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She followed Reuben back to America.
Inside the villa, servants scurried about.
At the sound of their arrival, Wes and Nolan came racing down the stairs.
“Mom!”
“Mom! Are you staying this time? Please don’t leave again! We were wrong. Mom, I love you most!”
Even Nolan, who struggled to speak, couldn’t hide his longing when he saw Evelyn.
Evelyn noticed their injuries, but it meant nothing to her.
She’d left not just Reuben, but Wes and Nolan too.
Faced with the boys‘ eager pleas, her responses were cool.
After a few short exchanges, they seemed to sense the truth, their eyes reddening.
Mom, do you really not want us anymore?”
Evelyn glanced at them, started to reply, but Reuben cut in.
“Enough. I’m taking Mom to see something. Stay here and be good,” Reuben spoke gently.
Evelyn shot him a glance, then fell silent.
She followed Reuben to the basement.
It was the first time that she had found the hidden door in the villa she’d lived in for years.
It led to a deep, lightless place, as if it might swallow all brightness whole.
But Reuben led her onward, descending to a sealed room.
Unlike the villa’s opulent décor, this space was dark and oppressive, swallowed by shadow.
Only when Reuben flipped the wall switch did light flood the room, revealing its contents to Evelyn.
She scanned the area, seeing nothing out of the ordinary until Reuben turned on a projector, casting images onto the wall.
Evelyn’s brow furrowed.
The figure onscreen was Addison.
The video showed her torture, the forced abortion, the plunges into boiling oil…
Even to someone who’d hurt her, Evelyn felt no satisfaction in such suffering.
When the hours–long footage finally ended, Reuben spoke, his voice eager.
“See, Evelyn? I punished Addison. I knew she killed your brother. I avenged him, eye for an eye.
“Can you come back now? Just the four of us, we’ll have a happy life.”
But Evelyn’s expression remained unchanged.
Did she hate Addison?
Yes.
Addison had killed her only brother.
Buy hadn’t Reuben been the one to enable it all?
If not for him, Addison would never have had the chance.
Moreover, her hatred didn’t mean that she craved Addison’s torture or death.
She met Reuben’s expectant gaze and shook her head softly.
“If this is all you wanted to show me, I’ll take my leave.”
Reuben’s face went blank.
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He didn’t understand why Evelyn wasn’t moved.
Addison had tormented her for so long.
Didn’t Evelyn want revenge?
Didn’t she want to see Addison’s suffering?
He’d plotted this for ages, convinced it would make her stay.
But she remained unshaken, as if none of it mattered anymore.
Panic surged through him.
He didn’t know what else to do, what more he could offer to win Evelyn back.
He grabbed her hand, desperation edging into his voice.
“Why? Don’t you want retribution? I punished her for you. I’ve let Addison go entirely. Evelyn … just look at me, please?”
He was on the verge of tears.
Evelyn
was here, right in front of him, but he felt her slipping away, out of reach.
He couldn’t understand it.
But Evelyn smiled with a look of quiet pity in her eyes.
In your mind, is Addison the only one who hurt me?”
Reuben’s face drained of color.
He opened his mouth to argue, but Evelyn cut him off, her voice steady.
“All along, the one who hurt me most was you, Reuben.
“You chose Addison. You believed her. Everything that happened was because of you.”
She turned and walked away, never glancing back.
Reuben stood frozen, words failing him, his eyes stinging.
Evelyn was leaving again, right before his eyes, and he had no argument left to make her stay.
In that moment, he finally understood.
The second he’d clung to Addison, it was over between him with Evelyn.
Back at the villa, Wes and Nolan were still waiting.
Their faces lit up briefly as Evelyn appeared, but the light died when she walked past them without pause.
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Wes mustered the courage to call out, “Mom! Do you really not want us? It’s been so hard… Nolan can barely talk now. Addy hurt us. She hit us, poured hot water on us. She’s terrible. Can’t you come back?”
Evelyn didn’t stop.
Her voice was quiet as she said, “You were the ones who didn’t want me. When you chose Addison, it was over.”
This story ends here, but others are waiting to unfold.
Now, let’s glimpse the first taste of our new tale:
Lanie gave her childhood friends, Ethan and Mason, everything.
But the moment Qiana arrived, they forgot her birthday, dismissed her pain, and chose the intern over her every time.
So when Lanie quietly accepts an arranged marriage in Miami, they don’t believe her. Not when she buys the wedding dress. Not when she burns their photos.
And definitely not when she walks away forever.
Some goodbyes don’t need an audience…
Now, turn the page to a new beginning.
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