Chapter 9.
Outside, the ocean wind sounded like howling.
I looked into his eyes, full of shattered light, and said softly, “Let me go.”
His whole body trembled, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles went white. After what felt like a lifetime, he finally choked out a rough,
broken voice. “Okay… I’ll let you go.”
When Nessa found out something happened to me at the hospital, she freaked out and nearly caught the next flight. She saw me sitting by myself on a bench in the arrivals hall.
She ran over, checked me from head to toe in a panic, then wrapped her arms around me and sobbed. “They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”
I gave her a few pats on the back. “I’m fine now.”
She was still crying. “I really thought those two lunatics wouldn’t stop until they’d skinned you alive. They just let you go?”
“Yeah.”
I thought for a second. “Maybe they were hoping to accumulate some good karma.”
After that, the Greyson brothers vanished from my life.
Nessa and I lived together. Life was simple and happy. Occasionally, I’d hear updates from back home. After Vina’s family went bankrupt, she tried to get an old suitor to take care of her debts. But then, her sick pranks were anonymously exposed. The mother of the girl who jumped from the building found her and threw a cup of corrosive liquid in her
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face.
The Greyson Group was still caught up in constant power struggles. Rumor had it, Kellan never stopped trying to find me.
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But later, I heard he got into a strange car accident, his spine was injured, and he’d be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Three years passed.
I was walking in the park, holding hands with my three–year–old daughter.
I ran into Rylan.
The moment he saw the little girl in overalls bouncing around beside me, his eyes lit up. His voice trembled just slightly. “Alyssa… is she…”
I cut him off. “She’s not yours. I’m married.”
He froze, and in an instant, the light in his eyes went out, like all the strength had been drained from him. After a long silence, he forced a smile. “Yeah… that’s great.” He turned away, almost stumbling, and quickly disappeared down the tree–lined path.
I finally exhaled.
The truth was, I never got married.
That day outside the operating room, I hesitated for hours, but in the end, I couldn’t go through with it. As the days passed, the child grew up. Her features looked more and more like Rylan’s.
Of course, he noticed that.
All these years, I had been getting regular deposits from an anonymous account. Enough to live comfortably.
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Chapter 9
But he never showed up.
One morning, I stayed in bed.
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The little one dressed herself, put on her backpack, and came over to pat me on the bed. “Mommy, I’m going to preschool now!”
Half–asleep, I gave her a kiss. “Sweetheart, don’t forget to bring me some crepes with extra chocolate sauce after school.”
She giggled. “Got it, greedy Mommy!”
Side Story
Rylan’s POV
The day Rylan let Alyssa go, there were so many things he wanted to say, but the words got stuck in his throat.
At first, he was following Vina’s plan. He was supposed to drag Alyssa down and watch her fall.
But Alyssa was just so quiet. Even when she cried, it was like a kitten softly whimpering. And every time she cried, something inside twisted with her.
All those dirty jokes about her body–they were just trash talk at first. But later on, they just made him feel sick.
He sank deeper and deeper into the sweet lie he’d created, trying hard to be good to her, hoping the act would turn into something real.
But he couldn’t tell…. Was the light in Alyssa’s eyes meant for Kellan or for Rylan?
At one point, he even thought–pathetically, selfishly–maybe if she had his child, she wouldn’t leave.
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That was the only leverage he had.
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On the day of the “engagement,” he hoped she’d choose him after learning the truth, but he also feared her eyes would be filled with nothing but
hatred once it was revealed.
He’d pictured it before, when everything came to light, he’d hold her hand and tell the world he loved her.
But the day he found out Alyssa had gone in for an abortion, Kellan completely lost it. He grabbed Rylan by the throat, eyes wild with rage. “Who gave you the right to touch her?!” He had never seen Kellan lose his mind like that before.
He figured Kellan probably loved her too.
The two of them really had it coming.
Rylan had wanted to tell Alyssa that he lied about everything, but loving her was the one thing that was real.
But in the end, the words never came out.
There was no point letting her hear about a love that was so twisted and filthy.
For the rest of her life, she should live in the sunshine, walking a path
lined with flowers.
There shouldn’t be someone dirty and dangerous like him on that road.
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