Chapter 7
This time, Sylvia was actually innocent.
She hadn’t lied.
Before I left, I’d entrusted my mother to Justin–the man grandfather’s commander sent to pick us up–then returned to the villa one last time, alone.
When I arrived, the house was quiet. I thought Veyne wasn’t home, so I headed straight to his study.
I turned on his computer and copied all of his data, including every bank record, onto a USB drive.
Only then did I go upstairs to the bedroom.
I hesitated at the door when I noticed someone was in bed.
Veyne had always been alert–even when exhausted, he could sense the slightest movement around him.
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But then I caught a strong whiff of alcohol in the air.
I took a few careful steps in… and accidentally stepped on an empty bottle.
My body pitched forward, and I instinctively caught myself–my chin landed right on Veyne’s hand.
He didn’t stir.
He was dead drunk.
I pushed myself up, and by the moonlight, I saw something clutched in his arms–our marriage certificate.
I picked it up and studied the photo at its center -our shoulders touching, smiles bright.
The woman in the picture looked so happy.
But to me, that smile now felt painfully ironic. A cruel reminder of how I’d once mistaken his performance for real love.
I tore my half of the photo from the document, crumpled it in my hand, and thought about throwing it in the trash… but I worried he’d
notice.
After a long moment of indecision, I dropped both the certificate and the torn photo back on the bed.
Then I opened the safe under the nightstand, took my ID documents and the dowry my father left me, and walked out of the villa without looking back.
I thought I’d made it out clean.
But just as I left the villa a hand clamped over my mouth, and I was dragged into a car.
Inside, I found myself surrounded by three or four men–men who used to work for Veyne back in his darker days.
After he gave up his black–market dealings for me, I’d never seen them again.
I never imagined they’d now be working… for Sylvia.
“Sylvia,” I said, my voice muffled as they forced me into a chair. “What do you want?”
The pressure on my shoulders increased as I tried to move. I was pinned down.
Sylvia sat across from me, her expression dark, her eyes filled with malice,
“What do I want?” she sneered. “I want to kill you.”
“You bitch. I actually thought you had some self–respect. After everything Veyne’s done to you, you should’ve left him.‘
“But you’re disgusting. You didn’t just stay–you came crawling back in the middle of the night, trying to seduce him!”
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Her voice twisted with rage. Her face contorted with jealousy and hate.
For my own safety, I didn’t fight back. I tried to speak calmly.
“You’re wrong. I didn’t come back for him. I came to collect my things.”
“Veyne sent my father to prison. Forced me to kneel and admit he was a murderer. Scattered his ashes. Hurt me.”
“There’s nothing left to forgive. I would never stay with him.”
“I was already leaving. If you hadn’t grabbed me, I’d be halfway out of Vyrtham with my mom by now.”
Sylvia’s eyes narrowed, suspicious–but she hesitated.
“Is that so?” she muttered, her expression softening just slightly.
I sighed. “Sylvia, you don’t have to worry. I won’t fight you.”
“I don’t want Veyne. I don’t want the villa. None of it matters to me anymore. You really don’t need to break the law over… whatever this is between us.”
She let out a low, bitter laugh.
“Whatever this is?” Her voice cracked with scorn. “Eleanor, you really are naive.”
“I’m not just here for Veyne’s love.”
She rolled up her sleeve.
A jagged, brutal scar stretched across her forearm.
“Look at this,” she said, voice trembling with a sick kind of pride. “You think everyone grows up loved like you did?”
“You have no idea what it’s like. In my village, girls were nothing but burdens. My parents beat me constantly for the sake of my
so–called brother.”
“They even tried to sell me–for dowry money. I was just a piece of livestock to them.”
“Honestly, I should thank your father. If he hadn’t killed that bastard, I would’ve been sold–and I never would’ve had the chance to reunite with Veyne.”
“I don’t just want him, Eleanor. I want everything–his love, his money, and his power.”
“I never understood why you made him give up all his connections. Those people? They’re useful. With them around, no one would dare jay a finger on us.”
