His casual tone sent a chill through her.
"I was happiest when I was with you. Yet I still had nightmares. I dreamed of my dead father, my uncle, everyone I had killed. I dreamed of my brother asking me why I was alive and why I hadn’t died."
"I dreamed of that summer night when I dragged my broken leg out of the old house."
"I dreamed of the night my uncle died. I stood there watching the suffering I had inflicted upon my father."
"But those nightmares gradually faded."
His voice softened.
"At first, my honesty was only a test. Later... I genuinely wanted to be your friend for the rest of my life."
The girl beneath him stared blankly at him. Her hair was disheveled, and her smoky gray eyes were hazy and beautiful.
They awakened every possessive and sadistic desire hidden deep within his heart.
Adrian smiled faintly.
His voice dripped with danger.
"You’re far too naive. Do you know how many people are watching you because of that face?"
"Do you know how many filthy men I’ve dealt with? People who dared to covet your body?"
He took her hand.
The pale, delicate fingers that had only recently regained some healthy flesh felt soft and warm in his grasp.
"As long as you’re willing to stay obediently by my side, I’ll always protect you beneath my wings. No one will dare covet you. No one will be able to hurt you."
"From the moment my father betrayed my mother for his so-called true love... from the moment my brother died because of them... from the moment my father and uncle tried to kill me... I learned that money and power are the only things that matter."
"I hold absolute power in my hands now. No one will ever be able to hurt the people important to me again."
"I thought we would stay like this forever. After work, I could go out with you. We could travel together, eat together, stay up all night playing games, laugh together."
"Before I met you, I never had a place I considered home. I even avoided spending time with my mother. After I met you, I invited you to decorate a place with me, and I called it home."
"We spent so much time together. Even my mother loved and spoiled you more than she spoiled me, her own son. But I never hated that. I loved it."
As Adrian recalled those memories, a longing he didn’t fully understand shone in his eyes.
His gaze remained fixed on the person beneath him, revealing a desire he could no longer hide.
"I could hug you from time to time. I could touch you. I could embrace my friend like a normal person. I could watch you doze off beside me, warm and comfortable, while listening to another person’s heartbeat."
"I loved that feeling."
"I loved you more and more. I didn’t want to be apart from you anymore. I thought about you during work every day. I thought we could become more than friends. We could become family."
"I wanted to stay with you forever."
"I thought it would be nice to accompany you through life. To survive. To have a happy ending."
"I thought we could stay that way forever."
The tender memories came to an abrupt end.
Silence descended.
"But you betrayed me."
Adrian’s low, captivating whisper sounded like a lover’s murmur.
Only the hatred rising in his eyes revealed the truth.
Vivienne Blackwood stared at him blankly, completely bewildered.
Adrian lowered his gaze.
His voice turned cold.
"You publicly told the media that you liked me. That you admired me. That you wanted to be with me. That you would become the future Mrs. Voss."
"You’re famous. So am I. Public opinion exploded overnight."
"But honestly, I don’t care what people think. It doesn’t affect me, and it never has."
"I only wanted to know why you fell in love with me."
"And why you once told me you hated romantic relationships."
"Why? Why did you say you loved me?"
"I hate these feelings."
"I hate this so-called love that makes people believe they have the right to commit every evil act for the sake of their beloved."
"Because of love, my father killed my brother and tried to kill my mother and me."
"Because of love, I lived a life worse than death."
"Because of love, my mother’s life was destroyed, and she is still suffering."
"And I am still suffering in silence."
"So how dare you say you love me?"
"You betrayed me after I gave you my real heart."
The smile vanished from Adrian’s lips.
Sadness filled his eyes.
Yet they grew darker than ever.
"And still... I clung to that last thread of false hope."
"I got completely drunk and called you to confront you. I wanted to hear your explanation."
"If you had said it was a misunderstanding, I could have pretended nothing happened."
"If you had apologized and promised never to do it again, I was willing to play the fool for you."
"We could have remained friends."
"We could have stayed the way we were—two people with no one else in this world except each other."
"I could have accepted everything."
"But then I discovered you’d blocked me."
"When I tried to contact you, I found you attending events everywhere, avoiding any place where I might appear, even avoiding mentioning my name."
"You publicly declared your love for me, yet at the same time, you wanted to leave me."
His voice broke off once more.
Heavy, restrained breathing filled the silence.
"Vivienne Blackwood."
"What am I to you?"
"Vivienne Blackwood."
"What do you think I am?"
"What am I to you? Just something you can obtain and throw away whenever it suits you?"
Every question became an enraged roar.
"Why are you playing with me like this?!"
"Why did you do this to me?!"
Vivienne Blackwood trembled.
The sudden outburst hurt both her eardrums and her heart.