Chapter 17
At this moment, Lisa lay in a hospital a thousand miles away; her body hadn’t fully recovered when she left.
During the journey, she kept bleeding from her lower body, fainting several times from severe anemia, forcing her to stop for hospitalization.
On her third hospital day, she got a message from Jacob: the documents had been delivered to David, who seemed to have gone mad searching for her worldwide.
Lisa felt nothing inside–no love or hate remained for David; nothing he did could stir her emotions.
“Thank you, Jacob. Don’t update me about David anymore.”
“Lisa, are you okay? Let me know if you need anything.”
Jacob’s tone held a trace of hidden concern.
Lisa curved her lips slightly. “I’m fine, thank you. If you’re free, please visit my parents on Memorial Day.
“Okay.”
Jacob readily agreed.
Lisa thanked him again and hung up.
Lisa finally recovered fully, then bought tickets for every flight departing at the same time.
Having grown up with David, she knew his intelligence and connections meant he’d eventually find her unless he stopped searching.
This was her only way to delay being found.
Lisa planned to keep traveling, but got stranded in a southwestern mountain.
Halfway up stood a tiny village–breathtakingly beautiful yet desperately poor.
Only elderly people and left–behind children lived there; with no school, lucky kids got taken out by parents to study.
Most roamed freely until their teens, then left to work.
“Child, go take shelter–we’ll handle this.”
Brenda, who’d housed her, pushed Lisa toward safety.
“Let me help–many hands make light work.”
Pampered since childhood and spoiled by David for years, Lisa truly couldn’t do anything.
But now she frantically clawed at the mud, trying to save Barbara.
The rain blurred her vision; her head spun heavier until she collapsed unconscious.
When she woke, the rain had stopped.
Brenda watched her with aching tenderness. “Child, you’ve burned with fever for three days. Our village isn’t for you–return to the big city.”
Seeing the concern and reluctance across Brenda’s face, it suddenly dawned on Lisa what she needed to do.

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