"Then what about all your devotion to me in the past? Annabelle Linton, I know you’re just saying that to upset me. I won’t believe you," Leona Grant said stubbornly.

"Believe what you want. I’ve made myself clear, so what’s the point in lying to yourself? As for all that devotion... I was faking it. And you know why, don’t you? It was all an act to seem like a kind person. How else was I supposed to marry into the Grant Family and use you?"

"Even if you say that, I won’t believe you. Annabelle Linton, you know perfectly well whether you used to love me or not. You don’t have to stand there and twist the truth. If you didn’t love me, you would have just let me die that day. But you didn’t. The worry on your face was too obvious. You can’t just erase that with a few words," Leona Grant said with conviction.

Annabelle Linton felt a sharp pang in her heart as an odd sensation spread through her.

She furrowed her brow slightly and said with a derisive laugh, "That’s an interesting take. Saving your life means I love you? I’m a doctor. I save so many people every day—am I supposed to love all of them? It was just a first-aid procedure, nothing more.

"Besides, you were dying right in front of me. The last person you would have seen alive was me. If you’d died, I would have been legally responsible. Plus, my fingerprints were on the knife. I only saved you to avoid unnecessary trouble, so don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not the first time."

"..." Leona Grant was suddenly at a loss for words.

Annabelle Linton’s sultry voice came through the phone. "Sweetheart, I used to chase you for the thrill, for the conquest. Now I’m just not feeling it anymore, so... Heh, I don’t need to spell it out for you.

"Alright, my husband is waiting for me, so I’m hanging up. I hate clingy men, so stop debasing yourself. I will never love you. And another thing—stop pulling these suicide stunts. They’re fucking useless and frankly, pathetic. I mean, what did you accomplish by trying to kill yourself this time?

"So, just live your life. Stop wasting it on me. Go find a good woman and move on. But next time, keep your eyes wide open and don’t fall for someone like me again. I wish you all the best."

After saying her piece, Annabelle Linton decisively hung up. The next second, her bravado crumbled. She sank to the ground, burying her face in her knees as large tears began to fall.

’She didn’t want to hurt anyone.’

’But she just couldn’t let go of the child. She just couldn’t.’

Annabelle Linton’s words rained down on Leona Grant, each one a blow, and he felt himself begin to buckle under the weight of them.

He knew the rest was just an excuse; she had loved him for too many years for that to be erased by a few sentences. But those two words, "my husband," struck him with a pain so sharp he could hardly breathe.

’I can’t just give up like this,’ he thought. ’Annabelle Linton loved me for more than twenty years and suffered so much. How can I give up after one little setback?’

He’d wanted to crash their engagement party, but the thought of all the guests stopped him. ’If I ruin it, Annabelle will be terribly humiliated.’ So he’d held back.

’It’s just an engagement, not a marriage. It doesn’t mean anything.’

Leona Grant called her again.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

It was the tone indicating his number had been blocked.

When people are vulnerable, they tend to do irrational things. The wound on Leona Grant’s chest tore open, sending a horrifying mixture of rainwater and blood streaming down his body.

Realizing she had blocked his number, he violently smashed his phone.

Then he snatched a phone from a passerby and dialed Annabelle Linton’s number.

The passerby was about to fly into a rage, but one look at Leona Grant made them back down, not daring to utter a peep.

Listening to her ringtone through the phone, Leona Grant felt the ache in his heart sharpen into an unbearable agony, as if someone were trying to rip it straight out of his chest.