After the rebirth of the paranoid big man who loves me like my life, he cheated 99 times.
Damien Thorne, the ruthless underworld kingpin, confessed his love for the ninety–ninth time. And for the ninety–ninth time, I rejected him.
That very night, he drugged me and held me captive.
Damien’s eyes were wild, possessive. He held me close, whispering his love over and over, a chilling litany.
I scoffed, my heart burning with hatred for him.
I managed to escape, barely, only to be kidnapped by his enemies.
To save me, Damien took three bullets.
The first shot crippled his arm. The second blinded an eye. The third stole his life.
As he lay dying, covered in his own blood, Damien stared at me, his gaze stubborn, yet heartbreakingly fragile.
“Evelyn, why couldn’t you just love me, just once?”
I opened my eyes again, and I was back. Back to the day Damien Thorne first confessed his love.
This time, I took his hand.
I thought we’d grow old together. But Damien, the man who died for me, betrayed me three times instead.
On our wedding night, he deliberately ‘mistook‘ rooms and slept with someone else. I swallowed the bitter pain and forgave him.
Another time, a two AM call from someone else, and he left me stranded in the pouring rain in the middle of nowhere while I was three months pregnant. I miscarried. I wiped my tears, letting it go.
But the third time? He threw my elderly mother off a sheer cliff, hundreds of feet above the crashing ocean.
The ocean wind howled, whipping my tears away before I could even try to stop them.
Just a few steps away, my mother was brought forward, a burlap sack over her head. Her frail, elderly frame trembled violently. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew the utter despair consuming her.
Damien’s face was a mask of cold indifference. A cigarette dangled from his lips, and in his right hand, he idly twirled a sleek, black handgun.
Behind them, hundreds of feet below, stretched the vast, endless ocean.
It hit me in an instant what he was about to do.
My legs buckled. I fell to my knees, trembling, before him.
“She’s my mom… my only family left in this world. Please, just spare her. Do whatever you want to me, but don’t hurt her…”
Damien glanced at me, a casual, dismissive look. He lifted my chin with his hand, a mocking smile playing on his lips. “Did you ever think about Tiffany’s feelings when you recklessly hurt what she cherished? Now that the stick is hitting your own back, does it finally sting?”
stared at him, my heart heavy with a profound sadness.
Just hours ago, Tiffany’s dog accidentally fell into a mud pit. Tiffany, feigning illness, had subtly ordered me to take on the ‘burden‘ of bathing her pet.
All because I accidentally got a little water in its nose while bathing it, Tiffany had cried hysterically, claiming I was trying to drown her dog.
For years, Damien had treated her like a precious gem, so of course, he was utterly heartbroken for her.
Damien gently comforted her, his smile easy and unbothered.
I thought that would be the end of it. I never imagined that after comforting Tiffany, he would bring my mother here.
I knew Damien’s methods all too well. I wouldn’t dare gamble with my mother’s life.
So, I could only lower myself and beg him.
“Damien, I truly didn’t mean to. Please believe me? My mom is old and her health isn’t good. Don’t scare her…”
Damien scoffed.
“You wanted to drown Tiffany’s dog, didn’t you? Then I’ll just have to let you taste what it’s like to have someone close to you drowned, Evelyn. When you do something wrong, there’s always a price to pay.”
He looked into my eyes, a cruel smile twisting his lips.
“Wouldn’t you agree?”
A chill shot through me. I clutched desperately at his pants leg, pleading with him over and over again.
But Damien was dead set on getting revenge for Tiffany.
The next second, he slowly raised his hand, and his men immediately understood.
“No! Don’t!”
It was too late.
My mother was thrown over the edge, like a rag doll-
She plummeted downwards. *Splash!* The calm ocean surface erupted with a violent spray.
My heart ripped into a million pieces. I lunged forward like a madwoman, only to be roughly held back by Damien’s men, pinned to the ground.
Tears blurred my vision. In a daze, Damien’s blood–stained face from my past life, and his desperate, fragile eyes, flashed before me.
Because of that look, I had made a solemn vow.
If I ever got another chance, another life, I would love him truly.
Fate, it seemed, had heard my plea. But tragically, in this second chance, the man from my memories had become utterly unrecognizable.
Facing his repeated cruelty, I chose to bite my tongue and swallow the pain.
I kept brainwashing myself: he didn’t mean it, if I just treated him well enough, he’d eventually remember his feelings for me.
But reality slapped me hard across the face.
My stubborn delusion had cost me an unbearable price.
I had lost the only person in this world who truly cared about me: my mom.
My tears became a torrent, and despair threatened to swallow me whole.
Damien watched me for a long time, seemingly quite pleased with my reaction.
He walked over, his fingertips tracing my face, gently wiping away my tears. Then he slowly pulled me into his embrace.
“Sweetheart, do you finally understand your mistake?”
His face held none of the loving warmth he once showed. Only cold indifference remained.
The man who once died for me was long gone.
Wrong.
Of course, I knew I was wrong.
I was wrong to keep softening my heart for him. Wrong to not walk away the first time he crossed my line. Wrong to bring the grievances of my past life into this one.
I was terribly, utterly wrong.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly. Eventually, Damien’s men retrieved my mother’s body from the water.
Suddenly, I found a surge of strength from somewhere deep inside. I shoved him away, scrambling, trembling, to my mother’s side.
Just as I reached out to open the burlap sack, Damien’s voice cut through the air again.
“Alright, alright, I’m just messing with you. It’s just a dummy in there, not your mother.”
I froze.
Damien continued, “Sweetheart, if you ever dare to ‘misbehave‘ again, what’s placed before you truly *will* be your mother’s body.”
“Tiffany took a bullet for me. She’s my savior. Don’t provoke her again, understand? Be a good girl. Don’t make things difficult for me.”
I stared blankly at him until his figure vanished from my sight. Only then did I wipe away my tears, my hand trembling as I dialed a number.
“I’ve made up my mind,” I choked out. “I’m leaving Damien Thorne.”
