Chapter 20
Calista sneered. “When I gave up my full scholarship to Stathford College to attend the National Defense Academy you liked, you promised me you’d treat me right and never let me down. But later, behind my back, you called me a lapdog who wouldn’t stop chasing you.
“I turned down a high–paying tech job with a 300–thousand–dollar annual salary because of you. You promised me a vice president position at Skeldon Group with an even higher salary. But after all these years, I’m still just an assistant making eight thousand dollars a month.
“Turns out I was doing the work of a vice president, carrying their responsibilities, but only getting paid like an assistant. Noah, you’re truly something else
“When I stayed up all night revising proposals for you, drinking myself into gastric bleeding, you promised to give me your family’s heirloom bracelet and said you’d marry me. But Patricia didn’t do anything and got that bracelet you promised me..
“You played me like a fool, lying to me while planning to marry her. That’s truly cruel.”
As Calista listed out everything he had done over the years, Noah could hardly believe what he was hearing
He had hurt her that deeply. He had become the man who broke the woman who had stood by him and loved him for 12 long years, breaking her, piece by
prece
His body trembled, his face growing paler by the second. Somehow, Calista felt a strange sense of satisfaction at seeing him like this
“You and your so–called friends used me as a punchline more times than I can count. My love for you was nothing more than a bet to them, a game you all watched unfold like it was entertainment.
“They mocked me, bomillated me, and treated me like I was beneath them. And you? You just stood there, saying nothing. Sometimes, you even laughed along with them
by the way, what did you say on the phone? I remember now!
Calista paused, then repeated each word slowly, deliberately. “You called me your free maid. Funny, isn’t it? After 12 years of devotion, I was nothing more than a damn maid to you.”
Seeing the shattered look in Noah’s eyes, Calista smiled coldly. “After everything you’ve done, what right do you have to show your face here? Someone like you doesn’t deserve to say you love me. Don’t insult the word ‘love.”
“You came back because you found out Patricia wasn’t as good as you thought. You divorced her, and now you expect me to go back to the way I used to be, chasing after you, giving you everything I had. That’s all this is, isn’t it?
“No, Cali, I truly love you”
“Enough!” Calista snapped, disgusted.
ID, all the
“Don’t say you love me. I’m sick of hearing it. If you have even a shred of remorse, then don’t come looking for me. Every time you show up, unbearable memories come flooding back.
“Let’s m
move on. From now on, you go your way, I’ll go mine. We should never see each other again. That’s the best ending we could hope for.”
Fear overwhelmed Noah, extinguishing the last flicker of light in his eyes. With red, tear–filled eyes, he begged for forgiveness over and over.
“Cali, please, don’t be so cruel to me. You can hit me, scream at me, do whatever you need to if it makes you feel better. But please.. I don’t want us to be strangers,” he said hoarsely, his voice trembling.
Before Calista could respond, the low tumble of an engine broke the tense silence.
The man who stepped out of the car looked just as refined and striking as he had the first time Noah ever saw him
In contrast, Noah looked disheveled and pitiful. He had traveled overnight. His once–crisp suit now wrinkled, clinging damply to his body like a damp rag
His unshaven jaw was rough with stubble, and his bloodshot eyes betrayed the exhaustion and desperation he carried
And now, kneeling on the ground like a stray begging for scraps, he looked utterly pathetic, like a man stripped of pride and dignity.
