Chapter 7.
I stayed in the hospital for a while. My legs had basically regained feeling, and I only needed regular check–ups.
After being discharged, I rented a small villa in the suburbs.
Once I finished cleaning up the place, I turned on my old phone.
News notifications from LA started flooding in, one after another.
I clicked to take a look.It was all about the Ravenscroft Group’s troubles.
Headlines claimed the CEO was a suspected psychopath who’d abused his wife for eight years, deliberately causing her miscarriages.
Reports said Ravenscroft Group had lost its core technology, stocks were in free fall, projects were pulling out left and right, and the company was facing bankruptcy.
There was another story I clicked on briefly.
Ashley Green was suing the Ravenscroft CEO in court, claiming he’d gone back on his word about the shares he’d promised her, trying to take them back under the excuse that they weren’t legally
notarized.
Nobody fucks around when it comes to money.
When you’re desperate enough, even Dante wouldn’t let sentiment get in the way.
As for Ashley, she’d always been after the money. Dante taking back those shares was basically a
leath sentence for her–of course they’d go for each other’s throats.
Combined with the online rumors about Dante abusing his wife, people figured out Ashley was the
nistress.
nterneters exploded with condemnation of both of them.
That’s when Ravenscroft CEO Dante posted a clarification from his personal account.
He claimed his heart belonged only to his wife, Celia Ashford.
20:15
Seven Heartbeats of Silence: Drag You to Hell. Crown Myself Queen
5.14
Chapter 7
This statement sent public opinion into overdrive.
Some netizens even dug up evidence that he’d deliberately murdered his own unborn children–seven times–just so he could use the fetuses for his mistress’s experiments.
The story was so fucked up that many people thought it had to be fake news.
But then nurses and doctors started coming forward anonymously, confirming the details from multiple angles.
Public outrage reached a boiling point.
Some people raised doubts–if this was real, it was criminal, and the officers should’ve arrested them already.
Just as the online discussion was starting to die down, Ashley and Dante were summoned to court.
Suddenly everyone had theories.
Some people even speculated that since I hadn’t shown my face in so long, they’d probably already murdered me and dumped the body.
I laughed and closed the page.
Opening my messaging app, I found that Dante had sent me tons of messages from other people’s
accounts.
I skimmed through them.
All apologies and begging for forgiveness.He said he didn’t know what he had until he lost it.
Said he really loved me.
But now I thought he was full of shit.It was he who chose to hurt and deceive me, again and again.
When he realized I’d discovered the truth and left, he didn’t have some profound awakening.
It was only when he was backed into a corner that he started claiming he’d discovered he loved me all along.
His love sure came with a hell of a price tag,
20:15
Seven Heartbeats of Silence: Drag You to Hell, Crown Myself Queen
5.3
Chapter 7
I couldn’t afford it, and I wouldn’t dare try.
After being summoned to court, Dante chose to post bail.He stood at the door of what used to be his home, looking completely defeated.
Only now did he realize how fucking happy he’d been before.
A thriving business, a wife who loved him, and they would have had… adorable babies.
All of it destroyed by his misguided obsession.
Before all this happened, he thought he really loved Ashley.
But after everything that had gone down, he finally understood–he’d just enjoyed being the center of
someone’s world.
He sat on the doorstep, his mind flooding with memories of my every smile and laugh.
used to smile so much. When did I stop smiling altogether?
Maybe it was because of his downfall, or maybe he really had fallen in love with me without realizing it.
All he knew was that he missed me desperately now.
Dante pulled out his phone, desperate to tell me he knew he’d fucked up.
To tell me how much he missed me, how much he loved me.
3ut Ashley’s call came through first.She was apologizing to him. ‘
Blaming everything on me.
‘Dante, even if Celia did terrible things, don’t divorce her. Look at this mess we’re in–none of us can stay save.”
‘Whether we divorce depends on what Celia wants. I want to try to win her back too.”
‘What does she mean? Was she crazy in love with you?Give her some sweet talk and get her to drop the charges.”
For the first time, Dante thought Ashley’s naivety was fucking idiotic.
20:15
Seven Heartbeats of Silenes: Desa Vou to Holl
Chapter 7
He laughed“You should face the consequences when you do something wrong.If you want her forgiveness, go ask her yourself.”
Ashley panicked.
“You did all that shit, not me! I’m not throwing my whole life away. Dante, don’t forget–your heir is still in my hands. If you don’t get Celia to drop the charges, I’ll kill him. None of us will be happy!”
“Go ahead and kill him then. I’ve already lost so many kids, what’s one more?”
With that, Dante hung up.
He sat on the villa’s doorstep, looking up at the sky, a bitter smile playing on his lips.
But as he smiled, tears started falling.
20:15
