Chapter 69 She Fought Back
She wasn't seeing things, was she?
This was the dumbbell James usually used for exercise!
It looked small, but each one weighed 10 pounds. Ten pounds was certainly not heavy, but catching it mid-air when Kendall threw it would definitely feel heavier than that. Not to mention, the small dumbbell she now held felt incredibly light, not at all like it weighed 10 pounds.
Olivia glanced at the nearby rack. Only one dumbbell remained where the pair usually sat... So, the one in her hand really was the 10-pound dumbbell?
Olivia dared not imagine when she had suddenly acquired so much strength.
Seeing Olivia easily catch the dumbbell, Kendall nodded and commented, "Not bad."
Olivia belatedly realized. "Was it... that candy just now?"
Kendall did not directly answer her question, simply lowering her voice to speak so only the two of them could hear.
"The effect only lasts for half a month.
In this half month, treat James exactly as he treated you before, or even worse.
After all, you two have a marriage certificate, don't you?
James was only unwilling to divorce you because he thought he could control you once I left.
What if he suddenly discovers things aren't developing the way he thought, and he can no longer control you? "
Olivia had felt a little disappointed when Kendall said the effect would only last for half a month.
When she heard Kendall's later words, her eyes couldn't help but light up.
A rush of gratitude surged in Olivia's heart.
She instinctively reached out and grabbed Kendall's hand. "Thank you. I know what to do!"
"Mhm, mhm." Kendall nodded, warning her, "Don't be soft-hearted. You must always remember the person's ugliest side."
Kendall didn't say the second half of the sentence. 'If she forgave the other person's past mistakes just because they acted a little pitiful, then the suffering she endured for the rest of her life was deserved.'
Olivia seemed to understand. She looked at Kendall with gratitude, gripping Kendall's hand tightly, as if grasping the one chance she had to break free from the constraints of this marriage.
There was no point in staying. Kendall returned to her apartment. In Kendall's original plan, she intended to collect enough evidence, then privately approach James and force him to divorce, or else expose his true face of abusing his wife and emotionally neglecting his three-year-old daughter.
James had been working at his current company since graduating with his master's degree. At thirty-five, he was right at the age that felt most sensitive during mass layoffs. James likely wouldn't want to see his career utterly destroyed.
But just now, seeing the miserable state Olivia was subjected to, and the smug, ugly look on James's face that showed no fear of Olivia calling the police, Kendall grew angry.
Just because it wasn't a crime of intentional injury within the marriage, he could do whatever he wanted to his wife? Now that she thought about it, simply getting a divorce seemed too easy for James. Letting him have a taste of domestic abuse wasn't a bad idea.
Kendall had previously asked the system to scan Olivia. Her malicious intent value was only 6 points. The malicious intent value for a normal person is typically 10 points or below. Olivia's value was not high, which was why Kendall dared to let Olivia take the strength pill.
Lying back down on her bed, Kendall was still thinking. The strength pill's effect only lasts for half a month. She hoped Olivia's performance during this half-month wouldn't disappoint her.
Kendall had no idea that Olivia cherished this half-month window even more than she did. After seeing Kendall off, Olivia closed the front door, still gripping the dumbbell in her hand.
James, who had been hiding in the bedroom, heard the sound of the door closing outside and guessed that Kendall had left. James grabbed the doorknob and peeked out of the room. Seeing that the living room was empty and only Olivia stood by the entrance, James's sneaky demeanor instantly vanished.
He swaggered out of the room, looking at Olivia, and couldn't help but mock, "Where's your backup? Did she just leave? Olivia, have you considered how you'll spend the rest of tonight?"
His tone was heavy with menace. Olivia stood still, silently tightening her grip on the dumbbell.
James saw Olivia standing motionless and assumed she was frightened.
He closed in on Olivia step by step, continuously saying things to insult her.
Having been abused by him for so long, the shadow of long-term oppression began to creep up in Olivia's mind as she watched James's tall, imposing figure approach.
However, when her fingers tightened, and she felt the hard sensation of the dumbbell, it seemed to silently remind Olivia that the woman she was now was different from the woman she was before!
Watching James reach her, his face instantly transforming into a furious, gloomy scowl as he raised his hand to slap her, Olivia raised the dumbbell in her hand to block, while simultaneously swinging her other hand to strike James's face!
The anticipated pain of being slapped never came. Instead, her palm landed on James's face.
Smack!
James's face instantly swelled up and turned red. A burning pain shot from his face. He froze, staring at Olivia with disbelief.
Olivia was no calmer than James. She stared blankly at her own hand, and then, under James's gaze, she slapped him again.
James finally reacted and began to fight back, engaging in a struggle with Olivia. Olivia's movements weren't as fluid and quick as Kendall's, nor was her build as tall and imposing as James's.
However, Kendall had just given her the strength pill, and immense power creates miracles!
In the end, Olivia forcefully pinned James to the ground, both hands tightly clamping down on James's neck. James struggled with all his might, but it was futile. It wasn't until the feeling of suffocation and impending death closed in on him that Olivia suddenly released her grip on his neck.
James was relieved to have survived, but he didn't know that for the foreseeable future, every day, he would live in the same state of fear and torment as Olivia had before.
(End of Chapter)