What she saw in front of her felt like a hard slap, hitting Zariah’s face.
In Denzel’s mind, she was not even as important as Allison’s younger brother.
The warehouse door was tightly closed. The whip struck Zariah’s back. Her body, which had just knelt on broken pieces, was hurt again.
One hit, two hits, three hits… until the ninety-ninth hit.
Zariah’s sight turned dark, and she fell onto the cold floor.
When he saw she had passed out, Oswald got scared of causing death, quickly taking his men and leaving.
No one knew how much time had passed before Zariah slowly woke up.
She struggled and took out her phone, then called the police.
When she opened her eyes again, Zariah felt like everything inside her body was torn.
Denzel saw that she woke up, quickly put out his cigarette, and tried to help her.
“Zariah, you’re awake? How do you feel?”
His hand had just touched her arm when Zariah strongly pushed it away.
She turned her head, holding back the bitter feeling in her throat, and spoke in a weak, rough voice.
“I don’t want to see you. Get out.”
Denzel’s hand stopped in the air, but he still forced himself to hold her wrist.
“I know you don’t want to see me. What happened today, I also share the blame. Oswald is too rash.”
He paused, then his voice changed as he started to speak for the Hector siblings.
“Allison is just childish and got upset by the online comments. Oswald only wants to protect his sister. Don’t fight with them. You still need to get along with them later.”
Zariah felt something tightly squeeze her chest. It hurt so much she could hardly breathe.
She was hit ninety-nine times and almost died in the warehouse, yet to him it was only “too rash” and “wanting to protect his sister.” There was not even one true blame.
It was just like before, when someone who liked Denzel hurt her on purpose. Because that person was a partner’s daughter, he made her accept it.
No matter what, he never chose her first.
Denzel seemed not to see how she felt. He took a small box from his pocket.
When he opened it, a diamond ring shone brightly under the light.
The diamond was big and clearly very costly.
“This is compensation for you, you rest properly. I already arranged the best nurse. After leaving the hospital, whatever you want, I will give it to you. As for that police report, I already explained it; it was your accidental contact.”
Zariah looked at the ring, suddenly laughed, laughing until tears almost came out.
After getting the certificate, she once carefully brought up to Denzel that she wanted a wedding ring.
But at that time, he only frowned, not even looking at her.
“As my wife, you should act properly and calmly, don’t always think about these costly and useless things.”
His words poured cold water over her; from then on, she never brought up the wedding ring again.
Now her heart had already gone dead; she wanted nothing, yet he used such a diamond ring to make up to her.
Zariah lifted her hand and took the ring, her fingers brushing across the diamond, then raised her hand and threw it outside the window.
The ring made a curve, dropping into the rain beyond the window.
Together with her many years of feelings for Denzel, everything was completely erased.
Denzel watched her dull response, and the little patience he had left disappeared.
He quickly stood up, kicked the cabinet by the bed with force, then turned, banged the door shut, and left.
Zariah stayed on the bed. The pain in her back remained, but her heart felt oddly calm.
Over the next three days, she spent her time alone in quiet.
After discharge, she worked at the diner while uneasily handling the diner transfer.
While keeping her head down and working, Zariah looked up and saw Allison suddenly show up at the shop entrance.
