Chapter 10
A
D
“Please, Ollie… let me prove it to you with time, okay?“>
Something inside me snapped.
I slapped her–hard. The sound cracked through the silence, followed by a stunned gasp from Sara.
Without another word, I slammed the door in her face.}
I didn’t know when they left. I didn’t care. When I finally stepped out the next morning, the street was quiet. No one was waiting.
But the moment I arrived at the research institute, a small figure darted into my arms. I instinctively caught her.”
Elise.
She looked up at me, her eyes bright despite the shadows beneath them.
“Daddy, is this where you work? Daddy is amazing.”
Her voice trembled with awe. She clung to my shirt like she’d never let go again.”
Before I could say anything, I saw Sara approaching. She was dressed in a white cocktail dress, the kind someone would wear to an engagement party. A delicate bouquet rested in one hand; a small, velvet box in the other.
She stopped a few feet away from us and opened the box. Inside, nestled in black satin, was a ring.}
“Ollie,” she said softly, “you once told me your biggest regret was that we never had a real proposal. So today, I’m making up for it.”
She knelt on one knee. Her voice shook, but her eyes locked onto mine, unflinching.
love you. Let’s get married–again. I’ll do it right this time. I’ll be the wife you deserve. I’ll be the mother Elise needs.“}
There was so much emotion in her face–hope, regret, desperation. It was almost enough to make me hesitate.}
Almost.
My thoughts drifted back to a quieter moment, years ago–Elise’s first steps. That day, Sara had looked at me with the same intensity, her voice just as full of conviction.
“Ollie, thank you. Really, thank you. Let’s live well together from now on.”
How easily she’d said that back then. How easily she broke it all.
I took a step back, creating space between us. My hands gently peeled Elise off my body and set her down.
“Sara,” I said, my voice even, “I already believed you once. I won’t believe you a second time.“>
Her face fell. The light in her eyes flickered and dimmed, like someone had pulled the sun out of the sky.
“Ollie… I know I was wrong. Why won’t you just believe me…”
I pulled my coat tighter against the morning chill.
“If you really feel sorry for me, then stop interfering in my life. Ten years, Sara. I don’t owe either of you anything anymore.“}
With that, I turned away and walked into the building, leaving them behind.
Later that day, my assistant handed me an envelope. Inside it was the signed divorce agreement. So in the end, Sara still let go. A month passed.
When the mandatory cooling–off period ended, I returned to finalize the paperwork. As I walked out of the registry office, newly divorced, my phone buzzed. News had already reached me bit by bit, but now it came all at once.
Sara had used every connection she had left to track down Francis. He’d fled again–but she caught him. Along with the woman he’d off with.
run
She’d cornered him with evidence of fraud and misappropriation–meticulously gathered, meticulously filed. She had them both arrested. Sentenced.
But the cost had already been paid.”
One night, Elise had called out for her father in her sleep. In a daze, she wandered out of the house and into the street. A car hit her. She was rushed to the hospital, unresponsive.
She never woke up.
Sara never left her bedside after that. She stopped going to work. Stopped going anywhere. Those who visited said she spoke to Elise as if she were still awake, sometimes laughing, sometimes weeping.
My friend, who had told me all this, hesitated before adding one final detail.
“The doctor said Elise will most likely remain in a vegetative state. If she does wake up, she’ll spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.” He looked at me carefully. “Do you… want to go see her?”
I stared at the floor, thinking of ten years that felt like a lifetime–and like yesterday.
Then I shook my head.
“No. We’re strangers now. There’s no need to meet.“”
Ten years of entanglement. Ten years of love, loss and betrayal. But now, there was nothing left.”
No looking back. No turning around.”
(The End)
