Chapter 10
My heart contracted violently. He… remembered?
Xavier threw off his covers and yanked out his IV, his knees hitting the cold tile floor as he knelt
before me.
“Aria! I’m truly sorry! I was blinded and deceived! I hurt you so badly!”
My throat tightened with emotion, and I finally spoke:
“Xavier! Do you have ANY idea how fucking desperate I was?!”
Memories flooded back like a tidal wave, as if I was transported to that rooftop again.
“They cut off my fingers one by one,” I unconsciously raised my right hand–perfectly intact in this life but still phantom pain lingered from before.
“I waited twenty–four hours for you. But what did you do? You took away all my bodyguards to accompany your precious cousin shopping!”
Xavier jerked his head up, his face ashen. His lips trembled, but no words came out.
“Eventually, I couldn’t bear the pain anymore,” my voice suddenly became eerily calm. “I jumped from the rooftop.”
The air in the hospital room seemed to solidify.
“Back then, in my belly,” I gently pressed my abdomen, “was our three–month–old baby. I never got the chance to tell you.”
Xavier’s expression crumbled completely. He froze as if struck by lightning. Then, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.
The sharp sound echoed through the room.
But he didn’t stop–again and again, as if trying to beat himself to death. Soon, his cheek swelled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
“Aria, I’m sorry!” His voice shattered like broken glass. “Please, can you forgive me?!”
15:20
Chapter 10
He shuffled forward on his knees, trying to grasp the hem of my dress.
I stepped back, avoiding his touch.
“Forgiveness?” I heard myself laugh coldly. “Xavier, do you know what it feels like to have your fingers cut off one by one? Do you know the despair I felt when the kidnappers called every hour, and you never answered?”
“It was raining that night,” I continued, my voice so soft it sounded like I was telling someone else’s story. “I dragged myself with my mutilated hands to the edge of the roof. It was so cold, unbearably cold, but when I thought about how death meant I wouldn’t have to wait for your call anymore, I
felt… relieved.”
Xavier let out an inhuman wail, curling into a ball, his forehead repeatedly striking the floor.
“Aria, I’m so goddamn sorry! I’m fucking scum! I killed you and our baby! Aria! Please! Can you ever
forgive me?!”
“I’ll change, I promise! Give me a chance to make it up to you!” He raised his bloodshot eyes, lips trembling uncontrollably. “This time, I swear I won’t…”
“There is no ‘this time,” I cut him off. “From the moment you chose to believe your cousin over me,
we were finished. In both lifetimes.”
I turned and pulled open the hospital room door. Behind me, his agonized cry echoed down the
corridor: “Aria! Don’t go! Please!”
I didn’t look back.
From inside the room, Xavier’s muffled sobs continued intermittently.
A year later, at my daughter’s one–month celebration, I received a package.
Inside was all of Xavier’s savings and a yellowed photograph.
In the picture, twelve–year–old me was smiling as I handed Xavier a birthday cake. And in the corner, Dominic stood clutching a pile of gifts, his eyes secretly watching me.
“What are you looking at?” Dominic approached, cradling our daughter.
“Nothing important,” I replied softly.
15:20
Dump the Toxic Ex. Marry the Hot Fake–Dead Hunk
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Later, I heard Xavier became permanently paralyzed. He moved to a small town in South America where it rains year–round.
Meanwhile, my life had finally become as soft and complete as the baby girl in my arms.
