Resent, Reject, Regret by Aqua Summers

Chapter 42 Running Away? With Whom?

“If this is your revenge on me for stubbornly keeping my child, then shouldn’t his death. have pleased you enough?! I was

incarcerated for a year! I’ve lost everything I’ve ever had! Everything… God… What will it take for you to be satisfied? To let me go?

“I’ve already regretted ever taking up the… the toxic mantle of being the fake Mrs. Brighthall, and I don’t want it anymore… Let me go, I’m begging you… I don’t want it anymore. I don’t want to be Mrs. Brighthall anymore…

She swooned after that.

Brendan released her. His chest was

wrangled in pain, a pain so great that he

could not contain it. It pressed against his lungs, denying him any chance to breathe.

What was going on?

He had always seen himself as an ubermensch-unstoppable and almost omnipotent. And yet he could not answer this one simple question. His mind was beleaguered by sheer frustration. He stood on the balcony and began to empty his cigarette pack, as though he was trying to

self-medicate, however temporarily, with nicotine.

Out of all these inscrutable knots, Brendan was sure of one thing: He wanted Deirdre to return to him and be his devout lover. She had nothing left, after all. Not her eyes or her looks, not even her mother. Sterling might claim to love her now, but Brendan was sure his love was as fleeting as an impulse.

Deirdre was docility. In exchange for her submission, he would gladly take

idea how much time had passed. All she knew was that her phone was ringing, and that is what woke

sharply upon recognizing it all.

Hello?” she asked, her voice hoarse and raspy. “Who’s this?”

“Dee, it’s me!”

up for good. ”

every word. “Are you

sounds so… hoarse. Are you sick?”

a man had done to her formed in her

and replied, “I’m okay.

”

caught a cold. What about you, though? How

always spoke to Deirdre with a special kind of loving, gentle tone, but this was the first time he sounded grave and afraid. “Every time my mind drifted to the thought of you being caged by

You’re not homebound too, are you? Tell me your address. We’ll

wanted to tell him

terrified of dragging Sterling back into this nightmare. She could not-and would

had to be said in

“A-Alright.”

had always known where her house

the address, took some clothes out of her luggage, got changed, and left. She

more minutes passed before Sterling Fuller appeared-a frantic man, his back hunched as he paced toward his destination as quickly as he could. His eyes caught a