Chapter 3
Something was wrong with the drink!
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, and I found myself crouched in a bathroom stall, vision blurring.
I dialed Arthur’s number over and over again, but it went straight to voicemail.
Panic clawed at my throat. Who could I trust?
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Footsteps hurried past the stall, then stopped right outside my door.
A chilling voice slithered through the cracks. “Found you.”
I screamed, but my cries were met with silence..
The flimsy stall door burst open, and a hulking, bearded man barged in.
I swung my stiletto heel with all my might, but it was no use.
He clamped a hand over my mouth, his other hand roaming my body with disgusting familiarity.
His lips trailed down my neck, leaving a sickeningly wet path.
Just as despair began to consume me, Arthur’s voice suddenly
Chapter 3
broke through from the other side of the door.
“I’ll send Aria away. You don’t have to worry about it.”
My heart skipped a beat.
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“Can you really let her go? After all these years,” Grace’s sweet voice echoed.
“You know better than anyone how I feel about that.”
“I can tell that girl still wants to marry you.”
“Hah, maybe in the next life.”
The sound of passionate kissing erupted from behind the door.
I let out a bitter laugh as tears streamed down my face.
Just a wall away, yet one side was hell, the other heaven.
A sharp pain suddenly shot through my abdomen, and blood pooled around me on the floor.
A muffled cry of agony escaped through the man’s palm pressed against my mouth. “Mmph…”
Outside, Arthur suddenly snapped to attention and kicked the bathroom door open.
He found me collapsed on the floor, clothes partially torn, in a pitiful state.
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His eyes blazed with fury as he slammed the man’s head against
the sink.
Again and again, each impact drew more blood.
He attacked like a man possessed. No one dared approach him,
not even Grace.
He held me close, my blood staining his clothes, but he didn’t
seem to care.
“Find out who did this! Now!” His voice was raw with fury.
“Where’s the doctor? Get a doctor here!”
He ran like a madman, searching for a doctor, holding me tightly in his arms.
As I drifted off to sleep, the last thought that flickered through my mind was the loss of our child.
Arthur and I were truly over.
From that day forward, Arthur confined me to the villa, refusing to let me step outside.
Even for a casual stroll, he insisted on having me constantly watched.
But I didn’t want to drown in this kind of suffocating care anymore. I had to leave.
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The flight was scheduled for tonight. If I missed it, who knew when the next chance would come?
I reached the door, and Arthur’s domineering voice boomed from behind.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I took a deep breath. “Arthur, you can’t keep me locked up like this forever.”
“You know I can.”
My hands clenched into fists, knuckles bone white. “I love you,” I choked out.
He froze. “What?”
I locked eyes with him, forcing the words out.
“I said, I love you.
“Being near you, all I can think about is touching you, kissing you, being with you as your lover.
“You think that night was a mistake? I planned it. I thought, if you fell for my body, maybe you’d…”
Arthur’s face darkened. “Shut up!” he roared.
I stood frozen as he stormed toward me.
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“I raised you for twelve years. Was it for you to throw away your self–respect, your self–worth like this?
“I will never love you. We have no future. Give up.”
See?
I didn’t need any tricks.
All it took was baring my heart, and he recoiled.
A bitter smile twisted my lips as I watched him walk away.
Kelly watched all this, her heart aching. “Ms. Birch,” she said,
‘why are you hurting yourself like this?”
I shook my head and went back to my room.
I didn’t bring a single gift Arthur had given me over the years.
To keep Arthur from finding me, I faked my death.
The fake me died in a car crash explosion.
The real me boarded a plane to a faraway place.
Goodbye, Arthur.
Goodbye forever…
