Chapter 9
When I calmly and clearly told the doctor at the prestigious hospital “I’ve decided to terminate the pregnancy,” David stood right outside the door.
He smashed everything within reach, silencing the doctors and nurses.
Yet ultimately, he didn’t burst in to stop me.
Perhaps what remained of his pride wouldn’t allow him to cause a scene in a hospital.
Or perhaps he finally realized that while power could cage my body, it couldn’t force my heart to accept this life.
The procedure went smoothly.
As cold steel entered my body, I didn’t cry–only numbness filled me, as if my soul had been completely stripped away, and a strange calm settled like dust.
The physical pain paled against the frozen wasteland that had long claimed my heart.
When I was wheeled out of the operating room, pale as paper, David still stood at the end of the corridor.
His back was to me, silhouette starkly lonely under harsh fluorescent lights. Hearing movement, he whirled around, and our eyes met.
Finally, without a word, he turned and left.
And I walked back toward my own future.
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Later, at a physics competition, I ran into an old friend and learned Edward had been sentenced to fifteen years for multiple crimes: bigamy, commercial fraud, and coercion–all charges backed by irrefutable
evidence.
Though Samantha’s accusations were later proven false, his long–term cohabitation with her as husband and wife remained fact. Her fraud against the Carters sealed her fate.
My friend said Edward suffered terribly in prison under David’s “special attention.”
Gone was his aloof, untouchable aura; now he was gaunt and withdrawn.
During rare outdoor breaks, he’d stare blankly at the sky beyond the walls.
He’d serve his long sentence in bitter regret, emerging an old man–alone,
destitute.
As for Samantha? Her fate proved equally grim.
After her parents‘ downfall, the Rodriguez family collapsed, leaving her without support.
Her tearful accusations initially won some sympathy, but as Edward’s case unfolded–especially when David ruthlessly exposed her chaotic romantic history, extortion attempts, and involvement in Edward’s fraud–public opinion turned.
She became a universally despised “vile woman,” a “scheming bitch.”
Ruined and untouchable, no man dared associate with her.
She tried leveraging her fading beauty to latch onto other wealthy men, only to face humiliation.
After squandering the money she’d swindled from Edward, she scraped
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Chapter 9
through disreputable means.
Finally, on a freezing winter night, she w
Finally, on a freezing winter night, she was found dead from an overdose
in a cheap rental room–her end as wretched as her life.
The beauty, status, and wealth she cherished most all slipped through her fingers.
After speaking with my friend, I took my hard–earned trophy back to Scenic Riverside Town and reopened my little shop.
The road ahead might still be uncertain, but at least the could finally blow toward me–unhindered.
