Chapter 4%
It felt like a thousand thoms stabbing into my chest, each one whispering a cruel truth. Just as you wished, Elnic Solvain. Soon, I’ll vanish from your world forever!
In a daze, Elric brought me back to what used to be our home.
The engagement photo of us that once hung proudly in the living room had already been replaced. In its place hung a new frame: Roselyn Morven, glowing with matemal pride, gently cradling her pregnant belly
The master bedroom, once filled with warmth and memories of us, was now littered with Roselyn’s lingerie.l
It was not hard to imagine what had gone on in that bed while I lay unconscious on the operating table.8
The scars on my body–left behind by those thugs–began to throb and sting. My throat, still raw from injury, ached as I swallowed my sorrow and watched Roselyn feign concem, running a hand over her belly like a sacred relic.il
“Clric, my mom’s coming over soon,” she said gently. “Maybe the baby and I should move out for now… give you and Eloise some space.“)
Elric’s expression shifted. Without a word, he seized my arm and dragged me downstairs, shoving me into the cold underground basement, locking the door behind us.
“Eloise, you were living here first before Rosie and I got engaged,”
Seeing the rage in my eyes, Elric, for once, actually opened his mouth to explain himself, “Rosie gave me her first time. The pregnancy was an accident. But I’ve always thought of her like a sister.”
“The wedding is a front. She needed a way out of an arranged marriage. After the ceremony. I’ll take you to register our marriage.“8. He added without flinching. “There’s no need to overreact. I can hold a private wedding just for you.”
Ilstared at him, my face ashen, the bitter taste of blood rising from my damaged throat.
A sister he ended up in bad with?”
That was just an excuse. An elaborate cover for the fact that Roselyn was not Elowen’s real daughter–I was. I was the one being hidden away.
Besides E
I sneered silently to mysell.
Roselyn Morven was no innocent Even back in school, she had checked into hotels with male classmates more than once. And now she dared to claim she gave her first time to him?8
After Elric left, I rummaged through an old storage box and found my satellite phone. I typed out a message to Owen Rosmere–my closest friend and the commander of a top tier covert unit between Washington and New York.
[Are you sure you’re cleared for the confidential mission and leaving tomorrow?
[Yeah, I am.]
Just as I tucked the phone away, a sudden downpour began thundering above me.
I glanced up and noticed the skylight slightly open.
Roselyn leaned over it, her lips curled into a faint, mocking smile.
Then, she flung the window wide open.
Water poured in like a curse from the heavens. It soaked the floor, crept up my ankles, chilled my bones. I screamed soundlessly and banged on the locked door, desperately searching for help.
Finally, the door opened+but before I could escape, Roselyn stormed in and grabbed me by the throat, right where my injuries had not yet healed. I shoved her away on instinct.E
She let out a shrill scream and collapsed, clutching her stomach in exaggerated agony.
Elric burst into the room just in time to see her collapse. Without even asking what happened, he kicked me hard and I crashed to the floor!
“Rosie is pregnant! How dare you touch her?“!
My adoptive mother rushed in and, without a second thought, began slapping me across the face until it swelled.
“You’re trying to ruin her wedding tomorrow? You ungrateful bitch! I mised you for nothing!”
Roselyn whimpered, crocodile tears brimming in her eyes.
“If I hadn’t gotten pregnant after my first time, I wouldn’t have dared to take Eloise’s place as Elric’s bride_”
“I just wanted our baby to witness the wedding. I never thought Eloise would hate us so much she’d try to hurt us both…”
Her words sent my adoptive mother into a fit of rage.
I scrambled toward my writing board to explain the truth, but no one cared. I could have been a shadow on the wall for all they noticed. Elric ripped the board from my hands, smashed it and delivered another brutal kick to my abdomen.
“What the hell are you trying to explain? You think Rosie would use her own child to frame you?” he spat. “Women like you are the most heartless of all
I looked down. A pool of blood was spreading beneath me, soaking into the hem of my skirt. My heart sank into a cold, silent void.
But Elric did not know the truth. He had no idea that the night he thought he slept with Roselyn overseas… it had actually been me. However, he had chosen her lies over my truth–every single time.
4.48 PM
