Chapter 23
Countless photos haunted Damien like a nightmare, looping endlessly before his eyes. Even when he shut them tight, the images still kept appearing
before him.
After a long while, he was consumed by guilt. He apologized over and over, “I’m sorry, Celeste…”
However, the torment didn’t stop, no matter how many times he apologized.
Damien was drenched in a cold sweat. He kept searching the room for an exit, trying to escape.
He finally found the bathroom, but the moment he stepped inside, he was thoroughly disgusted by himself.
As such, he turned the hot water on full blast and began scrubbing his body nonstop. It was as if he wanted to wash off every layer of skin.
He muttered in a daze, “Celeste, I’m not dirty. I swear I’ll never touch anyone else again. I’m not dirty…”
The torture lasted for an unknown amount of time before he was finally freed.
When Damien was let out, his eyes were hollow. His entire being radiated desolation. Passersby cast him strange looks as he walked by, but he didn’t seem to notice.
He spent the next few days recovering. Taylor bombarded him with a mountain of pending work. He barely had a moment to catch his breath, let alone find time to see Celeste.
It was only after finishing all the urgent tasks that Damien finally caught his breath and picked up his phone.
He called Taylor and said flatly, “Get Ophelia out of prison and bring her to meet me overseas.
TY
Once Taylor received his orders, he did so immediately.
A day later, Ophelia, who had been tortured until she was nothing but an emaciated shell, appeared in front of Damien.
There were numerous wounds across her body, densely packed and crisscrossed. It was almost impossible to tell that her skin used to be as smooth as porcelain.
She was ghostly pale, and her eyes were hollow and numb. Although she saw Damien, she showed no will to speak.
Life in prison had been inhumane.
What was normal for other inmates had been a luxury for her because she had been specially instructed to receive “special care.”
Damien didn’t feel the slightest bit of pity upon seeing her in such a state. He simply nodded with satisfaction.
“Come with me. You’re going to apologize to Celeste.”
“Alright.” She answered without hesitation and followed closely behind him.
He had people tailing Celeste the whole time, so finding her location was easy.
Damien knocked on the door, but no one answered. He wasn’t in a hurry, so he simply waited quietly.
It wasn’t until evening, when Celeste returned with Chase, that Damien immediately stepped forward with Ophelia in tow.
“Look, Celeste, I brought Ophelia here. She has repaid you tenfold for all the pain she caused. I truly don’t love her anymore. She can vouch for that!” Ophelia nodded numbly. “Yeah, I no longer dare harbor any inappropriate thoughts toward Mr. Ashford. The title of Mrs. Ashford can only be yours. I will no longer dare to bully you ever again. I’m a sinner. My sins are unforgivable.”
She said this sentence with great fluency. It was as if she had practiced it thousands of times.
Just hearing that made Celeste’s heart jolt.
Although she hated Ophelia, she knew very well that the real culprit was Damien.
Seeing Ophelia so badly hurt, Celeste couldn’t help but think of her past self. But instead of satisfaction, she felt no joy at all in this so–called revenge. She stared at Damien warily. Heart full of unease, she instinctively took a few steps back.
“Damien, I don’t need Ophelia to atone for her sins. Whatever she did to me, I’ve already returned in kind. You are the one who should atone for your sins!”
She added, “You terrify me! Before, when you cared about Ophelia, you tortured me like this. Now that you care about me, you tortured her the same way. What about the future? Will you torture me even more for Ophelia, or for someone else? The love you’ve shown is terrifying. I don’t want it!”
She was so scared that she couldn’t help but hide in Chase’s arms.
