Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 160

After a moment of contemplation, Willa came to a helpless decision.

Rather than having him shadow her every time she stepped outside, living in constant fear of his emotional outbursts, she was better off staying dutifully by his side. She would wait until his condition stabilized and improved before making any long-term plans.

"And I won't go see Zack either. Don't worry," she added.

Once they returned home, Willa personally supervised him taking his medication. She then fetched the first aid kit and carefully disinfected and bandaged his bruised knuckles.

He was incredibly cooperative the entire time, keeping his eyes lowered and watching her with extreme caution. He didn't dare make a sound, terrified of upsetting her again.

After treating his wound, Willa told him to lie down and rest. She was just about to stand up when he grabbed her hand, refusing to let go.

"Wills, stay with me for a bit. Please?"

Seeing the desperation and anxiety pooling in his eyes, Willa couldn't bring herself to say no.

She sat on the edge of the bed and let him hold her hand.

Only then did he close his eyes in relief. His breathing gradually leveled out, and he was soon fast asleep.

Watching Randal's peaceful sleeping face, scene after scene from their past flashed through Willa's mind.

She thought of the three sweet, codependent years they shared, and the tangled mess of love and hate after their reunion.

They hurt each other, yet clung to each other with a maddening obsession. After running in circles for so long, this was where they ended up.

Once Randal was entirely dead to the world, Willa gently slipped her hand free. After a long moment of hesitation, she finally sent Zack a text.

[I'm so sorry. I just found out Randal assaulted you. How are you doing?]

Half an hour passed before Zack finally replied.

[It has nothing to do with you. I just didn't expect Randal to act so impulsively. It's just some broken bones, nothing major. My mom is just overly worried and insisted I stay in the hospital to recover.]

Her social circle shrank drastically, until it felt like only Randal existed in her world. She hadn't even contacted Sophie in a long time.

The thing she did most every day was check the backend of her social media account.

The heritage artisan videos she had previously filmed were still being updated regularly using her stockpiled footage, completely managed and scheduled by a professional team Randal had hired for her.

Her account's popularity skyrocketed. Comments and likes surged by the day, and her follower count easily shattered the 100,000 mark.

Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.

That was, until this afternoon. Willa opened her creator dashboard like usual, only to find the volume of comments had multiplied several times over compared to a normal day.

Bewildered, she clicked in, only to see the newest comment pinned straight to the top, already sitting at over ten thousand likes.

[I know this creator. Her dad is the murderer from the Empyrean Towers case. He killed three workers and is rotting in prison. How does she have the nerve to act all cultured here?]