder Ethan kept her close to him.

Seeing Alina, the ice in Ethan's eyes immediately turned into spring water.

He stood and went to her, his voice soft enough to drip honey. "Lina, wait a minute.

Today is Stella's and my wedding anniversary. I am giving her a gift."

Alina looked past him and glanced disdainfully at Stella on the ground.

Then she took his arm and shook it gently.

"Don't waste your time on irrelevant people, okay?"

Ethan was silent for a moment.

He really couldn't ignore Stella completely.

But he quickly changed the subject: "Okay, it's up to you.

Are you hungry? I'll take you for a supper. "

With that said, he took Alina's hand and walked out.

When passing by Stella, Alina swept the hem of her skirt and deliberately kicked the edge of the coffee table with her toes.

Crash

The tower of glasses collapsed, and shards of glass rained down on Stella.

She instinctively protected her head and face, and there were more than a dozen bloody cuts on her arms and calves. The blood gushed out and stained her shirt red.

"Ah!" Alina covered her mouth, "I didn't mean it!

Ethan, she's bleeding, should she be sent to the hospital? "

Without looking at Stella, Ethan nervously grabbed Alina's hand, frowning.

There was a light red mark on Alina's index finger, and the skin was not even broken, but Ethan lowered his head and kissed it gently, as if he were treating a peerless treasure.

"Does it hurt?"

Alina hooked her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him. "It won't hurt if you kiss it."

Ethan grabbed the back of her head and deepened the kiss.

Stella lay among broken glass and spilled liquor, blood running down her arms. Their kiss sounded in her ears, and her heart felt as if it were being torn apart.

"Lina..."

Ethan murmured softly in his confusion.

Lina. Lena.

Exactly the same pronunciation, what an ironic overlap.

After the kiss ended, Ethan hugged Alina sideways and walked out without looking back.

Walking to the door, he coldly said:

"Clean her up. Do not let her die.

That body is still worth keeping around for a little more torture."

The door to the private room is closed.

Stella closed her eyes, tears falling silently into her ears.

Everything had changed.

The boy who once cherished her like a treasure had died in that car accident five years ago.

Now Ethan Hawthorne is an evil spirit crawling out of hell.

---

Five years ago today was the day Stella looked forward to the most.

She put on the most beautiful wedding dress and waited to marry the person she loved most in her life.

Ethan held her, kissed her forehead and said, "Lena, I finally got to marry you."

They grew up together.

Everyone knows how much Ethan loves Stella.

She casually said that she wanted to eat lemon desserts from the small bakery near the old campus. He could drive two hours to buy it in a rainstorm.

She had stomachaches during her period, so he stayed up all night, using his warm palms to warm her stomach.

On the day of the proposal, he knelt down on one knee, with red eyes, and vowed to pamper her for the rest of his life.

But all the good things were ruined in that car accident.

Stella's parents drove drunk after their wedding reception and crashed into Ethan's parents' car at the intersection.

The Hawthorne couple died at the scene, and Ethan's sister in the back seat later died from her injuries.

His grandfather, far away in his rural hometown, died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage after hearing the news.

Overnight, the Hawthorne family was destroyed.

The wedding turned into a funeral.

Lovers turn into enemies.

Ethan went mad.

He used all means to send Stella's parents to state prison, and specially arranged for them to be "taken good care of" inside.

During her last visit, Stella looked through the glass at her parents, who were so thin that they were only a handful of bones and covered with scars.

The elderly couple had suffered a serious accident in prison. After emergency treatment, they were left with only their final breath.

They looked at her weakly. "Lena, Mom and Dad did something wrong, and we should bear the consequences.

But you are innocent and should live well. "

"Ethan hates you, but he also loves you to the death.

Please, no matter how difficult it is, just hold on for five years. "

"If you still can't find hope of living after five years, you...come to us."

That night, her parents removed their own breathing tubes and died together.

Stella became the only person in the Fallon family who lived to repay the debt.

In order to fulfill her parents' last wishes, she stayed with Ethan and began to bear the punishment of these five years.

Five years.

More than 1,800 days and nights.

Ethan tortured her in every possible way.

In the cold winter, she was forced to kneel in the snow wearing single clothes. In the hot summer, she was locked up in an attic without air conditioning and exposed to the sun. She was forced to eat mangoes that she was allergic to. She had red rashes all over her body and could not breathe.

She wanted to escape from it all countless times.

But that five-year agreement was like an invisible shackle, nailing her to the world.

Until three months ago.

Alina appears.

Similar faces. Names with the same pronunciation.

Ethan gave all his tenderness to this stand-in, and left all his violence to her.

But Stella still feels pain when she hears him calling someone else "Lina" and pampering another woman like he pampered her before. The pain is so painful that she can't breathe.

Now, there are only seven days left before the five-year agreement expires.

On the cold floor, Stella took out the family photo from her pocket.

The edges of the photo were yellowed and curled, and blood seeped into the fingers, staining the parents' smiles red.

"Dad, Mom..."

She curled up and her voice was as light as a wisp of smoke.

"I will hold on for the last seven days."

"I will go find you in seven days."

When I woke up it was early the next morning.

Stella was lying on the bed in the guest room, her wounds hastily bandaged.

She took out the photo of her heart, and there were still six days left.

A glance at the bedside calendarit's Ethan's birthday.

He hasn't had a birthday in five years.

Stella climbed up with her weak body.

Give it one last try.

She walked into the kitchen and beat the dough and eggs. The cut on her finger was soaked with rhinestones and felt painful. She gritted her teeth and endured it.

The cake burned twice, but the third time it was finally successful.

She dug out the old photos she had saved back then and made a handmade photo album.

evening.

She sent Ethan a text.

[Ethan, see you at the same place. I have something very important to tell you.]

She took the cake and photo album she baked by herself and went to the French bistro.

After waiting for a full two hours, Ethan opened the door and came in.

He is wearing a black suit and has cold and stern features.

When he saw the cake, his face suddenly darkened.

"After my parents died, I couldn't celebrate my birthday."

He raised his hand, the cake smashed to the ground, and the cream splashed on Stella's skirt.

She didn't hide.

"I know" she said shakily, "Ethan, five years.

My parents have already paid for it with their lives. I've had enough too. "

She looked up, tears filling her eyes.

"Let's let each other go."

"dream!"

Ethan leaned forward, his eyes fierce.

"Stella, your torture is not even one ten thousandth of what I was."

"Your parents drove drunk, and my whole family was ruined overnight!"

He grabbed her neck and pulled her close.

"Let me put it down?

Why! "

Stella burst into tears. "I'm sorry..."

"Ethan!"

Alina pushed the door open and walked in, her white dress floating in the air, holding a glass jar filled with paper cranes.

"Happy birthday!

I folded a thousand of them with my own hands, each with a wish. "

Ethan froze and let go of Stella.

Stella fell down, her face pale.

This scene was too familiar when she was eighteen years old, she had also given him a can of paper cranes and said the same thing.

"Lina..." Ethan took the jar, his eyes dazed.

He hugged Alina suddenly. "I love so much."

Alina glanced triumphantly at Stella and hugged him back.

Stella dug her fingers into the photo album, and her nails cracked and bled, but she didn't feel any pain.

The heart seemed to be cut with a dull knife.

The one who defeated her was her former self.

Ethan hates the present, but deeply loves the girl named "Lena" in his memory.

Seeing the two embracing each other, Stella grabbed her bag and rushed out of the tavern.

The night was cool and she was driving around, her eyes blurred with tears.

She had thought the pain had numbed her, but her heart was still bleeding.

A white shadow suddenly appeared.

Squeak the brakes screeched, and with a bang, the person was knocked away.

Stella got out of the car, and there was Alina on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Lina!

! "

Ethan's Maybach stopped, and he rushed over and pushed Stella away, scratching his palm.

He picked up Alina and glared at Stella with a glare like a poisonous blade.

"You want to kill her too?

! "

"It wasn't me...she rushed out on her own..."

"Shut up!"

He ordered his bodyguards to escort Stella to the hospital and knelt at the door of the emergency room.

The hospital's red light was dazzling, and Ethan's back was tense.

Stella was forced to kneel on the tiles, her knees ached from the old injury, she lowered her head and said nothing.

"If something happens to her," Ethan came over and said coldly, "Stella, you will be buried with her."

Every word stabbed into her heart.

Three hours later, the light went out. The doctor said, "Her kidney has ruptured. She needs an immediate transplant to survive."

"Make a match immediately, no matter the cost!"

"But she's RH negative, type B blood, and has no backup kidney donor."

Ethan zeroes in on Stellashe also has the same blood type.

"Draw her blood and match her blood type."

Stella struggled, "No..." but was held down.

Ethan pinched her chin, "You don't have the right to say no."

"Ethan...do you really want to do this?"

He had no trouble and ordered the doctor to execute it.

The result matches exactly. Stella was strapped onto the gurney and pushed into the operating room. Ethan signed the consent form in his husband's name.

Under anesthesia, she recalled when she was fifteen: when he had a high fever, he ran with her on his back; when she was eighteen, he swore to protect her.

Now, he personally sent her to the office to have her kidney cut off.

Tears fell and fell into darkness.

After the operation was over and pushed back to the general ward, Stella curled up in pain.

The family next door chatted with the nurse: "The VIP's wife is undergoing surgery, and the CEO is watching over her every step of the way."

"Good luck to her."

Stella cried silently and whispered weakly: "I am his wife..."

No one heard.

She was thirsty and wanted to pour water. She fell to the ground and suffered severe pain from the incision.

Ethan was outside the door, saw this scene, and was about to step in, but stopped, turned around and left.

Charles was confused: "You are obviously worried..."

Ethan said, "This is her punishment."

"But Mrs. Hawthorne was also innocent in the car accident that year.

Her parents have already paid for it with their lives. You tortured her for five years and even kidney forced her to donate. Not enough? "

The corridor was deathly silent.

After a long time, Ethan asked in a low voice: "If I let her go, who will let me go?"

He strode away with a determined look from behind.

Stella lay on the ground for a long time before gathering enough strength to climb back into bed.

For the next few days, Ethan was never seen again. Only the nurse comes to change the dressing on time.

At noon that day, Stella was woken up by the vibrating sound of her cell phone.

A multimedia message was sent from an unknown number.

[Your kidney, I'm very used to it. From now on, not only your kidney, but everything you have including Ethan will be mine.]

A photo is attached below.

On Alina's slender wrist, she wore the antique gold locket.

Stella's pupils shrank suddenly, and her blood instantly became cold.

It was the last relic left by her mother to her, and inside was the only photo of her and her mother.

How did it get into Alina's hands when it had been locked in the safe in the master bedroom of Hawthorne Manor?!

She suddenly pulled out the infusion needle on the back of her hand, not caring about the blood splattering.

Holding the wound on his abdomen, he stumbled out of the ward.

VIP ward area.

Stella knocks open Alina's door.

Alina was leaning on the bedside eating cherries, and when she saw her, a proud smile appeared on her lips.

"Hey, isn't this our great contributor to kidney donation?

What, came to see your kidney? "

Stella stared at the locket on her wrist, her voice trembling.

"Give it back to me."

Alina raised her wrist and twirled the locket nonchalantly.

"Why should I pay you back?

Ethan said it looked good on me, so he gave it to me. "

"You lied!"

Stella rushed to grab it.

Alina ducked back and screamed.

"ah!

Help! She wants to kill me! "

The ward door was kicked open.

Ethan strode in and pushed Stella away.

Stella hit the wall, the knife edge tore open, and she gasped in pain.

"Ethan, she's trying to steal my locket..." Alina shrank into Ethan's arms, trembling.

Ethan's face looked horribly gloomy.

"Stella, why are you crazy!"

Stella leaned against the wall, her eyes red.

"That's a relic left to me by my mother.

Give it back to me..."

She put down all dignity and her voice was hoarse.

"Alina, as long as you give it back to me, I will agree to anything.

You want Mrs. Hawthorne's place, I'll give it to you. Please, give it back to me..."

Ethan stiffened suddenly, his eyes filled with overwhelming anger.

"Stella!" He gritted his teeth, "In your heart, my wife's status is not as good as that of a dead person?

! "

Stella looked at him with despair in her eyes.

"That's my mother..."

"Your mother is a murderer!"

Ethan growled.

He grabbed Alina's wrist and forced the locket off. The gold chain made red marks, and Alina shrank back in fear.

"Everything related to your parents should be destroyed."

After saying that, he turned around, walked to the window, and pushed open the window.

The cold wind from the eighteenth floor rushed in, and he raised his hand to throw the locket down.

"don't want--!"

Stella let out a shrill scream.

She didn't know where the strength came from, and she pounced on Ethan the moment he let go, knocked his arm away, and leaned half of her body out of the window to grab the locket.

His fingertips touched the cold metal, and his body lost its balance.

"Stella!"

Ethan's pupils shrank suddenly and his heart stopped for a beat.

He reached out like crazy and only caught a piece of clothing.

Stab. The fabric is torn.

Stella fell straight down like a kite with its string broken.