I just stared at him, unmoving.

He was quiet for a brief moment. “When I first met her, she was only seventeen years old. Then, she passed away at the age when her vanity was at its peak. I don’t want to force your hand, so please do it yourself.”

“At least let me know who she is, and why you picked me,” I inquired.

When he lifted his head to gaze at me, his eyes looked calm. If anything, they looked too calm, nearly to the point that they were devoid of emotion. “’She’ was Ashton’s cousin, Naomi Fuller. I never intended on hurting you specifically, Scarlett, but there is a hole where my heart used to be. The devil lives in there now, and I can’t get him out.”

“So, I’ve now become your sacrificial lamb?” I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, gazing at him in disbelief.

“Not really. It’s just that Ashton happens to be in love with you.” He shrugged. “He and I are best friends. If I lose something, it’s only fair for him to lose something as well. We need to share that sense of empathy; otherwise, he’ll never know what it feels like to lose the love of his life.”

Stacey had mentioned that Charlie used to have a daughter when he was younger. Unfortunately, she passed away due to an accident, and he never wanted any more children after that.

I was also aware that Ashton had a cousin that Jared used to date.

But I wasn’t present during any of that, and I had no idea as to what had happened in the past.

he felt towards Ashton, but he must have gotten rid of his humanity a long time ago if he had come all this way and

couldn’t place. He lamented, “You really remind me of her sometimes. When you handed me those clothes at the villa at Oceanid Bay, I nearly mistook you for her. You’re both just so, so kind. And afterward, I wanted to help you leave Ashton so that you would be free of him. Why didn’t you

my lower lip,

you’d left him back then, your life would be drastically different from what it is now. I would never have hurt you, I wouldn’t have met Macy, and you

abruptly stopped himself, a cruel smile on his lips as his stare turned sharp. “Do you see now? Do you see why Ashton deserves to die? He hurts everyone he loves, everyone who’s close to him. He bounds people to him and loudly proclaims that he’s doing it out of ‘love’. No matter how broken you feel, he will always comfort you with sweet nothings about how he’ll always protect you, how he’ll always treat you right. And then, it reaches a point where you can never bear to hurt him, even

you even force yourself to suppress all your feelings of upset and frustration in order to stay with him. I do that too; he indirectly caused me to lose the woman I loved most and caused me pain

are defined by our wide array of emotions. These emotions are never separate, but always intertwined and tangled

it was out of sympathy or

nodded, smiling. “That’s

and he will become mortal

neither of us needs to hold back the pain we

it was much more complicated than just a simple declaration

that Summer will continue to grow up safely

course. She’s my daughter. I will take good care of her and

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