Chapter 91
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The steel coil, driven by inertia, rolled rapidly toward Nathaniel’s car.
I watched, panic–stricken, as Nathaniel stood with his back to it, unaware of the danger.”
As I ran toward him, I shouted the word “Watch out!” with all my strength.”
Nathaniel was unharmed.”
The moment he heard my warning, he instinctively turned sideways.”
The massive steel coil crashed into the car door, crushing it, then came to a stop.
Terrified, I rushed over and threw my arms around him, only one thought echoing in my mind: I couldn’t afford to lose another loved
one.”
The next time I visited Damien, I didn’t bring my sketchpad.M
I picked up the receiver, looked him in the eyes and spoke slowly and clearly, “Damien, I’m getting married. So from now on, don’t look for me again. I won’t come to see you anymore either.“}]
Watching the joy in his eyes ignite the moment he heard my voice, only to see it shatter completely with my words, I felt a fleeting, twisted sense of revenge.”
His eyes reddened and his trembling fingers pressed against the glass.
In that moment, he was overwhelmed with regret that he insisted on proposing 520 times before finally registering our marriage. “No, Elena… You’re my wife. Please don’t marry someone else. I’m begging you.”
I curled my lips into a cold smile and pushed even harder.”
“Damien, you should’ve known long ago that there’s no future for us.”
“All these years, every time I close my eyes, I see the image of Lily’s tragic death. Tell me, how am I supposed to carry that and still be with you?”
Damien was speechless. His face turned paler by the second.”
After a long time, his hand holding the phone slowly dropped in defeat. I hung up and walked out of the prison.”
Nathaniel was waiting outside on his bicycle.
This time, I had brought him here.
Damien was dead.
He had bribed a few people through Marcus and during yard time, he used a sharpened toothbrush to stab four men.”
In the end, he tried to escape. He was shot and killed.
When Marcus came to find me, I was trying on wedding dresses with Nathaniel.
His gaze swept past Nathaniel before he threw Damien’s final letter into my arms.”
“My brother entrusted me with one last task and I’ll see it through. As for you… from now on, let’s consider everything settled. My brother owes you nothing.“”
i didn’t open Damien’s letter.”
I lit a match and tossed it, burning the letter as it disappeared into the sewer.}]
At this point, whatever he said no longer mattered. Just like Marcus said, we’re even now.”
That night, I climbed into Nathaniel’s bed. I wanted to kiss him, but he firmly held me against his chest.
“Elena, don’t always try to seduce me when you’re sad.”
I clutched the hem of his shirt and burrowed deeper into his embrace.
“Nathaniel… do you think I’m a bad woman?”
He sighed softly and kissed the center of my brow.
“I knew you’d start overthinking again. Silly girl, there’s no rule in this world that says you must be a good person. If being good makes you miserable, then I’d rather you be bad.“>
That’s Nathaniel, a man who wore his devotion on his sleeve, unapologetically and completely.“]
Yes. For those three years, every visit to Damien was part of my deliberate scheme, a sunlit trap, laid out in the open.N
I purposely gave him the illusion of ambiguity, keeping him at arm’s length yet close enough to cling to hope. I wanted him unable to forget me, unable to let go.!
For three years, he floated between hope and despair, sometimes certain, sometimes doubting himself all over again.N
Until that day.”
The moment I told him I was getting married, it was like delivering a death sentence.
Everything he’d built–those fragile hopes he clung to- shattered instantly.
And then, I twisted the knife deeper. I brought up my sister’s tragic death again, made it clear I hadn’t moved on, couldn’t move on.!!
bronse Was My Family’s Funeral
5:37 AM M
I suspected Damien might do something drastic. But I wasn’t entirely sure.”
The human heart… was the most unpredictable thing of all.
Fortunately, Damien understood.”
He knew exactly what I wanted. So he did it.
If Vanessa hadn’t been locked away in a women’s prison, I had no doubt, he would’ve gone after her, too.
But it didn’t matter. He had asked the all–powerful Marcus to help him.
Later, I heard Vanessa lived miserably in prison.
She was frequently bullied.”
Even when her leg was broken, she didn’t dare say she was beaten, only dared claim she had fallen.§
On the day Vanessa was released from prison, Nathaniel and I welcomed our first child into the world.”
She had a hint of Lily in her eyes and expression, so I named her Lyla to remember Lily.”
Nathaniel had no objections at all.”
When Lyla turned a month old, the internet was buzzing with the shocking news of Vanessa’s death.”
She had died terribly.”
In a neon–lit alley, barely clothed, her body bore twelve knife wounds of varying depth, but not a single one was fatal.”
Which meant… she bled to death, slowly and painfully.
The murderer, once caught, simply said. “She bit me and cursed at me. So, I was pissed off and stabbed her.“”
As for how every stab avoided a vital spot, the few involved only insisted it was pure coincidence.
Whether it truly was a coincidence… that answer no longer mattered to me.”
Nathaniel and I took our daughter up the mountain to visit the graves, then descended at sunset, wrapped in the golden light.” From that day forward, no more regrets in morning or evening, a life remembered in calm and peace.
(The End)
