Damien's grip on my throat tightened, making it hard to breathe. A dull pain started throbbing in my head, the world spinning around me.
I didn’t move and let him hold me by the neck.
Strangely… the entire situation almost felt like a flicker of relief. I had never dared hope to be this close to him again.
Wasn’t this, in some twisted way, a win?
He finally let go, then slammed his fist into the wall so hard that his knuckles bled. “Elara, tell me—why did you do that to me? Was I ever cruel to you?”
Damien had always been the composed type, but now he looked broken. Because of me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, looking at him, wanting to etch his face into my memory, despite his eyes now holding a kind of disgust. Like I was some trash.
“You make me sick! Why did you come back? Why didn’t you just die? Why don't you just be gone?”
I'm sickening, right?
Good.
That way, Damien could live happily ever after with her woman.
Don’t worry, Damien. Soon, I’d give you exactly what you want—I’d be gone.
My eyes burned and my vision darkened. I slid down the corner of the wall, my body giving out.
Before I passed out, all those disgusting chat messages flashed before my eyes.
Damien... he actually believed I was the one sending those chats…
***
I woke up in a hospital.
Ronan sat at my bedside with worry written all over his face.
“Are you sick?”
From the other side of the room came a voice I knew all too well. I turned my head to see Damien standing there, staring at me coldly.
“Nothing serious,” I said.
“Must cost a lot to treat,” he replied.
“It’s manageable,” I said. Although in truth, I had no savings left for the expensive treatment that I needed.
“You’re good at juggling men, aren’t you? Please them well and I’ll give you a hundred thousand.”
Then he cleared his throat. “Come in.”
Eight bodyguards filed into the room, circling my bed, towering over me. In that moment, a flood of disgusting memories crashed over me. I shut my eyes as a sharp pain tore through my head.
Ronan shot to his feet and punched Damien.
At that, Damien staggered back two steps, spitting blood onto the floor.
He touched his cheek, pressed his tongue against it and let out a laugh.
“What’s wrong? Not interested? You could always be my mistress behind your husband’s back. You’re already good at it, aren’t you?”
“The day before the wedding you suddenly changed your mind. Fine, you didn’t want to marry me. But why humiliate me in front of everyone? Why make me the laughingstock of the entire internet?”
“Couldn’t we have ended things peacefully? Why send me photos of you tangled up with another man? Were you afraid I’d cling to you? Afraid I wouldn’t agree to break up?”
Damien's voice cracked, eyes reddening. “Elara, you can end this peacefully—apologize to me in public. Confess your shameless, slutty ways!”
Ronan’s shouted to the top of his lungs, “You’re the shameless one! Ela, she—”
His eyes were red too.
I reached for Ronan's wrist and shook my head.
At that, he turned his hand to hold mine and asked in a choked voice, “Ela, you’re such a good person. Why put up with all this? Is a man like him worth it?”
