Chapter 9
684words
She seemed completely insane, rushing toward me with an unknown liquid, her face contorted.
"Mira! You stole Adrian from me and ruined everything! Why don't you just die!"
In that split second,
Adrian, who had been watching from a distance, lunged forward, shielding me tightly in his arms with his back.
With a "sizzle," the corrosive liquid splashed entirely onto his back.
He let out a painful groan, trying to smile at me with his last strength, but blood gushed from the corner of his mouth.
"Don't be afraid! I'm not..."
Confined in his embrace, I could clearly smell the acrid odor of burning flesh.
After a moment of shock, I calmly pushed away his increasingly limp body and said to Evan who was hurrying over.
"Call the police, take this lunatic away, and call an ambulance too."
I watched Adrian convulsing on the ground, my gaze unwavering as I linked arms with Evan.
"This place is too gloomy. Let's leave tonight and find somewhere else to relax."
Before he completely lost consciousness,
Adrian's vision was already blurry, but he could still see my departing figure, leaving without any reluctance.
At this moment, he finally experienced firsthand the feeling when he abandoned me alone at the snow-capped mountain peak.
The utter despair I had felt.
He didn't die, but the wound in his heart along with that belated realization and despair completely severed all his delusional hopes.
For the rest of his life, he could only atone through continuously providing financial benefits.
All the enormous assets, stocks, properties, and antiques that Adrian had anonymously sent through various channels over these years, I donated them all to various charities in his name, keeping nothing.
They, along with memories of the past, were all garbage I was determined to clear away.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Evan, our business empire continued to expand while our relationship remained stable and profound.
Later, we had a pair of adorable twins, a boy and a girl.
I taught them how to paint and took them traveling around the world.
I gave them the love and respect I never received in the Sinclair family.
The name Adrian, along with everything he represented,
had long faded into a blurry and distant noise in my world, no longer stirring the slightest ripple of emotion.
And Adrian never appeared before me again.
He just obsessively continued his futile attempts at atonement.
He bought paintings I had once glanced at twice, transferring all profits to companies under my name.
He suppressed any business rivals who tried to give me trouble, like a silent and humble guardian ghost.
He knew I detested him, so he only communicated through his assistant.
"Mr. Locke says this is what you deserve, and what he owes you."
He lived as a solitary man, with no one close to him.
On countless nights, he could only stare at the only photo on his phone—my carefree, radiant smile from years ago—repeatedly numbing himself with alcohol.
Until he carelessly spent the rest of his life in endless regret and loneliness.
And in prison, Vanessa's initial hysteria was gradually devoured by despair.
She repeatedly wrote letters to Adrian.
From vicious curses to humble pleas, all met with silence like stones sinking into the sea.
Later, she began to experience hallucinations, always believing Adrian would come to take her out.
When the prison guard notified Adrian about Vanessa's mental breakdown, he was staring absently at my photograph.
He listened emotionlessly, only saying one sentence to his assistant.
"From now on, anything regarding this person need not be reported to me again."
He completely erased all traces of Vanessa's existence, like discarding a worn-out piece of clothing.
Vanessa ultimately descended into complete madness between her self-woven delusions and reality.
And the man she once valued as her life, from beginning to end, never looked at her again.
Of course, none of this had anything to do with me.
My life will always be passionate and complete.
