Chapter 17
Dragging her still–recovering and sickly body with a swollen face, Delilah waited outside the villa all night but couldn’t get in.
The cold autumn wind dispersed most of her fury.
By dawn, her fever had returned. Delilah curled up on the stone steps, sobbing and whimpering. She sent Cassian a stream of pitiful messages.
He didn’t reply to a single one.[]
It wasn’t until noon the next day that the heavy doors finally creaked open.
The sound of the door woke Delilah. She groggily opened her eyes and saw Cassian about to get in his car. She struggled to stand up and grabbed his hand.[]
Those eyes that usually evoked pity filled with tears again, her voice utterly mournful.]
“Cassian, look at my face–Seraphina hit me. She even said if I dared tell on her to you, she’d teach me another lesson. Wah!”
Cassian looked at her coldly, his tone devoid of its usual indulgence and tolerance.
“So she hit you. You probably deserved it. And don’t you ever go near her again. Got it?”
His dismissive attitude was nothing like what Delilah had imagined.
She was stunned, her face full of disbelief.]
“Cassian, what’s wrong with you? You say you’d spoil me for
Hearing her deliberately squeezed–out crying voice, disgust flashed in Cassian’s eyes. He yanked his hand away and pushed her back.
“I was just playing around with you. Did you actually take it seriously? Delilah. It Seraphina.
was
୧
stupid fling. You’re not the one I love. You never were. It’s always been
That one sentence shattered all of Delilah’s hopes.]
Unable to accept this reality, she could no longer maintain that pitiful facade and started screaming.
“You’re lying! You’re fucking lying! Cassian, get it straight–I’m the one you should like! If you really loved Seraphina, why didn’t you react at all when I hit her? Why did you leave her behind countless times to stay with me?“[]
Cassian clenched his fists. His chest burned.]
Images flashed through his mind.[]
The drowning at the bridge, the calendar in the villa, the argument at the auction house…
In every single one of them, she looked so alone. And he could see the disappointment in her eyes that she couldn’t hide.[]
༨ ཅ་རྗ་ཥཾ་ཇ་ཙ་ཇི་རྗ ེ
Only now–after losing her completely–did it hit him. How much he’d destroyed her.[]
Regret crashed over him like a tidal wave, completely drowning him.[]
He didn’t want to hear Delilah bring up these old wounds anymore, but she kept going like a burst dam.]
“Even if you were just acting, Cassian, you’ve gotten into character now. You wouldn’t have divorced her if you didn’t love me. Admit it–you wanted me![]
The word “divorce” awakened those brutal truths that Cassian had temporarily forgotten.[]
All his rationality collapsed in that moment.]
He lost control and grabbed Delilah’s thin neck, the veins on the back of his hand bulging from the excessive force.
Her face turned red, then purple []
Delilah struggled desperately but couldn’t fight against his brute strength. She could only stare wide–eyed, feeling the air gradually leaving her lungs
Just when she thought the was going to die there today, Cassian finally let gol
She collapard to the ground like a broken doll.]
Cassian didn’t look at her again, leaving her for his assistant to handle ]
“Get rid of her I never want to see her face again.
