Chapter 8
“You said even if Anastasia really did those things, you would still love her till death. Let’s see if your love can survive this test.”
Arnold pulled me close with a mocking smile. “So this is the kind of woman Mr. Howell likes?”
Sylas took a deep breath and looked at me.
“Kiara, is this how you get back at me because you can’t have me?”
I rolled my eyes.
Anastasia was still struggling, clutching Sylas’s sleeve, pleading, “Sylas, all these photos are fabrications by Kiara to frame me. She’s just jealous.
“Don’t believe a word she says.”
I gave Anastasia a sarcastic smile.
“If the evidence is fake, what about the witness?”
At my signal, a tall figure stepped forward.
Anastasia’s face drained of color, she looked defeated.
“Anastasia, you didn’t expect me to still be alive, huh?
“You drugged me for thrills back then. I didn’t expect to have cameras installed at home.
“When I found out, you ordered your accomplice to throw me into the oceán, just because Sylas showed interest in you, and I wasn’t the successor to the Howell family.
05.05
Chapter
“You tried to kill me to become Sylas’s wife. It’s time to settle this debt.”
The man was none other than Orlando.
Reborn into this life, since Anastasia hadn’t died, Orlando might still be alive, too.
Soon after the incident, I had Arnold arrange for someone by the coast.
They rescued Orlando, who was unconscious.
Sylas’s surprise was clear as he took a few steps forward, then stopped, words from Orlando cutting deep into him.
He couldn’t believe he nearly killed his own brother.
Nor could he believe that sweet, innocent girl was so cruel.
Anastasia shrank behind Sylas, terrified.
“Sylas, you promised you’d love me no matter what.
“I just want to be with you openly. Please save me–I don’t want to go to jail.”
Pain flashed in Orlando’s eyes.
“Sylas, will you really ignore our bond for a ruthless woman who has no limits?”
Sylas looked at the trembling woman behind him and hesitated.
Seeing Sylas still blind to the truth, Orlando took a deep breath.
“Did you really think Anastasia saved you back then?
“With her personality, I don’t believe she’d risk herself. I investigated long
Chapter &
ago–the real rescuer was someone else.”
Sylas froze.
His voice trembled, “Who?”
Orlando sneered, pointing at me.
I met Sylas’s wide–eyed stare and couldn’t help feeling a little speechless.
“I saved you, and you sold me out?” I thought.
His look was a mixture of shock, confusion, and something else he couldn’t place.
Anastasia saw Sylas slowly pull his hand away, trembling with fear.
As she tried to slip away, Arnold’s people immediately restrained her.
She shot me a furious glare.
“Kiara, you ruined my life. I won’t rest even as a ghost.”
Sylas watched her twisted face, pain flickering in his eyes.
“Anastasia, was it really not you who saved me?”
Anastasia burst out laughing.
“Sylas, you liar. Didn’t you say you’d love and protect me forever?
“You’re a coward. Last night, you held me but called out Kiara’s name.
“Even now, you don’t know who you truly love.
“I never claimed to have saved you. You were just imagining things–I was just going along with it.
“You’re a fool, just a pawn in my game.
“Oh, and by the way, do you think Michelle is your daughter?
“I swapped your sperm ages ago. Ha!”
Sylas’s face twisted with rage, his fists clenched so tight his veins bulged.
He tried to move forward but was held back by arriving police officers.
Anastasia was taken away.
1 provided the police with evidence proving that Sylas had arranged 99 gigolos.
Before leaving with the officers, Sylas looked back at me.
“Kiara, I…”
That apology? He never gave one.
Because he knew no simple “sorry” could ever make up for what he did to
- me.
Anastasia was sentenced to prison.
Sylas was only detained for three months.
Three months later, he appeared before me, looking worn out.
“Kiara, if you come back to me, I swear I’ll love you forever, truly and deeply.”
I sneered. “Sylas, did prison make you dumb?
“I’m already married.
“A wrong is a wrong. Loss is loss. Everyone has to face the consequences
of their actions.”
Seeing my cold rejection, his hopeful eyes dimmed.
“Kiara, I won’t give up!”
He shouted after me, his voice firm.
From then on, rain or shine, he stood outside my door.
Until I called the mental hospital.
Arnold held me tenderly.
“Do you have to be this heartless?”
I playfully hit him.
“If you ever hurt me, I won’t hesitate to send you there too.”
One day, while walking happily down the street with my adopted daughter, we saw Michelle scavenging through a nearby trash bin.
Her eyes lit up when she saw us, but dimmed when she saw the little girl I was holding.
“Mommy, that girl looks so sad. Doesn’t her mom care about her?”
My daughter looked up at me, puzzled.
I smiled softly.
“Poor people often have reasons for their pain.
“Sweetheart, everyone’s life is different. Maybe she doesn’t like her mom watching over her.”
Those words reached Michelle’s ears, and she broke down crying.
#1
I chose to leave with Arnold and move abroad.
The Howell family business was handed over to Orlando.
At the airport, I glanced back at the city that brought me so much pain, overwhelmed with emotion.
Thankfully, a new life was about to begin.
