An Eye for an Eye

Annie struggled to back up and then tried to help me get to my feet. As I slowly lifted up my body, a sharp pain shot through my lower body.

I realized that it came from my child! I began to panic as I could feel the life within me slipping away.

I had already lost my eyes for Daeleen. I did not want to lose my child, too.

I used all my remaining strength to reach out for Samuel, desperately trying to grab onto him. I endured the pain and pleaded, "Samuel! Save our child! The baby is dying!"

I forced myself to keep my voice steady so that I could say the words loud and clear, but Samuel only moved farther and farther away, his attention solely on my eyeballs.

He murmured to himself. "Daeleen loves roses, so I'll get a crystal box and fill it with roses before placing the eyeballs inside. She's going to love it! For now, I need to get my hands on some formalin to preserve them."

When I could no longer hear his voice, my hand finally fell to the ground with a thud. Samuel was not always like that. Before he became a Capo, he was just an illegitimate son of the Sterling family, working as a low-ranking Soldato in their casino.

We ran into each other by coincidence, and I fell in love with him at first sight. He treated me well. He was always worried about me whenever we came across a bloody scene.

Whenever Samuel got into a fight, he cleaned his wounds and changed out of his bloodstained clothes before coming home.

Back then, he said, "Your eyes are so beautiful, Louise. I'll always protect you so that you'll only have to look at all that is beautiful in this world."

Yet, despite his promises, the very last thing my eyes saw was him personally taking them away.

No anesthesia or painkillers were used. Immense pain came from my eyes, my hands, and even my belly, either of them enough to make anyone faint from the pain. But at that moment, I could clearly sense that none of them compared to the pain in my heart.

I realized that, in the end, Samuel no longer wanted me by his side. I eventually passed out from the pain. I had thought that my suffering would finally come to an end. But reality was cruel, and I once again woke up in agony.

The darkness sent me into a panic. I screamed as I reached out to latch onto something, anything, only to remember that my eyes were already gone.

Annie grabbed onto my hands, crying as she tried to comfort me. I slowly calmed down as she held me in her arms.

My hand was already bandaged because Annie had knelt and begged Samuel for mercy. "Mrs. Sterling will die if she keeps losing blood like this!"

It was only then that Samuel allowed me to be treated for my wounds. I knew he had already returned to our room, as I could hear him humming a tune, seemingly in a great mood.

I spoke up weakly. "Samuel, do you still remember my dream?"

Samuel replied bluntly. "Dreams, you say? I didn't know you still have dreams. If you really still had one, you wouldn't have let yourself go."

I reached out to touch my swelling belly. It contained our unborn child, but I could no longer feel its heartbeat.

The child's father refused to believe in his existence, choosing instead to believe that it was just a lump of fat on my body. My dream was to become a painter so that I could capture every beautiful scene I saw on a canvas. But now, I can no longer see anything.

Samuel once promised me that when he became the most powerful Capo on the West Coast, he would hold an art exhibition for me, one that would allow me to tour the entire country and perhaps even the world.

I promised to paint a portrait of him every year on his birthday until his hair turned gray when he became the oldest Don on the West Coast.

A month ago, I received news from the doctor that I was pregnant. I had planned to include our baby in that year's birthday portrait, and I would reveal the surprise at Samuel's birthday party next month.

But then, Daeleen Reed returned.