Calvert’s POV
Eldzier sneered, clearly thinking I would finally back down by now.
But the next second, I laughed.
“Go on then, pull the trigger,” I taunted Lizbeth. “Let everyone here see how, for the sake of your personal assistant, you spilled your fiancé’s blood all over your engagement party.”
Her eyes trembled. Slowly, she lowered the gun and said, “You know Eldzier only spoke harshly because he cares about me.”
Her voice hardened as she added, “But you did go too far when you hit him, so you have to apologize!”
She delivered the command like a queen, deciding everything on her own.
Compared to three years ago, she had become a completely different person. She had lost all her gentleness, all her sense of mutual understanding.
“Apologize?” I repeated. “Don’t forget—he owes me a life!”
I stared straight at her. “Three years ago, he got into a fight with others, and you were dragged into it. They cornered you in an abandoned factory. I was the one who saved you both—and I was stabbed eight times for it! And let’s not forget—he mixed mango juice into my milk. I went into anaphylactic shock because of that!”
The words weren’t loud, yet they carried across the entire hall. Everyone heard.
One by one, people turned to Eldzier with eyes that said, ‘How ungrateful can you be?’
And the truth was that those were just the big things. On top of that, Eldzier’s smaller mistakes were endless—he smashed my computer, lost my research files, and once, drunk, leaked my client list.
The moment he saw the crowd’s reaction, Eldzier switched his expression in an instant. He snatched the gun from Lizbeth’s hand and pressed it to his own temple.
“Don’t make things harder for the young lady!” he cried out. “One man takes responsibility for his own actions. You want my life? Fine, I’ll give it to you!”
For a moment, Lizbeth’s eyes flickered with guilt. But the instant she saw his performance, she rushed to stop him and then turned her glare back on me, frowning.
“You really had to bring up every petty little thing from the past? Do you have to drive Eldzier to his death before you’ll be satisfied?”
She really had changed. That single sentence froze half my heart. My molars ground together as I bit down hard.
Eldzier carried on with his drama. He grabbed a fruit knife from the table and suddenly stabbed it deep into his own palm.
“Mr. Rubenstein,” he hissed, “consider it paid back. Now, can you finally sign the contract?”
The blood from his palm gushed violently. Lizbeth’s beautiful eyes flew wide in shock. Tearing off a strip of her gown, she bound his hand and then turned on me in fury.
“Look at what you’ve become!” she shouted. “Always so aggressive, always so unreasonable! Why can’t you be more like Eldzier and think of me first?”
Her gaze was sharp enough to cut flesh, as though she wanted me hacked into a thousand pieces.
But from beginning to end, I hadn’t forced Eldzier into anything.
We both knew it was the two of them who had pressed me gradually.
We both knew it was she who had changed.
And yet, somehow, it was all my fault?
Hadn’t I considered her enough, not to mention taking the knife for her back then, even in the little things?
Back when we were still dating, she said she didn’t like apples. I, who had loved them since I was a kid, never bought one again.
She wanted homemade lunches, so I made whatever she liked.
She once forgot her documents; I ran them to her in the middle of a storm.
And what about the three years I spent waiting for her?
It was a long-distance relationship.
She was busy, barely able to call me more than a few times a month.
Yet, my heart never wavered.
How many people could endure that? Was that still not enough sincerity?
“All right, all right, tonight’s an engagement party. Stop arguing,” someone nearby said, trying to smooth things over.
But Lizbeth refused to let it go. She snapped at me again.
“You’re getting more and more out of line. Tonight, you must apologize to Eldzier. Otherwise, what will stop you from turning the sky upside down in front of me tomorrow?”
I looked at her, and suddenly, I was at a loss for words; my throat tightened until I could barely breathe.
For the first time, I felt that I myself and this whole relationship had become more and more ridiculous.
“Say something!” she pressed. “Can’t you see how much blood Eldzier has lost? Is an apology really so hard for you, Calvert?”
Her brows knit tightly as her voice rose louder and louder.
