Chapter 119

"Well..." Charles paused, thinking. "Do you think Olivia hid the phone because she doesn't have one? Maybe she wanted to use it herself but was scared Ava would find out, so she stashed it in the chicken coop?"

Dennis considered this. It was true, Olivia didn't seem to have a phone.

Dennis was even more frustrated. "Is Hugh out of his mind? He's loaded but can't even get Olivia a phone? Anyone who marries into that family is cursed."

"Still not used to it?" Zoey scoffed. "Who knows how long their village customs have been around? They've worked so hard to keep women down, they can't let them see the outside world. These women aren't dumb; they've just been brainwashed since they were kids to believe everything their parents say. The best way to control them is to keep them from seeing the outside world."

" Damn it!" Charles was so angry his hands were shaking.

Robert chimed in, "If Olivia was using the phone, our only hope is that syringe."

Everyone had just seen a glimmer of hope, only to feel it slipping away again.

They all sighed in unison.

Robert looked at his team and said, "Why so down? Remember, bad people always leave evidence behind when they do bad things."

Zoey agreed with Robert, so she opened the photo album again to see if there were any other clues.

Jordan suddenly spoke up, "Zoey, stop looking at those. We've gone through them countless times. Check if there's a hidden album."

Zoey's phone was old, and she had been using it for years.

She had no idea phones had evolved so much.

Plus, she was a total tech novice and had no clue how to use her phone properly.

"Huh? You don't know? Your phone doesn't have a hidden album?" Jordan asked, taking the phone from Zoey's surprised hands. "Alright, let me do it."

Jordan fiddled with the phone for a bit.

She actually found a hidden album. "Haha, I found it!"

Zoey leaned in and saw that Jordan had indeed found several albums she hadn't seen before. She was astonished.

In the hidden album, there was only one video. The thumbnail was pitch black, revealing nothing.

Zoey had a strange feeling that this video held the key to everything.

"My name is Haven."

The screen flickered, revealing a dim figure in a dark background. It was hard to tell where she was. The only light came from her phone, faintly illuminating her tear-streaked face.

"I..." She stared at herself on the phone for a long time, trying to speak but stopping each time, just crying.

"When you see this video, I will definitely be dead. If not, I'm on my way to die." She finally spoke a complete sentence, shocking everyone.

She then began to recount her experiences over the years, "I've been an orphan since I was a child. I never felt what it was like to have a family. But after I met Hugh, he gave me that feeling. You might not understand if you're not an orphan, but having a family was something I longed for all these years. I thought I finally had a home, and I was willing to give everything, even my life, to cherish it."

"Hugh loved me a lot at first. He promised me a future, a beautiful life, but it was all a trap to keep me in a place where every day was dark and hopeless. I knew how hard it was to have a family, so I accepted it. Because I loved him, I could accept anything. I could accept the villagers' discrimination because I was an orphan. They never liked me. I could see it in their eyes; they only saw me as a joke."

"I didn't want to be an orphan, but was it my choice? Why did they treat me like this? I don't know. I thought I was doing my best to maintain this family, but Ava was never satisfied. No matter what I did, she always scolded me. I know I'm clumsy, but I was really trying to learn. The other women who married into the village told me they bullied me because I was an orphan and had no one to help me. But I couldn't understand. Should I blame Hugh for not protecting me, or my parents for making me an orphan? I couldn't figure it out."

"I couldn't tell which reason hurt more. Everyone hated me; no one liked me. I thought maybe if I had a child with Hugh, things would change. But God played a cruel joke on me. Years passed, and I still wasn't pregnant. Now, not only did Ava hate me, but even Hugh started to lose patience with me. I always thought it was my fault, feeling guilty for not giving Hugh a son. I treated them even better. But the truth was, it wasn't my fault. It was Hugh's!"

"They all knew Hugh was the problem but kept it a secret. They even made me sleep with Evan. I couldn't take it anymore. How could they say such things? Even if Evan wasn't mentally mature, this wasn't ethical. Even an uneducated woman like me knew it was wrong, but they insisted I had to do it for the family."

"I was going crazy, but I couldn't let go of this family. I did some research and found out that children born from someone with a mental disability would also be disabled. I didn't want to sleep with Evan; I was afraid I wouldn't be able to face myself or Hugh. I hoped Hugh would help me, but he told me to die! I told him many times that children born from someone with a mental disability would also be disabled. Hugh slapped me and kept hiding the fact that Evan was born with a mental disability. Because Evan's father was the village chief, he didn't allow the truth to spread. They all said Evan became disabled from a fever when he was young, but I knew he was born that way! Hugh seemed to have found out the truth and stopped forcing me to have a child with Evan."

"I thought I had finally escaped, but they were too terrifying. It wasn't me who couldn't have children; it was Hugh. They didn't give Hugh any medicine but forced me to take all kinds of drugs, trying countless disgusting methods! They even said, besides the two sons, there was another one who could have children, referring to Hugh's father. Besides Evan, Ava and Hugh were all accomplices!"

Haven's eyes grew more crazed as she spoke, her eyes bloodshot with hatred, even in the dark background.

It was clear what she had gone through that day.

Hugh must have held her down while his father raped her.

"They're all lunatics! Why did I marry into this family? Just because I'm an orphan, is it my fault? Why do they treat me like this? Why do I have to suffer this way? In their eyes, I'm not even human."