Chapter 17
After returning, Dominic visited his mother’s grave. He gently brushed off the dust from the
tombstone, then sat down beside it, defeated.
“Dominic, I know your personality, so listen carefully. I absolutely forbid you from seeking out Winter again. She surely has her own life now, so stop pressuring her. You must promise me this so I
can rest in peace…”
On her deathbed, Mrs. Thorne had clutched his hand, begging him not to pursue Winter anymore.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I… went to find her. I was such a fool, but I can’t let her go…”
“She doesn’t need me anymore, Mom…”
“I was so wrong. How can I ever make amends?”
The sky was overcast. Looking up, Dominic felt raindrops on his face. He seemed to recall a rainy day long ago when, to please Aurelia, he had thrown Winter’s design project into the rain.
Aurelia had said: “Winter, your design concept is ‘life,‘ but how can you use withered roses? Maybe watering them will bring them back to life. Only living roses can represent ‘life,‘ right?”
What had Winter said then? Dominic tried to remember, but all he could recall was her hair, wet
from the heavy rain, clinging to her face in strands. Raindrops slid down her nose bridge, and her lips were tightly pressed together.
She just stood there in the rain, silently watching her work destroyed.
Yes, silently, she hadn’t said a word.
And he realized that Winter had actually stopped talking to him for a very long time.
Leaving the cemetery, Dominic returned to his car in a daze. Opening the door, he found someone sitting in the passenger seat.
Aurelia reclined there, holding two marriage certificates. Hearing the door open, she turned to look
at him.
Dominic grabbed her hair and yanked her out of the car.
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“Do you know where this is? How dare you come here!”
Though in pain from his grip, Aurelia managed to speak.
“Your mother’s death wasn’t my fault. It was Chase! Can’t we talk about this?”
Dominic found her amusing. “Chase? As if you’re not implicated? I haven’t even settled accounts about your affair with him, yet you have the audacity to come here?”
This was a cemetery, and mourners nearby had recognized the young Thorne heir.
Looking at the woman struggling in his grip, whose former sweetness had transformed into a despicable façade, he suddenly released her.
Aurelia fell to the ground. Lying there, coughing violently, she still managed to hold up the marriage
certificate, as if flaunting it.
Dominic snatched it away, opened it to see his name alongside Aurelia’s, laughed softly, and then–to Aurelia’s utter disbelief–tore it to pieces.
“Dominic, you…”
“I only ever got a marriage certificate with Winter,” he stated firmly.
Indeed, the certificate had been arranged by Winter, and even though it bore Aurelia’s name, in Dominic’s heart, it was Winter’s name that belonged there.
“But that has my name on it!” Aurelia questioned frantically: “Isn’t this what you wanted? To be free of Winter and be with me? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?”
“I’ve completely broken up with Chase, Dominic. I won’t let him disturb our lives again. Just come back to me, and we can return to how things were…”
The woman was in tears, genuinely regretting her mistake of continuing with Chase. If she could start over, she would never seek him out again.
Chase… Dominic inhaled sharply, shocked that Aurelia dared mention Chase’s name in this place.
His phone vibrated–a call from his assistant. He stepped aside to answer.
“Sir, I investigated as you asked and discovered some things…”
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A file was sent to his phone, and Dominic hesitated before opening it.
Inside were Aurelia’s forged bleeding disorder diagnosis, photographic evidence of her bullying Winter in college, details of the car accident she and Chase had planned…
Even earlier, during high school, Aurelia, jealous of an award Winter received, had instructed Chase
who didn’t even have a driver’s license then to run Winter over. Though Winter hadn’t been in the
car, her parents had been in the vehicle that was completely destroyed.
So that was it.
He turned off his phone screen and looked at the pitiful woman still kneeling on the ground. He lit a cigarette, then smiled.
“Alright, let’s start over. But first, we need to settle some accounts.”
Aurelia, seeing an opportunity, nodded without hesitation: “Whatever you want. I’m willing,
Dominic. As long as I can be with you, as long as we can go back to how things were…”
“Get in the car.”
Dominic grabbed her hand and shoved her back into the car. Aurelia’s head hit the door, and she
cried out in pain.
“That hurts, Dominic! I can get in by myself…”
“Hurts?” Dominic rested one hand on the car window, casting a large shadow over the woman inside. Aurelia felt an inexplicable fear creeping up. Before she could say anything, Dominic
continued:
“Does it hurt more now, or during a car accident?”
“What?” Aurelia was confused, but Dominic didn’t wait for her answer and walked to the driver’s
seat.
Looking at the unfamiliar scenery outside, Aurelia grew frightened. She asked Dominic where they were going but received only silence.
Finally, the surroundings became familiar. Aurelia recognized it as the hospital she’d been to before.
“Do you know where this is?” Dominic’s voice revealed no emotion.
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Aurelia answered: “Is this the hospital where I was treated after the car accident? Why are we
here…”
“This is where Winter donated blood to you.”
Aurelia seemed to understand something. She dared not speak, not comprehending why she still ha
to hear Winter’s name.
Since high school, Winter had been a thorn in her side, and in Dominic’s life. Winter’s desperate pursuit had made everyone associate her with Dominic-
“What’s that little follower of Dominic Thorne called? Winter Bailey, right…”
Although she hated to admit it, Winter had managed to bind herself to Dominic through such
methods. So she feared asking why Dominic mentioned her again.
But hadn’t he loved her most at the beginning?
It was Winter’s appearance that changed everything.
The design award she couldn’t win, Winter won.
The parental love she lacked, Winter had.
Even when she couldn’t lower herself to be with Dominic, Winter stuck to him like glue, using
underhanded methods to seduce him. And now, even Dominic’s heart had been stolen by Winter.
Aurelia felt Winter was put on this earth to torment her. She truly hated Winter!
So using a little of her blood was nothing, stealing her award was nothing, having Dominic torture her was nothing… because all of these things should have been hers. Everything should have been
hers!
The sound of the engine stopping interrupted Aurelia’s thoughts. Dominic had parked here.
Aurelia looked out the window and vaguely heard Dominic ask-
‘What place is this?”
Aurelia glanced around. A little further ahead was their old school, but the former high school had moved to a new campus, and this area had been vacant for a while, even more desolate than the
suburbs.
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She thought Dominic had brought her to reminisce about the past, and tears of emotion gradually
filled her eyes.
“Get out.”
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