Chapter 21
There was nothing more devastating in this world than this. When she loved him, he was too blind, too slow to realize he loved her too. And by the time he finally understood, by the time he was ready to tear his heart out and give it to her, she looked him in the eyes and said she didn’t love him anymore.
The pain hit so suddenly and violently that Damien clutched his chest and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Everyone was stunned. Aurelia instinctively started to rush toward him, but she stopped herself, forcing her feet to stay planted–because she had already moved
- on.
From that moment on, no matter what became of Damien, it was no longer her concern.
Damien let out a wild, broken laugh, blood trickling from the comer of his lips, his face as pale as death. “I really am the biggest fool in the world!”
Still laughing, he turned and walked away from the Vance residence, staggering one step at a time.
As for Sloane, she was thrown out by the maids. But Owen stayed.
“Mr. Vance, I did what you asked of me,” Owen said calmly. “You asked one thing of me, and I fulfilled it. I love Aury more than anyone else ever could. I’d give my life for her if I had to. I just didn’t love her the right way. My love was selfish… and far from honorable. That’s why I lost.
“But I never once hurt Aury. Every time she was upset, I was the first to comfort her. When she was unhappy, I did everything I could to make her smile. Honestly, if it meant seeing her laugh, even for a second, I’d take a knife to the gut without blinking.”
A single tear slid down his cheek as his voice began to break. “Maybe none of you believe me. But Aury was always my lifeline. I’m a bastard child. My mother died giving birth to me, and when my father finally brought me home, he didn’t love me. He didn’t want me at all.
“He and his wife used to beat me and scream at me every single day. One day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I ran away. I wandered the streets for who knows how long before the police picked me up and sent me to an orphanage.
“I really thought I’d spend the rest of my life drifting through the cracks… until the day you showed up at that orphanage, Aury. You were like an angel–so beautiful and so pure. When you walked up to me, I honestly thought I was dreaming.
Then you took my hand, Aury,” Owen said softly. “You looked at me and said, ‘Let’s go home.‘ And at that moment, I knew you were there to pull me out of the darkness.”
Owen had always been a master of lies. He could tell in an instant who was telling the truth and who wasn’t.
Sloane had once tried to fool him with sweet words too. But he hadn’t fallen for it. In fact, he’d turned the tables and played her instead.
But the moment Aurelia got close to him, he knew–she wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t lie to him. She wasn’t like them, the ones who crawled through life’s filth. She was too pure and too good.
࿄ ལ ཅ ཏུ ཟའྀ ཕ མརྗ གི ཟ བཅ
he’d wish hesita
How could he not fall for her? If she ever saw him as a“brother” again, he’d do anything for her without hesitation.
“Mr. Vance, I don’t want to leave,” Owen said, looking Harrison in the eye. “Even if Aury doesn’t choose me in the end, I still want to stay and protect her. I’ll be her number two for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes.
“Please, let me stay. I’ll help run Vance Group. I don’t need to be the heir. I just want to be the one who keeps everything together for her.” His words finally broke through.
Harrison remained silent for a long moment before giving a heavy nod. He agreed to take Owen in as an Owen was the only one who had truly loved Aurelia.
“But what about Sloane?” someone whispered. “Letting her walk away like that feels too easy.”
Aurelia’s lips curled into a cold smile.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I don’t need to lift a finger.”
adopted son and allow him to stay. Because in the end,
After all, Damien and the other five child husbands weren’t exactly the forgiving type. With h Sloane had lied to them, there was no way they were going
to let her off easy.
So, Aurelia didn’t have to lift a finger. She just had to stand on the sidelines and watch it all go up in flames.
