Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
She bit her lip and spat out the word ‘yes’. His help would only make her think of him more and make it harder for her to get over him.
His face grew colder, and his body seemed to be exuding o chill.
All of a sudden, he sneered. “Because you have someone else now. Is it Anthony Sherman?”
When he uttered the name, Lina’s expression changed.
immediately. She had only mentioned Anthony Sherman’s first name during the phone call earlier, not his last name.
However, Hadwin Stephenson knew his full name.
Which also meant… “You looked into him?”
“So what if I did? What about you? How much do you love.
him? Is it like what you used to feel for me?” he asked with restrained struggle and jealousy in his tone.
“It’s none of your business,” said Lina.
His face seemed to darken under the light of the lamp above.
them. “You’re my ex-girlfriend, after all. Can’t I be concerned. about you?”
“You just said I’m your ex-girlfriend. Mr. Stephenson, if your want to be concerned about someone, why don’t you pay more attention to your current girlfriend?” said Lina.
Hadwin Stephenson was silent for a moment, then suddenly.
said, “Have you ever hated me?”
She was stunned for a moment. She stared at him in bewilderment, wondering why he suddenly asked such a question.
“Have you ever hated me? Have you hated that I abandoned you when you were at your lowest and chose to break up with you and be with another woman?” Step by step, he moved toward her.
She backed away almost instinctively, but with each step she took, he took one step closer.
It was until her back was against the wall and there was no room for her to retreat.
His hands were pressed against the wall on both sides of her body. They were very close, and his breath sprayed on her face. However, they were not really touching.
“Did you hate me?” His voice continued to murmur, “Did your hate me for holding another woman when you were in pain? Did you hate me for enjoying a rich and glorious life when you were struggling? Did you hate me for all the promises I made to you that never came true?”
He spoke word by word as if pressing for an answer.
Lina stared blankly at the face in front of her. The man still had egg in his hair that he had shielded her from.
Otherwise, all of it would be on her.
However, none of these affected his beauty. Five years had made his delicate face a little more masculine, mature, and reserved.
She stared into his beautiful eyes but could not make sense of the depth in them.
Lina said slowly, “I don’t hate you. Hadwin Stephenson, you’re someone I once loved. It’s not like you weren’t suffering when I was at my worst. You were under siege back then. If you had chosen me, then maybe you would’ve lost the Stephenson family. You would’ve become an ordinary person.”
Shock flashed through his eyes as though he had not expected her to say so.
“You don’t… hate me?” he murmured. The four words almost seemed to have been squeezed out of his throat with a tremble.
She said, “I don’t hate you, and I don’t want to hate you. Hate is a very hurtful feeling. It was nice being in love with you. I don’t want to add hatred to it. Between love and career, you chose the latter. That’s all you did.”
“Now, you have the Stephenson family and are living the life you wanted, which also proves that you made the right choice.”
“My life isn’t hard. I have friends and family who love me. They were there for me when I was in pain, and now my life has gone back to normal. In the future, I’ll get married, have children, and have a normal but happy life.
“So I don’t hate you. I just want to get over you. Maybe when we’re old and surrounded by children and grandchildren, we can smile at each other if we ever meet on the streets. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
She whispered. Her tone was calm as if she were merely telling a story, but his heart ached.
Her lack of hatred only deepened his pain!
He had always felt that meeting her and falling in love with her was the best thing that ever happened to him. She was so nice that she was even considerate of him after their breakup.
If he had stopped her from leaving Emerald City and not been. overconfident, or perhaps if he had been better prepared…
would they not have ended up like this?
“Lina…” he mumbled as he slowly looked down, unable to stop himself from approaching her and touching her…
Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang.
They were in a hotel room right now. As both of them had gotten caught in a mess earlier, he took her straight to the nearest hotel and got a room.
The sound of the doorbell seemed to pull Hadwin Stephenson back from his trance. He stepped back awkwardly, then turned to the door and opened it.
It was Hadwin Stephenson’s subordinate outside. He respectfully handed over two sets of clothes. “Mr. Stephenson, these are the clothes you wanted. They’re in the sizes you mentioned.”
Hadwin Stephenson took the clothes, walked over to Lina, and handed the women’s clothes to her. “Go get changed.”
“No thanks. I-”
“Do you want to go home in your dirty clothes and have your parents ask you what happened?” Hadwin Stephenson interrupted her and said, “If you’re afraid to get involved with me, then you shouldn’t have entered a hotel room with me.
Don’t you think it’s a little late to avoid arousing suspicion?”
Lina pressed her lips together and thought of her parents’ nagging. She said, “I’ll transfer you the money for these clothes later.”
“There’s no need for that,” he said.
“It’s better not to owe each other money,” she said.
Lina took the clothes and went into the bathroom to get changed, while Hadwin Stephenson stood where he was. He could not help smiling bitterly with his head down.
He had tried to get her to say that she hated him, thinking it might crush his ideas, longing, and desire.
It was because he did not even have the right to touch her now!
However, all she said was… she did not hate him.
“Haha… Hahaha…” Hadwin Stephenson laughed softly, but it was very depressing-full of pain and self-mockery.
If she hated him, then perhaps he could love her less…
“Lina… Lina…”
He muttered her name. They were so close, but he could not get clo
Sometime later, the bathroom door opened. Lina had changed into the clothes Hadwin Stephenson gave her and walked out of the bathroom. She said to Hadwin Stephenson, “Show me your QR code, I’ll transfer you the money.”
“I already told you, there’s no need for that,” he said.
“I also told you we have nothing to do with each other now, so it’s better not to owe each other money.” Lina insisted.
The two looked at each other, and there seemed to be something depressing in the air.
Lina bit her lip slightly. “Hadwin Stephenson, now that we’ve broken up, I… don’t want to owe you anything, so don’t let me owe you anything, okay?”
His body trembled a little, but he finally took out his phone and showed her his QR code.
Lina scanned his QR code and keyed in the number.
After all, when he gave her the clothes, the price tags were still attached, so she knew the prices. Lina could not help but feel a burst of pain at the thought of it. The outfit she was wearing 2/4
cost two months of her salary.
However, she had to pay him so she would feel at ease.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.