Chapter 17
After returning to his homeland, Vincent knelt in front of his mother’s tombstone, gently tracing the inscriptions with his fingertips. The light rain soaked his suit, but he was completely unaware.
“Mom, I…”
His voice caught in his throat, “I went to see her again.”
Rainwater slid down his cheeks, unable to distinguish between rain and
tears.
In a daze, he seemed to see that rainy day again – Alice standing in the pouring rain, her carefully designed work being trampled on by him and Juliana.
The rain soaked through her white shirt, outlining her slender figure.
“Alice, can you call this ‘life“?” Juliana’s sweet voice echoed harshly in memory, “What kind of life is a withered rose?”
Did he remember what he had done at that time?
He personally threw the artwork into the mud, and even laughed along, saying, “Juliana is right, maybe it will come back to life with a little
water.”
Alice just stood there in silence, raindrops dripping down her eyelashes.
Her tightly pursed lips were terrifyingly pale, yet she never said a word.
It wasn’t until now that Vincent realized that Alice had already started to ignore him since then.
Chapter 17
She no longer argued with him, no longer smiled at him, and even stopped calling his name.
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And he was so foolish as to think that she was just throwing a tantrum.
“Mom…” he slumped against the cold tombstone, “she really… doesn’t want me anymore…”
The rain wet the photo of Maggie on the tombstone, and those loving eyes seemed to silently reproach him.
Vincent suddenly remembered the words his mother said as she held his hand tightly before she passed away: “Alice must have her own life
now…”
Yes, she had a new life, new dreams, a new… lover.
And he, Vincent, was just the most regrettable mistake in her life.
The rain kept getting heavier, just like that afternoon that ruined Alice’s work.
Vincent curled up next to the tombstone, finally realizing that some mistakes could never be rectified.
Just like a design draft soaked by rain, it can never return to its original
appearance.
***
Vincent staggered out of the cemetery, rain dripping from the tips of his hair, leaving dark stains on his suit.
He mechanically opened the car door, but froze instantly when he saw the person in the passenger seat.
Juliana sat upright there, her carefully done makeup standing out in the dimly lit car.
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She held two marriage certificates in her hand, and when she heard a noise, she turned her head and a confident smile appeared on her face.
“Roll down.”
Vincent’s voice was as cold as ice.
He grabbed Juliana’s hair and roughly dragged her out of the car.
The people around the tomb sweeping all turned their heads to look, and some had already recognized the young master of the Seibert Group.
“Do you know what place this is?”
Vincent’s voice was filled with suppressed anger, “How dare you come to my mother’s grave?”
Juliana cried in pain, but still struggled to defend herself: “You can’t blame me for your mother’s situation! It’s that crazy Matheo-”
“Matheo?”
Vincent sneered, exerting more force in his hands, “I haven’t settled the score with you two for all the dirty things you’ve done!”
Juliana was dumped on the ground by him, her expensive dress covered in mud and water.
She coughed violently, but still didn’t forget to raise the marriage certificate as if holding up some kind of trophy.
Vincent snatched the marriage certificate and, as he looked at the names side by side, suddenly chuckled softly.
The next second, a harsh tearing sound rang out – the marriage certificate in his hand shattered into pieces.
“Vincent, are you crazy?!”
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Juliana screamed and pounced, “This is legal
“I only got a marriage certificate with Alice,”
Vincent spoke slowly, his eyes chillingly cold.
The rain wet the fragments on the ground, causing the ink to blur.
In a daze, he seemed to see Alice standing at the City Hall entrance holding the marriage certificate again.
Even though Juliana’s name was written above, in his heart, it was always his and Alice’s marriage certificate,
“Wasn’t this what you always wanted?”
Juliana screamed hysterically, “Get rid of Alice and be with me! I cut ties with Matheo completely for you, why-”
“Shut up.”
Vincent interrupted her, his voice chillingly soft, “From today on, don’t let me see you again.”
He turned and walked towards the car, with Juliana’s desperate ery echoing behind him: “Vincent! You will regret this! Alice doesn’t want you anymore!”
The rain blurred the vision, Vincent sat in the driver’s seat, not starting the car for a long time.
In the rearview mirror, Juliana’s figure grew smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing into the rain curtain.
He took out the yellowed photo from his wallet – it was the only photo of him and Alice together, the corners worn beyond recognition.
“Yeah…”
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He muttered softly to himself, “She had long stopped wanting me.”
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The phone vibrated in his pocket, and Vincent got off the car and walked to the corner of the cemetery to answer the call.
“Mr. Seibert, the information you requested has been sent.”
The assistant’s voice hesitated slightly, “You… better take a look first:”
The progress bar of the file transfer was moving slowly, and Vincent’s fingertips hovered above the screen, hesitating to click open.
In the end, he took a deep breath and opened the file.
On the screen were Juliana’s forged coagulation disorder diagnosis, photos of her bullying Alice during college, and chat records plotting a car accident with Matheo…
Even earlier, in the high school records, it clearly documented Juliana instructing Matheo, who did not have a driver’s license, to create an “accident“.
In the car, which was completely wrecked by the crash, Alice should have been sitting, but in the end, it took away her parents instead…
The moment the phone screen went dark, Vincent lit a cigarette.
In the midst of the swirling smoke, he looked towards Juliana, who was still sobbing not far away, a cold smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Okay, let’s start over.
He approached slowly, “But before that, some accounts need to be settled.”
Juliana’s eyes lit up and she eagerly nodded, “I’m willing! As long as I can be with you, I’m willing to do anything!”
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“Get on the car.”
Vincent roughly pulled her up and shoved her into the passenger seat.
Juliana’s head hit the car door hard, and she let out a painful cry.
“Pain?” Vincent leaned over the car window, shadows completely enveloping her, “This is just the beginning.”
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The car raced through the rain, Juliana looked at the increasingly unfamiliar scenery outside the window, and asked anxiously, “Where are we going?”
The only response to her was silence.
It wasn’t until the familiar building came into view that Juliana recognized it as the hospital where she had once been treated.
“Do you know where this is? Vincent’s voice was eerily calm.”
“Is… is that the hospital I stayed in when I had the accident? Juliana’s voice began to tremble.”
Vincent turned to look at her, his eyes cold. “It was Alice who gave you
the blood transfusion.”
Juliana turned pale in an instant, her nails digging deeply into the palm of her hand.
Juliana seemed to have sensed something and suddenly dared not speak
anymore.
She was full of confusion, really not understanding why she still heard Alice’s name to this day.
The name Alice, like a thorn, had been deeply embedded in Juliana’s heart since high school.
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Chapter 17
Whenever someone mentions Vincent, there is always the accompanying phrase: “Is that the Vincent who was constantly harassed by Alice?”
Juliana tightened her seatbelt, her nails almost digging into the genuine leather seat.
She was unwilling to admit it, but it was Alice’s shameless entanglement that forcibly bound herself and Vincent together.
At the beginning, Vincent only had eyes for her.
It was Alice who took away everything that should have belonged to her.
The design award she had been dreaming of!
She longed for the love of her parents, but never received it.
Even Vincent’s heart…
Juliana’s breathing became more and more rapid.
Alice was like a lingering curse, using despicable means to steal away her
life!
“So what if she pricked her finger?!”
She was frantically justifying herself in her mind, “Those awards should have been mine in the first place! Letting Vincent teach her a lesson was also what she deserved!”
The sound of the engine shutting off pulled her back to reality.
Vincent parked the car in front of a deserted piece of land, with the outline of a dilapidated school gate faintly visible in the distance.
This is their former high school campus.
“Do you know what this is?”
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Vincent’s voice was colder than the chilly wind outside.
Juliana looked out the window, and the mottled school walls still bore the graffiti they had painted together years ago.
Her heart warmed up, thinking that Vincent was taking her to relive old dreams, and tears of emotion welled up in her eyes.
“Get off the car.”
These two words shattered her final illusion.
Vincent had already made his way to the front passenger door and suddenly pulled it open.
The cold wind scattered Juliana’s carefully styled hair, as well as the fake tears in her eyes.
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