Chapter 83
“Please.”
I had never heard Liam beg before. It was a sound I couldn’t quite place, foreign and desperate.
I didn’t want to be caught in his web again, but I couldn’t entirely ignore him either. “Fine, three minutes.”
For what felt like an eternity, Liam just watched me, his gaze unwavering, while I kept my eyes fixed on my watch, counting the seconds until freedom.
“Anya, come back with me,” he said, his voice as commanding as always.
“Liam, it’s over. The moment you decided to get married.”
There had been a time when I would have given up everything for him, even my dreams. I had convinced myself that I could live by his side in silence, never asking for more, never needing more. But then he chose someone else. And that had been the end of it.
Liam smiled, his voice soft, almost coaxing. I’m not mamed. I want to marry you. If you come back, I’ll give you anything you want.” His certainty in my response caught me off guard. He assumed I had left because of jealousy that somehow a marriage certificate would make me thankful and make me return to him.X
I didn’t respond right away. And his anxiety grew. “Wasn’t our past good? All you had to do was stay with me. You’d never have to worry about anything. No more of this dull, ordinary life”
“I may not believe in marriage, but I’m willing to marry you. I’ll never let you leave me again.”
“You’ve already punished me. That old man lied to me and told me you were dead. I’ve spent the past five years praying, hoping we’d meet again in the next life.”
“Why aren’t you saying anything? I’m your best choice now. Who else would want you in this state?”
I touched the scar on my face, the mark of my past. My appearance had been ruined and I couldn’t have children. It was true; finding someone would be hard. But I still didn’t want him. This scar, this reminder of everything I had endured, was his doing.
Liam’s voice became louder, more insistent. Normally, he was cold and distant, but now, he couldn’t stop talking.!!
It seemed like he was afraid of the silence, afraid of what I might say if given the chance.
But…
“Three minutes are up.“?
I turned and walked away, my colleagues still waiting nearby, their presence a silent support
Liam’s voice called after me, sharp with frustration, “Anya, you actually rejected me? Don’t regret it later. If you turn around now, everything I said still stands…”
I didn’t listen to his last words. I didn’t need to. He wouldn’t bother me again, not after this. After all, Liam was a proud man.
That night, I received a call from an unknown number?
“Hello, Miss Amadeo, Would you be willing to provide a DNA sample for us?“}
With the confidential project behind me, I was making my first public appearance. I had never expected something like this to happen.
I had long stopped needing family, but even now a part of me felt the pull to belong somewhere, to someone.3
Just as I had expected, Liam didn’t come to disturb me again. But Salome did
As soon as I stepped outside the research institute, I felt a sharp tug on my hair.!
“Anya! You slut! Why didn’t those people finish the job back then?”
She yanked my hair again and the crowd that had gathered started to murmur.8
“Look, everyone! This woman is stealing someone else’s husband
The night before my husband proposed to me, you seduced him and slept with him! Then you vanished without a trace for five years, only to come back disfigured and still trying to steal my husband. You got him so drunk he ended up in the hospital with bleeding ulcers, then mistook me for you, kissing and hugging me like a man possessed!“”
“You shameless bitch, today, I’ll tear you apart and show everyone what a filthy slut you really are!”
She pulled at my clothes, her hands trembling with rage &
Her friends were recording with their phones, a growing mob too large for me to fight off. The security guards who tried to intervene were quickly overwhelmed and shoved to the ground.
The crowd closed in, their fingers pointing and suddenly, the horrifying memories of five years ago came flooding back. The feeling of being ripped apart by robbers, exposed and powerless, those sensations returned in an instant.
