Chapter 11
“So you were lying to me from the very start.”
A flicker of madness crossed Laney’s eyes.
Everything about her had been exposed to the press.
The so-called assault? A complete fabrication. She used the money I’d given her for overseas research to hire
actors and stage the whole thing.
Even that dramatic bleeding episode? Scripted and rehearsed.
The research achievements that once impressed both me and Lucian? Turns out, she tricked another senior researcher into doing it all for her.
From beginning to end, the entire story was one massive scam.
As the memories faded, Laney threw her head back and laughed like a lunatic.
“So what? You two idiots fell for every bit of it!”
“And now I’m pregnant-with the professor’s baby!”
Gasps rippled through the onlookers. Phones flew up into the air to record, and even I stood frozen for a
second.
My heart-which should’ve been numb by now-twitched with unexpected pain.
I thought even Lucian wouldn’t sink this low.
“You shut your mouth!” Lucian growled, his eyes red as he grabbed her by the throat. “That child isn’t mine!”
But Laney placed a hand lovingly over her swollen belly, her voice dreamy.
“Of course it’s yours. Don’t you remember? That night you were helping me apply medicine, and tore my
clothes off and climbed on top of me?”
“You’re the only man I’ve ever had.”
“You filthy liar! I swear I’ll kill you and that bastard child!”
Lucian lunged at her. They began to fight viciously, tangled in a scene straight from hell. Blood started to
spill.
“Stop! She’s bleeding!”
“Someone call the police! And an ambulance-fast!”
Leouldn’t hear to watch them another cond Straightening my wrinkled blouse I walked toward the
departure gate without looking back.
Even as I passed through security, I could still hear the chaos behind me.
Lucian’s scream rang through the terminal: “Margot! Don’t leave me!”
He tried to rush past the guards, only to be slammed to the floor and restrained by police.
I didn’t see Lucian again until ten years later.
By then, I was a tenured professor at Harperfield University, married to a wonderful man I met during an
academic exchange, with two adorable twins.
I hadn’t thought about Lucian in years.
But that afternoon, rushing home after class, something made me stop on the lawn and glance toward the
campus building.
A hunched figure stood at the edge of the path-staring at me, eyes glistening.
It took me a moment to realize: he’d finally been released.
That day at airport, he had completely lost it. Not only did he beat Laney until she miscarried, but he left her
paralyzed-left half her body numb, condemned to spend the rest of her life with a catheter.
Lucian refused to pay damages. He served ten full years in prison.
I heard the first thing he did after getting out was look for me.
But the whole country had already heard the story of the professor who slept with his student and attempted murder. Even his parents had disowned him.
Still, he came.
Our eyes met across the lawn. I saw his lips move, mouthing my name, “Margot.”
But I didn’t acknowledge him.
Instead, I turned and ran into another man’s arms.
“Honey, can we have your steak for dinner tonight?”
He kissed my forehead gently. “Anything you want.”
When I turned back again, Lucian was gone.
So was any trace of feeling I once had for him.
