Chapter2

Alaric froze for a few seconds.

Then he turned his head away and sneered.

I knew what he was thinking. He remembered these times.

10 years ago, I was nineteen. My adoptive father, Gordon, was a monster. He beat me in secret. He tried to force me to sleep with an old investor to pay his gambling debts.

That night, my clothes were torn. My face was covered in bruises. Gordon dragged me out the door by my hair.

Alaric attacked Gordon like a madman to protect me. They fought. Gordon fell backward. His head hit the sharp edge of the marble table.

Blood covered the floor and he was died .

When the police sirens wailed, Alaric knelt on the floor. He shook violently. He was the heir to the Thorn family. A murder charge would ruin him completely.

So, before the police came in, I wiped his fingerprints off the table.

I confessed. I went to prison for him.

When the police took me away, he looked at me with red eyes.

I got 5 years and lost my nursing license.

When I got out, he waited at the prison gate. He held me tight.

"Romy, my love will be the ladder that holds you up," he whispered in my ear.

I swore then. I would only love him in this life.

4 years later, today, I hate myself. I hate that I still only love him.

Alaric exhaled loudly. He pulled me back to the present.

"Is it fun to repeat the past over and over again, Romy?"

I looked at him. My fists trembled.

"Alaric, do you know why I was willing to take the fall for you?" I asked. My voice shook.

"Why?"

"Because you loved me more than your own life back then."

"No." He stared at me coldly. "Because we were young and stupid and I saved you. "

I froze. "What did you say?"

He stepped closer to me. He raised his chin.

" Ten years ago, we were young. You think some years in a cell means I owe you my whole life? Don't you remember? I killed that person by accident just to save your life. "

I couldn't speak.

He laughed. "Do you only live in the past, Romy? It has been ten years . "

My eyes suddenly burned. Tears welled up.

He smiled coldly.

He picked up his jacket. He turned around.

"The past is in the past. Just forget it."

"Forget?"

My voice was completely hoarse. "You fought the Thorn board of directors for me. You told them I was the only Mrs. Thorn. How can I forget that?"

His footsteps stopped at the door.

I took a deep breath. "5 years ago, Odessa called me a dirty convict at the family dinner. You flipped the table an'd forced her to apologize to me in front of everyone. You said whoever insulted your wife would have to step over your dead body. Did you forget? ?"

Alaric looked down. His face was in the shadows.

"You said your love would be the shield that protected me. Now you give my baby to her. You call me dirty. You want me to forget all those promises?"

The bedroom was deadly silent. There were only my desperate questions and his cold silence.

After a long time, he turned his head slightly.

"That is your problem."

The heavy door clicked shut.

Only I was left in the huge, cold room.

Beautiful memories could really kill a person.

I didn't know how long I stood there.

When I finally woke up from the numbness, I drafted a divorce agreement and I signed my name .

I picked up the papers. I needed to find him.

Outside the master bedroom, the hallway was quiet. I wrapped my bleeding burned hand in a cheap bandage. I walked toward Odessa's private parlor.

The double doors were slightly open.

Odessa's elegant, mocking laugh came from inside.

"You actually blocked all of Romy's hospital visitation rights? Alaric, what does this mean? Are you really making me Jude's sole legal parent?"

Through the crack in the door, I saw them.

Alaric sat on the leather sofa. Odessa sat across from him, sipping tea. Her ancestral diamond brooch shone brightly on her chest.

Alaric looked at her. His eyes were so calm. It was exactly the way he used to look at me.

"You raised him for four years. You represent the Thorn family perfectly. I want everyone to know that my power is the shield that protects you and Jude. No one will ever threaten your position. Not even Romy."

The divorce agreement slipped from my hand.

It fell to the thick carpet without a sound.

5 years ago, he fought his family. He said his power would protect me.

Now, he sat with the stepmother who stole my son. He used the exact same words. He was protecting her from me.

Romy, you really didn't grow up.

The man who once had blood on his hands to keep you safe.

Now he mocks you. He tells you to go out and sleep with another man.

You are the only one stuck in the past. You are the only one who can't accept his change.

"What are you doing here?"

A childish, sharp voice rang out from behind.

I snapped out of it. I turned around.

Jude stood there in his clean pajamas. He glared at me with pure disgust.

"Are you spying on my Mommy Odessa again? Bad woman! Go away!"

I looked at his little face. My heart turned to ash.

I bent down. I picked up the papers.

I didn't say a word. I turned and walked away fast.