Brigitta’s face burned with pain. She covered her cheek with her injured hand, but Damien grabbed it all of the sudden. Then, another agonizing pain ripped through her already torn wound.
“Irene said that you just scraped your fingers, stop acting, Brigitta! Stay here and serve Irene. You're not allowed to go anywhere else!”
A bitter laugh rose in Brigitta’s chest. She rushed into the living room, grabbed a fruit knife and aimed it at both of them. “Damien, let me out, or else… I’ll go down with you both.”
Her sudden defiance stunned him. Damien hesitated before pulling out his phone and unlocked the door.
Brigitta left and went straight to the Arkwright mansion, to meet Lucien and Lena—Damien's parents. She returned the agreements she had once signed—in which she was granted the shares in Arkwright Corp. and to terminate all financial ties with the Arkwrights.
Both Lucien and Lena were stunned by that. They immediately ordered their butler to investigate the matter thoroughly. Half an hour later, the butler returned and recounted everything he had heard from Damien’s bodyguard.
Lucien slammed the table so hard it shook. “That ungrateful son! He's so obsessed with that woman he's lost his mind—even treating marriage like a joke!”
Lena gently stroked Brigitta's head, looking at the bruises on her forehead and palms with heartbreak. She wiped away her tears. “Gitta, my poor child... Look at you—is your arm alright?”
Brigitta's nose grew a bit stuffy. Lucien and Lena had watched her grow up and the two of them had taken such good care of her, even more so than her own father. In her past lives, even after marrying Damien, they had never let her suffer. They had always protected her.
Lucien picked up his phone and dialed Damien’s number.
“I’ll drag that boy here myself and make him apologize! And he’ll take that woman to terminate the pregnancy. A child born of seduction and betrayal will never be recognized by the Arkwrights!” he said angrily.
But after several attempts, no one answered. Just then, Brigitta's phone rang—it was Damien calling. She accidentally pressed the speakerphone button when answering it.
On the other end, Damien sounded furious. “Brigitta, do you have no shame? You walk out on me one second and the next you’re running to my parents to tattle?"
"Irene’s pregnant—I’m already overwhelmed and instead of helping, you stir up trouble. Since your little push-and-pull games failed, now you’re hiding behind my parents? Pathetic!”
Lucien snatched the phone, roaring into it. “You ungrateful wretch! Try speaking to Gitta like that again! What’s this about the wedding being canceled? What's the deal with 'this' pregnancy? Get here now and explain yourself, or you’re no son of mine! I’ll name another heir!”
Brigitta didn’t want to stay there any longer. She thanked Lucien and Lena and said she didn’t need or accept Damien’s apology. Still, they insisted she stay.
Soon Damien arrived, clearly irritated. “Father, Mother, what is this about? I'm really busy right now.”
Lucien slammed the table again, pointing at him with disappointment. “Apologize to Gitta!”
Damien glanced at Brigitta. “She’s the one who keeps targeting my woman. Why should I apologize?”
Brigitta sighed. She no longer wanted to say anything to Damien.
Lucien’s rage boiled over. “Why? Because she is the only woman this family will ever recognize as an Arkwright. She is your wife. And this is how you treat her?"
"End your affair, take that woman for an abortion. We will never acknowledge her bastard. Don’t force me to deal with it myself!”
Damien’s brows knitted tight. “Father, that’s your grandchild. I’ll make sure Irene’s baby is born safely.”
His eyes went glacial as he looked at Brigitta. “If you try to harm her, I’ll make sure your so-called ‘perfect daughter-in-law’ suffers a fate worse than death.”
Just then, his phone rang. He answered, went in panic and spun toward the door.
Lucien barked, “Don’t you dare walk away from me!”
Damien’s eyes were bloodshot. He didn’t look at his father but glared squarely on Brigitta instead. “Irene tried to kill herself!”
Brigitta’s mind went blank.
So it had come early this time. In her past lives, Irene’s suicide had always come later—after the wedding.
Could it be that she doomed to repeat this cycle no matter what she did?
After Damien stormed out, Brigitta too left the Arkwright mansion.
She had made an appointment with Kaspian at the airport. Although still early, unease gnawed at her, so she hailed a taxi and went ahead to wait.
Everything in this lifetime had unfolded so suddenly. Still, at least Irene’s attempt came before the wedding. This time, no one could pin it on her.
Exhausted, Brigitta leaned against the taxi's window and closed her eyes to rest.
Suddenly the driver jerked the wheel. Brigitta was thrown hard against the front seat.
“Bang!”
Another car slammed into them. The taxi spun, flipped several times and crashed onto the asphalt with a deafening thud.
Pain exploded through her chest and stomach. Dizziness engulfed her and blurred her vision blurred.
It hurt... God, it hurt so much.
But she couldn’t let herself die here.
With everything she had, she forced her eyes open, smashed her fist against the shattered glass and dragged her injured body out of the car.
And then she saw someone walking toward her.
It was Damien.
