Chapter 2
He had mistaken her for someone else.
A sharp pain stabbed through Amelia’s chest, and she stared hard at the man before her. “Do you really love her that much?”
Owen did not respond. Instead, he drew her closer, his grip tightening behind her head as he kissed her with an almost violent ferocity.
His fingers tangled in her hair, and his breath was hot against her cheek. The car door was shut tight behind her. There was nowhere to retreat, and she could only close her eyes and endure it.
When the kiss was finally over, he mumbled on her lips, still in a drunken haze. “Don’t leave me.”
Amelia slowly closed her eyes. After a long silence, she pulled a document from a folder and held it up to him.
“If you don’t want me to leave, sign this.”
He blinked at her, his vision blurry. She knew he was looking at someone else through her. But in the end, he signed the paper.
“Owen, after the one–month cooling–off period, we’ll both finally be free once we get the divorce certificate.”
She let out a bitter chuckle and stared at the divorce agreement with his signature. Her mind raced frantically.
Moonlight streamed softly into the car, and in that moment, she suddenly recalled the first time she met Owen.
294 Pauschers
Chapter 2
It had been during a high–profile inter–state case.
She had just won a major lawsuit while the defendant had lost badly. As she walked out of the courthouse, a man rushed at her and grabbed her by the throat in a rage.”
Just as she was choking for air, a hand clamped down on the attacker’s wrist with such force she could hear bones crack.
“Are you trying to add extra years to your sentence for committing violence outside of a courthouse?”
The voice was icy and harsh, like a razor slashing her eardrum.
When Amelia looked up, she was met with a pair of dark, piercing eyes.
She felt her heart skip a beat at that moment.
Later, she discovered that the man who saved her was none other than her most formidable opponent in the legal world, Owen Hayes.
From that moment on, she began taking frequent work trips to Houston.
She saw him in court, silencing his opponents with razor–sharp arguments. Later, she noticed him standing by the window, smoking quietly in deep thought.
She even started attending the social clubs he frequented. However, he never recognized her.
Until one night, she found him completely wasted in a pub.
Owen gripped her wrist, his voice raspy. “Why do you have to leave?”
“She had no idea what he meant, but he pulled her into a furious kiss before she could process his words. ”
They slept together that night.
The next morning, he stared at the bloodstain on the sheets for a long time and said nothing.
“I’ll take responsibility. Let’s get married.” he eventually said.
Amelia was silent for a long time before nodding. Hence, she quit her work. hid her identity, and married him.
After the wedding, he remained cold and distant. He had barely home and never touched her again.
She thought it was just his nature. So she poured all her tenderness into trying to warm his heart.
Until one day, she found a photo in his study.
It was of a woman in a white dress standing on a bridge in Cambridge. her smile so dazzling it was nearly blinding.
A few words were written on the back of the photo that tore Amelia’s heart apart.
“If I can’t marry you, then who I marry doesn’t matter.”
Only later did she learn that the woman was Owen’s first love, a famous pianist named Melissa Todd.
After graduating, Melissa chose to study abroad and broke up with him. Years had passed, but he never let her go. The night Owen got drunk was the day when he found out she had a new boyfriend overseas.
In the three years that they were married, Amelia had seen him scowl at the birthday cakes she baked with care. She had watched him toss her thoughtfully prepared dinners straight into the trash. She had even stood on the side of the highway–in pain, during her period–after he
Chapter 2
abandoned her upon hearing that Melissa was flying back to the States.
That was the moment when her heart finally went cold.
***
After putting the divorce papers into her bag, she drove home.
She helped him back to his room, then spent the night packing.
The next morning, Owen woke with a pounding hangover, and the first thing he saw was a floor full of suitcases.
He frowned and asked coldly, “What are you doing?”
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