He Chose Her Ten Times, I Left Once Chapter 08
Elliot was shaking with a violent, possessive tremors.
I adjusted the silverware mechanically and did not even look up.
“You’re the one with the bad memory.”
“The girl chosen ten times at the blindfolded ceremony was the destined Mrs. Whitmore.”
“And clearly, that person wasn’t me.”
At those words, Elliot clenched his fists, struggling to suppress the shock that nearly spilled out of him.
“It was just a stupid game. You actually took it seriously?”
“I promised you the title. You were going to be Mrs. Whitmore.”
“Are you still trying to punish me?”
His righteous tone was so absurd that I almost laughed.
He was the one who had chosen Sienna at all ten ceremonies.
He was the one who had sent my mother to the psychiatric facility.
Later, he was also the one who got legally married to Sienna.
Yet somehow, I was the one branded unreasonable.
I ignored him and continued straightening the chairs around the dining tables.
Elliot suddenly stepped in front of me, blocking my way.
“Avery, stop playing games with me, okay?”
“You and Wesley aren’t right for each other. You think you can just play house in Newport? You won’t get used to that life.”
“And do you honestly think he’ll keep treating you like you’re the center of his world? He’s a Harrington. He’s had a rotating door of women. Maybe he finally got bored and decided to bring you home as some trophy.”
I smiled icily. “Elliot, stop projecting your own filth onto others?”
“And you have no right to interfere with my life. Who I marry is my choice.”
“Don’t forget, there’s nothing between us anymore.”
Elliot frowned, looking at me in disbelief.
“Nothing between us? I don’t believe you can erase everything we had. I don’t believe you can be that heartless.”
He stared at me, his eyes red.
But I looked straight into his eyes and said each word clearly.
“The heartless one was you.”
After saying that, I left without looking back.
I left him standing there, stunned, unable to recover for a long time.
On the eve of my wedding, I received a medical alert saying my father was in critical condition.
When I arrived, Sienna was wailing for the cameras.
“This is all your fault!”
“If you hadn’t upset Dad, he wouldn’t be in the hospital right now!”
As she spoke, she raised her hand to hit me.
I slapped her first.
She froze in shock, unable to speak for a long moment.
“I haven’t forgotten what happened to my mother,” I said. “And I won’t let it go.”
Then I looked at my father, who was lying weakly in the hospital bed.
“You were never a good husband, and you were never a good father.”
He could no longer make a sound, but tears kept falling from his eyes.
“This is probably the last time I’ll see you. Tomorrow, I’m leaving for Newport.”
“Take care.”
After saying that, I turned away with no hesitation.
Elliot walked toward me from the opposite end of the hallway.
He seemed to have a thousand things to say, but in the end, he only called out to me.
“Avery, are you really leaving me?”
I casually turned the ring on my finger without answering and walked away.
I thought he should have understood.
The fierce love I once had for him no longer existed.
That night, news came that my father had died.
The real killer was Sienna.
After hearing that he had left his entire estate to me, she lost control and smothered him with a pillow.
The police caught her before she could even leave the room.
On the day of my wedding to Wesley, Elliot drowned himself in scotch.
On his way to Newport, he got into a severe car accident and remained unconscious.
I turned off my phone calmly.
I did not feel much of anything.
At the wedding chapel, Wesley slid the ring onto my finger and spoke the vow, “Till death do us part.”
I exchanged rings with him and said, “I do.”
I knew the days ahead would hold their own ghosts.
But in that moment, I felt a love unlike anything I had ever known.
It was not only for my mother’s wish.
It was after the woman I was finally becoming.
Maybe, if I simply let life unfold, it would lead me somewhere better than I ever expected.