Chapter 30
Now I finally understood–why he had risked his life to save me only to despise me afterward. The person Nathan wanted to save had always been his foster sister.}
But that day was a holiday, and we’d both worn the same floral winter coat. He had simply mistaken me for her.
I wiped the blood from my forehead with a derisive smile. Whatever feelings I’d once held for Nathan were gone.
“Nathan, I’m the one marrying Ethan Reed. From this moment on, we go our separate ways.”
My steely gaze and resolute tone made him falter for an instant, but then his face twisted into a sneer.
“Separate ways? Sophia Carter, what kind of game are you playing? Trying to lure me in by pulling away? Or hiding something under all this?”
“I’m telling you now–if you think you can secretly convince your uncle to marry Chloe to the Reed family, I won’t let you get away with it.“\
I looked at him calmly.”
“Won’t let me? And what exactly do you plan to do about it? Keep sneaking around with Chloe, leave me to live as a widow in name only, father triplets with the housekeeper, then leave everything you own to your precious Chloe–only to make me raise your illegitimate children after you die?”
Nathan froze, shock flashing across his face. And in that moment, I knew–he had been reborn too.”
So what? In this life, whether he was a cat, a dog, or a king, he had nothing to do with me. I no longer owed him a lifetime for saving me. This time, we were destined to be strangers.
A flicker of guilt crossed his expression, but he straightened his neck and said stubbornly,
“All of this is what you owe Chloe. I’m just helping you atone for your sins.“}
I laughed coldly at both of them.
“Owe her? When my aunt died and my uncle planned to sell her off to some man in the mountains as a child bride, I cried for three days, begging my father to pay to bring her home and take her in as a foster daughter.“”
“I gave her the same food, the same clothes as me–everything identical. I even let her be in the same class as me so she wouldn’t feel out of place.“}
“What exactly do I owe her, Nathan? That my boyfriend should have saved her first? Or that I let her push me toward the center of the frozen pond, sending us both under the ice?”
Chipe panicked and suddenly dropped to her knees before me.
“Sis, it’s all my fault. I’m the one who made you and Nathan fight. He only worries about me because of my poor health. Please don’t be mad at him–take it out on me instead. I’ll apologize and make it up to you for him.”
She suddenly grabbed my hand and slapped herself across the face with it.8
Her cheeks flushed red before she began coughing violently, clutching her chest until her face turned pale and her body trembled.
She did look pitiful and wronged.”
Nathan immediately scooped her into his arms, rubbing her chest to soothe her.
“All right, all right, it’s my fault. Don’t get so worked up.“}
Then he shot me a vicious glare.
“Isn’t all of this because of you? If you hadn’t forced me into this marriage, would I have treated you that way? Isn’t this all your own doing?”
“Have you ever thought about Chloe? She’s lost the love of her life, forced again and again to marry men she doesn’t love, only to end up divorced–do you know how much pain that causes her?”
I tilted my chin upward, forcing back the ache in my throat, but the pain in my chest spread wide.
Yes, I had been a fool–rescuing a snake and believing I could tame a wolf with kindness.”
That childish bond had shackled me for a lifetime, even costing the Carter family’s fortune to help an illegitimate son rise to power.
The humiliation of those identical triplets, the empire I’d built becoming a mistress’s retirement fund–this time, I saw it all clearly.
I looked at Nathan slowly.
“You keep saying I forced you to marry me, that I made Chloe lose her true love. Then tell me–why didn’t you refuse back then?”
11:56 AM P P
