Chapter 4
The night before the trial, I finally found them at the largest five–star hotel in Mesa.
Edward was celebrating Viviana’s birthday.
“Annie, your father’s illegal loan business broke the law. Julian enforced it fairly. There’s nothing I can do to help you,” he said.
Viviana leaned close to me and whispered, “Annie, you’ve been living as a pampered heiress all these years on the blood money of others. Now you’re threatening us instead of atoning?
“I’ll be honest. I’m getting engaged to Edward. You have nothing to do with him anymore. Stay away from us.”
A heavy weight settled in my chest as I turned to walk away.
Just then, a sneer came from behind me.
“I heard her mother threw herself at an old tycoon to save her dad, only to be rejected for being too old and kicked out.”
That was the last straw.
I grabbed the cake knife on the table and lunged back.
The scene spiraled out of control. Edward lost half of his pinky finger, and a gash opened across my forehead.
After that, Edward and Viviana left the country together.
I started working odd jobs to pay off debts,
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The following year, my father died of a heart attack in prison. That night, my mother lost her mind and appeared for the last time at the street food market outside my university–the same street they had loved taking me
- to.
Within the next two years, I lost both my parents. Alone, I clung to my stall to survive.
But now, even the stall was gone. Business failed, and I didn’t want to continue. I hid in my rented room for three days, but eventually, I couldn’t resist going back to that street.
My mother had disappeared there a year ago. I always felt she would come back, and I had to wait. My fragile body couldn’t take much more. When the pain flared, I would chew handfuls of painkillers.
Sick or not, I suddenly didn’t want to fight anymore. I was tired.
At some point, Edward appeared in front of me. He lifted my tent flap and grabbed me.
“It’s just a lousy stall. Why are you pushing yourself this far?”
I shook my head, steadied myself, and slapped him three times across the
face.
“My mother could come back any moment. If I leave, she’ll never find
me.”
Edward raised an eyebrow. “How long are you going to fool yourself? Your mother’s dead. Julian arranged for her funeral. He says he tried to reach you for a long time, but you refused to see him.”
I didn’t respond.
“Anastasia, look at yourself. Can you just try to live properly?”
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Chapter 4
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I didn’t want to hear it and started to walk away, but he rushed after me.
“Don’t you understand? Your father deserved punishment, and Julian was carrying out justice. Do you think acting like this changes anything?”
My father wasn’t innocent, but he didn’t deserve to die. And how clean were their methods?
If not for my relationship with Edward, how else could Julian have gotten the company records so easily? My father ended up taking the blame, supposedly to protect me.
But one thing was certain–Edward had come back this time just to make my life miserable.
If it were the past, I wouldn’t have minded breaking his bones again.
But now, my body couldn’t take it.
