Chapter 46
“Sw she lowered her voice and said, “Mr.
“Lucien!” Ophelia saw Lucien take a step forward, and she immediately held onto his Vaughn’s men are watching us from the back.”
Yet, Lucien’s gaze was fixed on Calista, who closed her eyes and stubbornly turned aside. Even though it hurt her neck to do so, she didn’t have the courage to look at them anymore.
Memories of the past kept replaying in her mind. At that moment, no insult or violence was crueler than the look Lucien was giving her.
“Lucien, Calista has no dignity or self–respect. She brought this on herself. You can’t risk ruining the company’s reputation for someone like her.” Ophelia noticed Lucien wrestling with himself, and she immediately began persuading him.
Eventually, he left with Ophelia in his arms, leaving the unbearable scene behind him.
By now, it felt as if Calista and Ophelia had been returned to their rightful places.
Calista was destined to be despised, her dignity shredded into pieces. Meanwhile, Ophelia lived the life of a noblewoman, forever untarnished and dignified.
Calista gave up resisting altogether. The last sliver of hope in her heart was trampled on as well. She remained slumped on the floor as
Isabel lobbed scornful insults at her.
In truth, she knew Lucien would never help her out of this mess. After all, the public simply couldn’t picture it. She was married to the most prestigious man in Dorcan. Yet, she got picked on at the hospital, and she had to watch as her husband left with another lady.
Calista had been utterly humiliated, and the last thing she wanted was for Lucien to see her in this miserable state.
She wasn’t even sure how it happened, but she was eventually pulled out of the bleak situation. She vaguely remembered a big, white coat with the scent of disinfectant draped over her shoulders.
“Calista, Calista!” Alexander took her back to his office.
She had a completely vacant look on her face as she sat on the couch. It seemed like she had just suffered a crushing emotional blow.
He saw the state she was in when he came back with some antiseptic cotton swabs, feeling a surge of bitterness in his heart.
“Calista, are you alright?” Alexander very rarely spoke to his patients in this tone, but she made him feel powerless. He could do nothing but hope desperately that she would pull herself together.
“Dr. Lester, I–I didn’t seduce Mr. Finnegan.” Calista finally spoke up after a brief period of silence, her voice hoarse and low. Tears slid down her cheeks, mingling with blood as they traced her hollowed features.
“I know you didn’t do it. Alexander believed what she said without any hesitation.
Calista couldn’t help but chuckle. Her reality was harsh and pitiful, bringing to mind a vibrant rose caught in terrifying flames. Beautiful, but ultimately doomed.
“We’ve only met each other a few times, yet you’re willing to believe me?”
Alexander fell silent. All of a sudden, the opulence he saw felt utterly ironic. No one could’ve possibly known that Calista was living such a miserable life, even when everyone envied her for being Lucien’s wife.
After that, the two didn’t trade another word. Once he was done treating her wounds, he took her to a nearby hotel.
“You’re in no shape to go home now. I have a fixed room in the hotel. It’s yours to use, and you can get some sleep there.” Guilt gnawed at Alexander as he handed Calista the key card.
She glanced at it and gave no reaction. All she did was stiffly take the card and tucked it away. As she stepped out of the car, she felt the chilling wind and instinctively tugged her windbreaker tighter around her.
Her body was far too frail, and she simply couldn’t bear another hit.
After Calista entered the hotel room, she simply went to the bathtub and sank into the water. The silence and stillness of the place gave her, a temporary reprieve.
She had barely relaxed when the events at the hospital replayed in her mind again. Lucien’s skeptical and detached look clenched her heart tightly, refusing to let go.
With a sudden splash, Calista lurched out of the bathtub, gasping greedily for air.
At the next second, a heart–wrenching cry tore through the air in the bathroom. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, feeling a
stabbing pain deep in her heart.
An hour later, she walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. She was wet from head to toe, her face so pale that it was devoid of color. It looked like she could drop dead at any moment.
Calista walked over to the balcony with a vacant expression as the biting wind tousled her hair. A chill, born from deep within, slowly spread throughout her body.
At that moment, she heard her phone in the room vibrate. It didn’t take her long to figure out who the caller was. It had to be Lucien.
Regardless, she wasn’t in the mood to answer his call. So, she ignored it and let it keep ringing.
But the incessant vibrating sound soon got on her nerves, and her hollow gaze suddenly came alive with emotion–an unbidden resentment taking shape within.
Calista walked over and answered the phone in a suppressed voice. “Hello?”
“Where are you?”
She heard the beat of music on the other end of the phone and recognized it. It was Paradise Club’s signature music.
“Mr. Fenwick, is there anything you need?” Calista sounded perfectly calm, almost eerily so.
Lucien’s voice was caught in his throat. The way she spoke to him was so formal and distant. Calista should’ve been the last person to ever address him that way.
His eyebrows knitted tightly in response.
Noticing that he wasn’t saying anything, Calista added, “If you have nothing to say, I’m going to hang up now!”
The people sitting around Lucien held their breath. For some reason, he was exuding a menacing air tonight. He was so intimidating that the others didn’t dare breathe too loudly.
Calista didn’t want to waste words on Lucien. There was nothing left for them to say anyway. They were both at each other’s throats, and neither would back down.
