Chapter 386 Dig Out the Eyeballs
"Your wife?" Roy blurted out.
Zara was stunned into silence, pointing at Elizabeth with a trembling finger. "Her? How could she possibly be your wife? She was nothing but a filthy little stray when she lived under our roof—hair crawling with lice, shoes barely holding together. I was the one who washed her hair, gave her decent clothes to wear, and she repaid us by stealing from our family!"
"You lying witch! May your entire family rot in hell!" A sharp, anguished voice suddenly cut through the air from outside the private dining room.
Everyone turned toward the entrance.
Standing there was the high school teacher from earlier.
Kismet, still on her knees, twisted around to face the doorway. "Calista? You dare kick me when I'm down?"
Calista Day's laugh was cold and vicious. "Kismet, sometimes I wish I could rip you to shreds myself. My only wish is to see you and your whole family burning in hell for what you've done!"
Kismet fell silent.
Tears suddenly streamed down Calista's face as she turned to Roy and Zara. "Do you want to know why I sent you that photo? Do you want to know how I found out your precious daughter was here, groveling on her knees?"
She pulled the young waitress beside her forward. "This is my cousin! She told me my chance for revenge had finally come. She sent me the photo, and I forwarded it to you both. Yes, I wanted to enrage you, to make you come running here yourselves! I wanted you to know that while I may be powerless to fight back, there are others who will make you pay—others who will deliver justice!"
With that, Calista turned her gaze to Elizabeth and Alexander.
"Mr. Windsor, Ms. Spencer." Tears continued to flow as she spoke. "I've seen your official Twitter accounts online. Mr. Windsor, you're clearly a good man, and Ms. Spencer, I truly envy the wonderful life you've found. Kismet used to tell me about what happened to you when you were twelve.
"You were fortunate, but I wasn't so lucky.
"Kismet and I were desk partners in middle school. She constantly tried to copy my homework, and when I refused, she held a grudge. She dropped out before finishing middle school.
"After high school, I attended teachers' college. Experiencing the world beyond my hometown inspired me to return and serve my community through education. I became a teacher at the best high school in town.
"Unfortunately, Kismet found me again.
"She deceived me, claiming she wanted to catch up for old times' sake, inviting me to dinner. Instead, I was... violated by multiple men.
"She took compromising photos of me. From then on, whenever she needed to curry favor with someone, she would offer me to them.
"Outwardly, I'm a respected teacher. In reality, I'm nothing more than a prostitute—the lowest of the low.
"She holds those photos over me. I don't dare tell anyone, and I have no power to seek revenge.
"I know I shouldn't pin my hopes on you, but I wanted you to know the truth. The Bell family—every last one of them—deserves to be flayed alive!"
Calista collapsed into heartbroken sobs, her cousin trying desperately to comfort her.
Elizabeth approached with profound sadness etched across her face, placing a gentle hand on Calista's shoulder. "Don't cry. You must stay strong. This isn't your fault. She'll never have the chance to hurt you again. You'll always be the respected teacher you truly are."
Elizabeth then embraced Calista warmly.
"Thank you, Ms. Spencer," Calista said with genuine gratitude.
"Live well," Elizabeth whispered.
"I will."
Elizabeth guided Calista to sit at the head table before turning back to Roy and Zara.
Elizabeth spoke up, "Ms. Jenkins, when I was very young, I never understood why you slapped me so hard the first time I entered your home.
"I remember thinking: I may be just a poor country child with worn clothes and shoes full of holes, but I'm clean. My hair doesn't smell, my clothes are spotless. Why don't you like me?
"Years later, as an adult, I finally understood. You struck me precisely because I was too clean—because I didn't have lice in my hair, because I wasn't the wretched country child she had expected me to be.
"And then there was the time you kicked me. The time you broke three of my ribs with a single blow."
"Please, stop," Roy begged, his eyes pleading with Elizabeth. He was terrified that once she finished speaking, the man beside her would return the favor by breaking his ribs.
Elizabeth studied him carefully. "Stop? Are you trying to run from the truth? Do you think breaking a twelve-year-old's ribs is beneath mention?"
Roy remained silent.
"You're right," Elizabeth said with a casual shrug and an almost serene smile. "I suppose it really isn't worth mentioning."
Her words left everyone in the room speechless.
"I was only twelve then—small, defenseless. As I grew older, I chose to forget those childhood experiences, especially the painful ones. What child wants to remember having their ribs broken, their head shaved bald, or excrement smeared in their hair? Such humiliating memories are better buried.
"I never wanted to remember them. I never even considered returning for revenge. It wasn't worth it. I came back this time solely to retrieve my father's ashes and leave again. I only came down here for dinner!
"But Kismet cornered me in that crowded dining hall, with dozens of witnesses and surely security cameras recording everything. You can review the footage yourselves to see exactly how she spoke to me.
"That same arrogance, that same cruelty she showed when she smeared excrement in my hair at twelve years old—nothing has changed. When we were children, I could excuse her behavior as immaturity. But now?
"Mr. Murphy, even now you're calling me a little whore, claiming I'm a thief. This proves you were never trying to educate me—you genuinely wanted to destroy me. Because you cannot bear to see me succeed where your daughter has failed!
"And this teacher suffered even worse. Simply because she earned a university degree and became a respected educator through her own merit, you were consumed by jealous rage?"
Roy, Zara, and Kismet remained silent.
"Since after all these years you still refuse to leave me in peace, I suppose I'll handle this matter myself." Elizabeth's tone was deceptively light.
She turned to Alexander, who nodded in understanding.
The prospect of Elizabeth taking personal control gave the Bell family a glimmer of hope. All three began kowtowing frantically.
But Elizabeth suddenly called out, "Gavin!"
"Yes, madam!"
"Take Alice outside and buy her some candy. Alice, Mommy needs to handle some business here."
"Yes, madam!"
"Okay, Mommy."
Gavin led Alice from the room.
Only then did Elizabeth turn back to Kismet. "You keep calling me a whore. Did you actually witness this with your own eyes?"
Kismet's voice cracked with desperation. "Ms. Spencer, for the sake of the dress you wore as a child—my dress—please spare me! I was speaking nonsense! I never saw anything! I was spreading lies!"
"You never saw anything?" Elizabeth's voice was dangerously quiet. "Then your eyes are useless?"
"Yes! I'm blind! I was blind to your true worth! I—" Kismet's head struck the floor repeatedly as she kowtowed.
Elizabeth's next words fell like a death sentence: "If your eyes are useless, then perhaps they should be removed."
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