Ashley knew Fabian too well. She knew that the man would soften his resolve to leave because of the child. Moreover, so long as Ashley carried his child, the man would always accommodate to her and any of her follies.
And the lady knew very well that Fabian was a man who valued the virtue of responsibility. Therefore, carrying a child was also equivalent to earning a marriage certificate.
She had everything planned out for the future. While Fabian was by her side, she would make him fall for her bit by bit, and hopefully, try to become legitimately pregnant.
But now, everything was all for naught. Before her was a seething partner who hated her, along with a fuming Mark who equally detested her lies.
Mark was willing to give up part of his shares thinking that he could use the child to gain more authority in the board of directors, and subsequently earn the elder Mr. Norton’s trust and inherit more rights.
Now that Ashley’s façade was revealed, he could not help but feel utterly foolish for all the needless investments he made.
Out of a moment’s rage, the man delivered a harsh slap to Ashley’s cheeks, sending her flying to the ground.
Consequently, blood seeped from the side of her lips, mixed with her tears, and dripped off her chin.
Despite so, Ashley was relentless in her pleads. Crawling over to grab Mark by the hems of his pants, she begged, “Mr. Norton, I-I shouldn’t have lied to you! But please give me another chance. I’ll get pregnant this time around. Please forgive me! Don’t make me leave Fabian!”
“Scram!” bellowed Mark as he lifted his leg and kicked her in the stomach, causing the lady to double over once again.
A shriek echoed throughout the room, followed by a series of uncontrollable sobs.
For a moment, Fabian felt bad for her. “Let’s just leave her be and go.”
But then it hit him. If not because of Ashley, I may just be living a blissful married life with Vivian by now. Thinking of that made his blood boil, and he contemplated lashing out at the lady once again.
But like Mark, he was too mentally exhausted by then to argue with Ashley any longer.
As the pair took their leave, Ashley scrambled to make them stay once more. The words that came from her were the same as before. “Don’t leave me alone,” “I love you Fabian,” and “I’m sorry.” They were also as ineffective as before.
Vivian watched on at the side as Ashley wept her eyeballs out. Unlike the other customers in the restaurant who watched the scene unfold like it was an entertainment show, Vivian’s feelings bordered on being nonchalant.
She could not feel sympathy for the lady. Instead, watching her go from being the spoilt little princess in the Miller family to the damsel she was only brought a sense of woefulness.
Ashley, do you feel the pain? Let this pain be carved into your heart forever so that you can understand the agony I have gone through for the past two years because of you. Vivian sighed as unpleasant memories came flooding back. Back then, her life plummeted overnight because of Ashley. Walking on the school campus, all she got was onlookers’ judgmental stares and hushed gossips.
Worst still, Fabian disappeared without a trace, plunging her further into an abyss of negativity.
Unlike me, you brought this predicament upon yourself, Ashley. Why did you have to inflict so much pain on me? Do you know how close I was to losing it back then? If my mother wasn’t around, I may not even be standing here today.
