Since the show to gain pity worked, I realized that it was a good approach. At least it proved that nothing was more important than my safety to Anthony.
Perhaps this was the reason there were so many couples who hated each other. They would act childish and harm themselves just to prove their love. In the end, that love faded away, and they would go separate ways and vow never to see each other again.
Anthony flew into a fit of rage at the words. His veins bulged out from his temples as his expression scrunched up in fury.
I was sitting on his lap, and he was gripping my shoulder as we faced each other. We were so close yet so far from each other.
Right then, John hurried in with a document in his hand. When he saw us in the intimate position, he jolted in fright. “What is this? What are you doing in public? I’m standing right here!”
At once, the tension in the air vanished. I quickly jumped off Anthony’s lap and tidied my clothes. “Why are you here instead of keeping Emma company at her home?” I asked nonchalantly.
“Oh, well.” John stuck a hand in his pocket and shook his legs. “Are you blaming me for interrupting your intimate session? Should I leave?”
He made to turn and leave. I immediately called out, “All right. Stop joking. Let’s talk business.”
Raising my chin to gesture at the folder in his hand, I asked, “What is this?”
John raised the folder as told and glanced at it before handing it to me behind the couch. “The thing you wanted earlier. I had no idea that person kept track of everything. It only took me a phone call to get it. Do you still want it?” he asked.
“Of course, I do!” I took the folder from him hastily. If my guess was right, the folder contained all the information about Rylee’s rape back then.
Now that I had stopped bothering Anthony, he relaxed and poured himself a drink. Sweeping a nonchalant glance over the folder in my hands, he inquired, “What is it?”
John explained before I could. “The information about Rylee’s unplanned pregnancy.”
I happened to be pulling the document out. Hearing his words, Anthony immediately discarded his glass on the table and grabbed the folder away from me.
Instinctively, I gripped the folder tightly. As both of us were tugging at it, the document, including the folder, ripped into two parts.
Suddenly, it dawned on me that the truth was near. To prevent Anthony from destroying the evidence, I got up and hid behind John while reading the remaining half of the document swiftly.
“Scar,” Anthony growled. There was a hint of warning in his voice.
However, John was on my side and blocked his advance. “Hey, hey! Can’t you calm down and talk? Why are you so excited about a document? If Scar asks for something that you think is overboard, will you even hit her?”
Anthony ignored his words and tried to get past him to get the document from me.
John initially thought his words could scare Anthony away. Seeing how agitated Anthony was, he took offense, and they got involved in a fight. Their eyes blazed with anger as they grappled with each other.
I managed to catch a glimpse of the most important detail in the document.
Case carried out at the behest of Roger Melton.
Clearly, Roger Melton and Mr. Melton were the same person.
The last thing I wanted to acknowledge had been verified. I stared at the document, froze to the spot. I didn’t know how to react to the piece of information.
Yes, Rylee was my scapegoat.
Back then, Roger held a grudge against Anthony, who took over his family’s business. He then hired a gang of thugs to rape me as a form of revenge.
Our marriage was on the rocks, and we rarely appeared together in public. Not a lot of people knew Anthony’s wife was a mere project director in the company.
As Rylee kept pestering Anthony and appeared with him frequently, the thugs thought she was me and assaulted her sexually. They took off right after the deed and left a naked Rylee alone on the streets.
The document didn’t explain how Rylee was saved. She was the victim but ended up being cursed and labeled as a shameless whore. If I were in her shoes, I would’ve taken my life on the spot.
What should I do? The person I despised the most took a bullet for me. No wonder Rylee said I stole everything I owned.
If it were me who suffered in the hands of the thugs, I might’ve gone crazy or go to a place where no one knew me and spent the rest of my life alone until my meeting with Grim Reaper. No matter what, I wouldn’t be Anthony’s wife, and I wouldn’t have given birth to our children and led a happy life like now.
Realizing my state, both John and Anthony stopped grappling instantly.
John strode over to me and wrapped an arm over my shoulder before giving me a pat. “Are you all right?”
Anthony’s tensed voice sounded from behind. “No one is all right.”
Comprehension dawned, and I turned at my shoulder to look at Anthony. The anguish in his eyes confirmed my guess.
It seemed that Anthony knew everything from the very beginning.
He knew the thugs’ target was me, and that they mistook Rylee for me.
The worst possibility popped up in my mind.
Anthony was a smart man. It was normal for his enemies to take revenge on him, so he must’ve expected this matter.
Or rather, he said nothing and allowed the matter to happen.
Young Anthony was arrogant and confident, and he had offended a lot of people. Knowing that losers wouldn’t give up easily and that Rylee would land in trouble by sticking to him at all times, he didn’t bother stopping the matter or rejecting her. Instead, he allowed everyone to think that Rylee was his loved one.
He had succeeded. When the sore loser began taking revenge, Rylee became his target and suffered on behalf of me. Besides losing her virginity, she also got pregnant with one of the thugs’ child. That wasn’t only it…
Perhaps the truth was much crueler than I could imagine.
At once, I began to understand why he acted capriciously for the first two years of our marriage. Anthony despised me. He hated himself for not being able to love me, and how he sacrificed his deceased best friend’s sister.
Anthony had always been a man with principles, but he became someone whom he despised the most in order to protect me.
My throat started tingling as though ants were crawling up. Before I could say anything, Anthony stalked out swiftly and left John and me behind. His retreating figure seemed desolate and unfathomable.
“Is he crazy?” John declared, staring at his back in confusion.
I collapsed onto the couch, realizing I had destroyed the pride Anthony had been carefully preserving all over the years and forced him to show his bad side to the public. “I’m the crazy one.”
A general who had achieved plenty of military achievements was about to gain success when an insolent witness jumped out and pointed at his military badges while yelling, “He’s a deserter!”
Everyone lost trust in him, and the general ended up dying full of regrets.
Just like the general, Anthony was born into an affluent family. He was proud and noble.
Suddenly, I was afraid that the flaw would act as a domino effect and destroyed Anthony thoroughly.
That very night, Anthony’s phone was switched off.
As though she could sense the adults’ changes, Audrey stuck to me when he didn’t come back, afraid that I would leave.
To make sure my feelings did not affect the children, I had to put on a calm front and pretended nothing happened. Privately, I used my connections to find out where he was.
Before dawn broke, it began drizzling. I felt stuffy inside the house, so I got up and went to the balcony to look at the rain.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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