There, on the ground, Christian kneeled while staring up at me with tears running down his face. “For the rest of my life, I will continue begging for you on my knees, if that’s what it takes to have you.”
A strong man begging for me—forus. If I were a stronger woman, I’d give in.
But I wasn’t.
Our love was strength, but I made us weak.
I madehimweak.
Mirroring his posture, I wrapped my arms around him with one intent even if he thought it was forgiveness.
With shaky hands, I lifted the necklace of my ring off of him.
The final piece of our relationship.
“You deserve to be happy.” His hands fell as I stood, looking down at him with the necklace biting into my fist. “Just not with me.”
Everyone around us watched like we were their favourite series.
Christian tore through the night sky with his last crumbling words.
“You defined happiness for me, Adelaide. You gave me a reason to live and to get through this war, because on the other side of this storm was the sun—wasyou. Without you, I have lost all purpose in my life.”
FIFTY-ONE
CHRISTIAN
“The police have arrestedEda Mikael, former CEO of Starlight and Daniel Hayes, former CEO of Moonshine, under the speculation of working together with Starlight’s shareholder group to hide their sexual violence assaults against newly hired interns under the ruse of climbing up the social ladder. Starlight’s shareholder’s will be put on trial this afternoon for their actions. Eda Mikael is proven guilty of embezzling company money and first-degree murder. Due to this, Adelaide Mikael’s name has been cleared of all charges and is proven innocent. Congratulations to her recent marriage and the public collectively apologies for their misconduct towards the empress.”
Why the fuck wasn’t I satisfied? They were in jail, every last bit of them.
Probably because your wife wants a divorce.
Osama turned the radio off and put the car in park. “Are you sure you want to talk to him?”
Beyond the grey stone wall, my dad shared a cell withother criminals. Here I was, about to talk to him after four fucking years.
“Wait out here,” I slammed the door shut and headed inside.
Typical fucking procedures of filling out paperwork.
They led me into a room where visitors spoke to inmates. A clear window dividing the space between them, and their conversation carried through a telephone hung on the privacy wall.
Five minutes later, dad walked in through the doors. He paused the second he saw me.
A quivering smile broke on his face. He took the phone as he sat, urging me to do the same.
“Christian,” he spoke.
Intense visions of him chasing me around with a hose, letting me lay on his lap when we looked up at the sky, and letting me sleep with him when Eomma went through her first surgery all rushed towards my soul.\
I couldn’t forgive him as my mother’s son.
But perhaps I could forgive him as a person.
“Why’d you cheat on Eomma?” The question fucking pressured my insides, squeezing and pinching until it finally released.
Dad’s smile dropped. “I regret it a lot.”
