Loved You Once But He's My Forever

Chapter 414 Come Back to Me

When had he gotten here? It was too late to hide now.

I stood up casually, holding the Stone of Duality in my hand. "What's this?" I mouthed.

When confronted, the best defense isn't to explain yourself but to seize the initiative and throw the question back.

As expected, Carter's eyes flickered with a trace of panic when he met my questioning gaze.

Using the chance, I pulled out the piece hanging around my neck and fitted it together with the one in my hand. In black and white, the positive and negative teardrop-shaped pieces formed a perfect circle.

I grabbed his hand and demanded an explanation.

I wondered if he would tell me the truth.

After all, in his mind, we had already swapped fates successfully.

The eighty-one days of the ritual weren't up until midnight tonight, so he hadn't had time to deal with this stone before I confronted him.

My gaze grew more suspicious by the second, and finally, he sighed in resignation. "Chloe, I lied to you."

Was he going to admit it now?

"The Soul-Stabilizing Pendant I gave you wasn't just one piece," he said.

Feigning confusion, I looked at him, and he continued, "The pendant has two parts."

The moment he mentioned the Soul-Stabilizing Pendant, I knew he wasn't being honest. He had no intention of telling me the full truth.

"At the time, I didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell you. Besides needing Zoey's parents' blood, my own blood was also required. I've been hiding this piece of the stone to keep you from finding out. But don't worry-its purpose was only for the ritual, which lasts for eighty-one days. Now that your soul is stabilized, you don't need to wear it anymore."

Liar!

Carter, since when were you so skilled at lying?

If I hadn't uncovered your secret, were you planning to keep it from me until the day you died?

He had shifted all my misfortunes onto himself in the shadows.

Even if fate changed and his death seemed like an accident, no one would ever suspect it was due to these two stones.

intended to keep me in the dark forever, so I could

move on from the pain of

have a long life ahead of me someday, I'll fall in love with someone else, get married, and have

surrounding me and live a

leaving behind only

a meticulous

threw myself into his arms, my sorrow was misinterpreted as

head. "It's okay. It's just a few drops of blood every few days-it's

done for me while still trying to comfort me, my chest tightened with an unbearable ache, as though tiny silver needles were

shirt tightly, I let my tears soak

"Don't cry. I'm your husband-it's my

me. "That must be the doctor. If they see you like this, they'll think I

used my sleeve to wipe

lifetime it was, he always treated me with

How could I

had wasted 20

doctor who entered was a stranger to

man in a white coat, with a quality black shirt peeking out beneath

extended his hand to greet me.

man I had seen before, this

and shook his hand, then

understand," he replied, his voice calm. "Carter's already explained the

living room, and the matter of the Stone

electronic laryngoscope. "Don't

was over, Carter asked,

to physical overexertion. I checked her vocal cords carefully. There's only one explanation. The drug

be treated?" Carter

was given is a rare illegal compound. Be prepared-it might not

further. "I heard the drug only lasts

"No," Matthew said. "She's

Without the antidote, the toxins will worsen over time. The person who drugged her implied that if she takes the antidote within seven days, there won't be any long-term effects. But

wasn't surprising-it fit Yael's

Whitney, while Yael used poison

because he already knew I'd have to beg him for the antidote to regain

waiting for me to give in and come

"That b*st*rd!" Carter growled.