Like A Lamb To The Slaughter

Jake poured a significant amount of startup funding into setting up Luna’s laboratory. He allowed her to test her self-developed drugs on living people, even indulging her in extreme electroshock therapy.

Every time, it was Jake who cleaned up her messes, and he seemed to enjoy it. Even still, I never imagined that one day, Jake would let Luna torment me like this.

I didn’t resist strongly because I owed him too much. After all, once the experiments were over, surely the debt would be repaid in full, right?

Luna shattered the silence with a few claps. Moments later, a group of doctors holding various tools entered the room. As the equipment was set up, Luna suddenly leaned coyly against Jake’s shoulder, pouting. “Jake, I’m feeling a bit scared now.”

His heart seemed to ache for her. He gently covered her eyes with his hand as he spoke in a tender voice, “Let’s step outside for now. We can get them to send the data over later.”

In the room, I lay on the cold hospital bed, staring at the ceiling without blinking as they restrained my hands and feet. The light blurred, and my consciousness began to fade. As the voltage increased, my body grew numb, but my mind occasionally cleared.

In a daze, I heard the people around me scrambling and the clattering of equipment.

“Tsk, what are you doing? Can’t you even control the voltage properly?”

The next thing I knew, my body convulsed violently. Faintly, I heard someone shout, “Hurry, hurry! Get her to emergency care. Maybe there’s still time!”

I didn’t struggle; it felt like being knocked out by a club.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a new and unfamiliar hospital room. Before I could speak, a sweet voice chimed in my ear, “You’ve worked so hard, Joy. Here’s a little compensation for you.”

Luna gave me a sugary smile before pulling out a bill from her bag and placing it beside my pillow. She turned around, immediately putting on a pitiful expression as Jake entered the room.

Gone was the sinister grin. Instead, she frowned and lowered her head. “It’s all my fault. I was too careless, which caused Joy to pass out. I’ve already apologized to her.”

Jake gave me a quick glance, then affectionately patted Luna on the head. “It wasn’t intentional, so there’s no need to apologize.”

Then, he paused for a moment, as if a thought had crossed his mind, and walked over to my bedside. “The doctor said there’s no baby anymore. Why didn’t you tell me when you were giving birth?”

I stayed silent. At the time, he had been busy watching fireworks with Luna. I had sent him countless messages, none of which he replied to.

The nurse beside me was about to explain, but I raised my hand to stop her. I told Jake, “The baby is very weak and needs to stay in an incubator for a few days.”

To avoid further questions, I added, “It’s a boy.”

Jake lowered his head thoughtfully, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He nodded in satisfaction.

“Good. As long as he’s out now. You’ve been holding on for so long. Tonight, I’ll take you to a restaurant to celebrate properly.”

Without waiting for my response, Jake dragged me to a clothing store and bought me a dress. When he zipped me up, his eyes caught sight of the bruises all over my exposed skin, and his hands froze, but in the end, he said nothing.

At the restaurant table, Jake’s eyes stayed glued to his phone the entire time. He even left for the restroom for over twenty minutes. When he returned, he finally remembered to ask the waiter for a menu, but he was distracted and pointed aimlessly.

Bewildered, the waiter froze as Jake pointed to the restaurant’s address printed on the menu.

Sighing, I took the menu myself, ordered the food, and handed it back.

A while later, just when all the dishes were served, Jake hurriedly stood up, grabbing his coat.

“Luna got picked on at a party. I need to go check on her right away.”