Chapter 3

He should have been happy, having a child with the woman he loved most, yet his thoughts drifted to me.

The next day, Liam went to the hospital to see Chloe. As he reached her hospital room, he was about to push the door open when he heard her talking to someone.

"Chloe, you need to be careful. What if Liam finds out the baby isn't his?"

Chloe's voice was filled with smug satisfaction. "Liam will never know. Even if he did, I could just twist a few words and fool him. Just like before, I only had to hint a few things, and he believed Aria Sterling hired those thugs to defile my innocence."

"You really are ruthless, staging the whole thing yourself."

"He liked Aria Sterling so much. If I didn't go to such extremes, how would he ever have looked at me? Aria Sterling completely overstepped her bounds. Who was she to love Liam? He belongs only to me. She deserved to die!"

Liam felt as if he'd been struck by lightning.

The hand poised to push the door open slowly retracted.

He had been wrong all along.

He had blindly believed Chloe, thinking I was the one who had harmed her. Under her manipulation, he had hurt me again and again.

He had personally thrown me into prison, letting the inmates torture me.

He had tied me up and paraded me through the streets, then shown the video to my father, driving him to suicide.

He had forced me to donate blood to Chloe.

With nowhere left to turn, I had chosen to end my life.

Each and every one of these injuries, these torments—they were all his doing.

He thought of the words I spoke before I jumped, wondering how utterly despairing my heart must have been.

Liam didn't know how he managed to leave the hospital.

Outside, it was pouring rain. He walked home, drenched.

He drank himself into a stupor, and in his haze, he called my name. "Aria, how desperate must you have been to jump?"

When he sobered up, he went to the hospital, dragged Chloe, and demanded the doctor perform an abortion.

Chloe cried out in fear. "Liam, are you crazy?! That's your baby! Why would you abort him?!"

Liam's eyes were bloodshot. "I always used protection. You know perfectly well if this baby is mine or not."

"I was crazy to believe your lies and torment Aria, finally driving her to jump into the sea."

Chloe couldn't believe it. "You... you heard everything?"

Liam didn't waste any more words with her; he simply pushed her into the operating room.

After the surgery, the doctor came out and told him it was successful.

The baby was gone. Good. Liam walked out, when suddenly a nurse stopped him.

"Mr. Hayes, I thought about it and decided to tell you. That lady who was brought in for blood earlier, her right eye seemed to be blind. And her body was already very weak; after losing so much blood that day, if she doesn't get proper rest, she might not live much longer."

Liam stood in silence after hearing this. No wonder he thought my gaze at him felt strange; I was blind.

He raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.

The nurse flinched back. "Mr. Hayes, are you alright?"

Liam looked up, tears streaming down his face.

The big, imposing man was crying like a child. "I was an asshole. I hurt Aria again and again. She said she won't love me anymore. She doesn't want me. What am I going to do...?"

Liam returned home, lost and distraught. He searched every corner of the house, only to find not a single photo of me.

He wanted to find any trace, any evidence that I had ever existed, but found nothing.

He collapsed to the floor, remembering the days we spent together.

I'd cook for him in countless ways, always trying new recipes.

When he was sick in the hospital, I would stay by his side 24/7, afraid he might need something.

I had loved him with all my heart, and all I got in return was a dead end.

After Chloe was discharged, Liam grabbed a wine bottle and, without hesitation, smashed it into her right eye.

Blood gushed out instantly, and Chloe shrieked in terror.

Liam smiled. "Aria, her right eye is blind now. When you know that, will you feel a little better?"

Chloe clutched her eye, screaming, "Liam, you lunatic! I'll call the police and have you arrested!"

Liam laughed maniacally. "Go on, try! I'll just throw you into the ocean. Get out! And never show your face to me again!"

Chloe was thrown out.

Liam started dreaming of me every day. He dreamt I was still alive, so he continued to send search teams to the area where I had jumped.

I never thought that five years later, I would meet Liam again.

His hair was white, his face haggard, like a withered old man.

Seeing me, his face lit up with excitement. "Aria, this is great! I knew you weren't dead."

I didn't want to say anything to him. I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm, his voice hoarse. "Aria, I've been looking for you for five years."

When I jumped into the sea that day, I was rescued by an eyewitness and taken to the hospital.

During the months I spent in the hospital, I received several critical condition notices.

On the brink of death, my entire past flashed before my eyes.

Was I really going to end my life like this?

I was not reconciled, so I fought and clung to life.

I never expected that Liam would actually grieve for my loss.

He had searched for me so extensively for all those years.

But when I truly saw him, I only felt disgust.

I looked at him coldly. "Let go of my hand."

But he held on tighter, his voice husky. "I won't let go, Aria. I know everything now. What happened back then was all Chloe's doing, a charade she staged. I believed her lies and wrongly accused you. It was all my fault. You can hit me, curse me, do anything you want, but please, come back to me. I can't live without you."

Disgusted, I yanked my hand away. "Liam, you know what you did to me. How do you even have the nerve to ask me to come back?"

He dropped to his knees with a thud. "Aria, I'm begging you, please give me one chance. I'll treat you well for the rest of my life."

Seeing him so pathetic, I smiled. "Alright, I'll give you a chance."

Liam looked as happy as a child who had just received candy.

"First, dye your hair. I don't like old men."

He was quick to act. In less than three hours, his hair was dyed.

I nodded, satisfied. "Not bad, very efficient."

He smiled ingratiatingly. "For you, I'd do anything."

I didn't believe him. "Really? Would you even give up your position as heir to the Hayes family?"

Liam hesitated for a moment, then nodded emphatically. "I will."

Liam returned home and immediately declared he was renouncing his inheritance.