Chapter 10
When I opened my eyes again, I was surrounded–doctors, family, everyone pressed in
close.
Looking at the dense crowd around my hospital bed, I sighed with mild exasperation. “I’m
fine, aren’t I? No need to be so dramatic.”
My mother, still dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue, shot me a glare when she heard my joke. “Do you have any idea how close it was just now? That bastard of an ex
eliberately gave Chloe your address. He staged the whole thing–wanted to play hero so you’d fall back in love with him. Didn’t care at all about whether you lived or died.”
I’d known Scott for more than a decade. That was long enough to recognize the kind of man who’d sacrifice anything, anyone, to get what he wanted. I’d long stopped expecting decency from him.
I turned my face into Xavier’s chest, letting the scent of antiseptic and his aftershave lull
- me.
“Was he sent to prison?” I murmured.
He nodded.
“He’s in. And with my parents and me handling things behind the scenes, he won’t be coming out–not in this lifetime. As for that woman… she took a blow to the brain stem. She’ll probably be disabled for the rest of her life.”
I nodded faintly. There wasn’t anything left to say. In the end, they brought it all upon
themselves.
Chloe, proud and calculating, had thought her body was a ticket to a golden life. Now? Forget marrying rich. She wouldn’t even be able to go to the bathroom on her own.
And Scott… God knows what gave him the courage to stir up trouble in New York of all places. After his arrest, his already failing company was torn apart by rivals like vultures
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picking at a carcass. If he finally got out, a mountain of debt would be waiting for him. His life was a wreck–no clearer way to put it.
Later, I even visited him in prison.
When he saw me through the glass, his whole body jolted forward, pressing against the window with a feverish desperation.
“Alyssa! You came to see me! I knew it! I knew you couldn’t forget me! Please, please, get me out of here. Everything I did–I did it because I love you!”
I smiled.
“Is that so? The only person you’ve ever loved is yourself.‘
His expression faltered, a little boy lost in a storm he started but couldn’t navigate.
“What do you mean?”
I rubbed my forehead, tired of playing the audience to his endless theater.
“I came here to let you know… You were supposed to rot in here for the rest of your life. But
turns out, there are quite a few people out there who still want their money back. So I hired
an excellent lawyer–paid handsomely, I might add–to reduce your sentence. You’ll be deported the moment you’re released.”
For most people, that might be a second chance.
But for Scott, who had neither the resources nor the power to repay his debts, it was a
direct ticket to hell. Especially when his creditors were the sort of people who didn’t just
break knees–they broke lives.
Chances were,
he’d be lucky to leave with all his limbs still attached.
“You can’t do this to me! You can’t!” His voice cracked, rising into a frantic wail, echoing
off the steel walls behind him as if he could claw his way out with sheer noise.
But I simply glanced at my wristwatch.
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Chapter 10
My yoga class was starting soon.
As for him… he could stay in this cold, dark place and enjoy the silence.
His story was over.
Mine had only just begun.
