Chapter 11
I grabbed Brandon by the collar and shoved him to the ground. The bodyguards around him stepped forward, but he raised his hands, halting them.
He looked up at me, disbelief and pain in his eyes.
“You lied to me, didn’t you? How could Tyrone dis?”
I stared at him coldly, my voice sharp as ice.
“I begged you over and over, but you refused to listen. Tyrone wasn’t killed by Marilyn–he war killed by you.
“He called you his brother–in–law for years. He protected you when your life was on the line. And you… you’re so cruel,”
“No, no, it’s not like that…”
Brandon collapsed to his knees, crawling to me and clutching my legs desperately.
“Anna, I know I was wrong. I was fooled by that lying witch Marilyn. Please forgive me—I make it up to you, I swear!”
Without hesitation, I slapped him hard across the face.
“Sorry. You can’t make up for this.”
Mathew, standing beside me, kicked Brandon away and took my arm, pulling me toward the exit.
Brandon dropped to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly, his voice frantic and broken.
“Anna, I beg you–I’ll repay everything I owe. Please don’t leave me!”
I looked down coldly, my voice low and steady.
“And what about my brother’s life? How do you plan to pay for that?”
He froze, a flicker of hopelessness flashing in his eyes.
The dead cannot be brought back.
This debt will never be repaid.
I sneered and turned away with Mathew.
Then, suddenly, I heard him say,
“Anna… what about this?”
spun around. To everyone’s horror, Brandon had plunged a table knife deep into his chest. Blood poured out, and screams echoed around us.
But he smiled faintly, locking eyes with me.
“Can it be paid off like this?”
For a moment, I was stunned. Then, a cruel smile curled at my lips.
“No, It can’t. Because your life is worthless.”
Brandon collapsed with a heavy thud. Blood flooded the floor.
I heard the wail of the ambulance in the distance, but my gaze was fixed on Mathew’s steady figure beside me as we walked away.
Chapter 10
2/2
90.9%
8:05 pm GDDD
He survived but was sentenced to ten years for manslaughter. Marilyn got life imprisonment. Brandon’s company was plunged into scandal, his stock value crashing repeatedly. His second uncle called an emergency shareholders‘ meeting and demanded Brandon be removed as president.
When his mother tried to intervene, she was thrown out by the second uncle in disgrace.
Mathew and I got our marriage certificate. Meanwhile, Susanne, heartbroken, drowned her sorrows in alcohol at a bar–and was later picked up by gangsters.
She discovered she was pregnant but didn’t know who the father was. As her life spiraled, she beat the child, adopted a reckless lifestyle–smoky makeup, drinking, fleeting boyfriends–and eventually contracted AIDS.
When Brandon was released, he wanted to beg for my forgiveness, but his company was bankrupt. He lived in a rented shack with his sick mother, unable to find a job thanks to my
restrictions.
His mother fell gravely ill. He couldn’t afford medicine and watched helplessly as she died from
a heart attack.
He tried to reach out to me, but my bodyguards beat him half to death before he could get close. Jealous, Mathew once asked, “You loved him so much before. Can you really give him up now?”
I smiled softly, wrapping my arms around Mathew’s neck and kissing his cheek. “The person I love now is you. As for him? It’s all his fault.”
When I heard that Brandon’jumped from a building, Mathew and I were on vacation in Iceland.
He thought death would give him a second chance–a rebirth to start over with me.
I laughed bitterly, thinking he was foolish. Even if he had that chance, he wouldn’t keep his promises.
Under the shimmering Northern Lights, Mathew and I stood together beneath the starry sky and
made a wish:
May roses bloom in my desolate heart.
