“Zara!”
“No need to shout. I’m not deaf.”
I turned to Lilian with a smile. “Miss Yates, you’re here to gloat, aren’t you? How pitiful I must look to you. I, a woman mired in scandal, freshly out of the hospital after a miscarriage. The father of her child in love with someone else, the man she loved serving her up to others just to please that very woman.”
I saw my own hollow reflection in her sharp, venomous gaze.
“In your mind, what should I be like? Collapsing into sobs, begging Luca not to abandon me? Mourning the child I lost? Watching you win, consumed by jealousy, then lashing out like a lunatic? And you, standing behind him, protected and perfect, watching a pathetic clown like me flailing in vain?”
“Did I get it right?”
Lilian’s face twisted in fury and she forced the words through clenched teeth. “Miss Yvonne, why do you always think everything revolves around me?”
She was standing close, her back to Luca. So when she suddenly screamed and fell, he rushed over in a rage and struck me without hesitation.
The blow hit hard. My vision went blurry with stars, my cheek swelled almost instantly and blood welled at the corner of my lips.
Luca quickly helped Lilian up before staring at me with an icy gaze. It was as if he had forgotten he was the one who just hit me.
Lilian whispered with feigned concern, “Don’t be angry. Miss Yvonne is just too heartbroken. She didn’t mean it.”
He finally turned to me and mercilessly said, “You shouldn’t have pushed her. You brought this on yourself.”
The doctor was clearly warned in advance because he said nothing about my injuries. He simply handed over some medicine and left.
There were bodyguards stationed outside the ward. Luca had imprisoned me here.
I lay in silence, thinking how absurd all this was. I had devoted them to a man who turned out to be nothing more than a heartless liar.
What made it even more absurd was the news Zoe brought me soon after.
Lilian and Luca had officially gone public and they had paid marketing accounts to rewrite the story, painting me as the mistress.
The story was carefully crafted and supported by pictures and captions. Even more damning, just yesterday, someone had exposed me for allegedly sleeping my way to the top. With so much fuel added to the fire, the netizens had no choice but to believe it, even if they did not want to.
Zoe was so furious she practically jumped up and down. “How could Mr. York be so heartless!”
On the other hand, the moment I realized it was Luca’s doing, I did not even flinch.
“Zoe, did you bring my phone?”
“I did, but please don’t go online,”
“Don’t worry.”
I dialed Luca’s number and surprisingly, he picked up on the first ring.
“Zara, you…”
“Let’s get married.”
There was a stunned silence on the other end. After several seconds, he finally spoke in disbelief, “What did you just say?”
Zoe looked like she had seen a ghost, but I remained calm. “Didn’t you say you wanted to marry me? Fine. I agree. Let’s go get our marriage certificate tomorrow.”
“You’re insane, Zara. You…”
“You only get one chance. If you don’t want it, forget it.”
There was a long pause before Luca finally responded, “Fine. Let’s get married.”
Zoe looked absolutely horrified. “You’ve lost your mind. Even if you want revenge, this isn’t the way. You can’t throw yourself into the fire like this!”
“Getting married is easy,” she added, “but getting divorced is a nightmare!”
I shook my head. “That’s not going to happen. Lilian will never let me marry Luca so easily.”
Zoe’s anxiety grew. “She’s probably already called the reporters. I bet she’s written up a hundred press releases waiting to tear you apart tomorrow.”
“And her fans... those obsessive ones are ruthless. What exactly are you planning?!”
I stared out the window and whispered more to myself than to her. “Luca treats me like I’m a toy... but someone else once saw me as something worth protecting.”
That night, after Grant had left, another man came.
I was barely conscious, my mind a blur. I could not even remember what he looked like.
Still, I remembered the man told me that if I chose to report everything to the police, he would stand by me.
In the end, I chose to believe Luca and he would probably be very disappointed by that.
The next day, he came to pick me up. I was momentarily stunned to see him dressed so formally. He even brought a shirt for me.
I took it with a faint smile and changed while saying, "Luca, we’ve been together for ten years. That’s a long time."
He gave a sigh, almost nostalgic. "Ten years ago, I promised to marry you. Today, I’m finally keeping that promise."
"You just announced your engagement to Lilian Yates. If the media catches you registering a marriage with me, the fallout will be massive."
He sneered, "Isn’t that exactly what you’re counting on? But your plan will fail."
I chuckled, too. With Lilian in the picture, no matter how well he planned it, everything would fall apart.
And sure enough, just as we stepped out of the car in front of the City Hall, a wave of reporters surged forward. The street, which had been quiet just moments ago, was suddenly filled with flashing cameras and raised microphones.
Luca’s face darkened in frustration, but I still had the energy to mock him. "Didn’t you talk this over with Lilian? I thought she always did what you asked."
The reporters’ cameras were practically shoved into our faces. His bodyguards quickly surrounded us and started pushing us back into the car. But just as I was about to climb in, a searing pain exploded across my back and it felt like my skin was being torn open.
Someone in the crowd screamed, "It’s sulfuric acid!"
The crowd scattered in chaos. I collapsed into the seat, completely unable to move.
Luca shouted in panic, "Drive! Get to the hospital now! And go find out who did this!"
My body was limp with weakness. Luca held me in his arms, terrified to even touch my back.
His hands and voice were trembling. "Zara, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay."
I closed my eyes, exhausted. If I had the chance to go back ten years, I would never have fallen in love with Luca.
