Chapter 14
Soren gave Zoe an apologetic look. “I ruined your fun, Zoe.”
Zoe shook her head repeatedly and pressed her hand against Soren’s lips. “I’m fine, Soren. We can always visit again some other time.”
Soren’s expression softened right away, and he pulled her into a hug. “You’re so good to me,
Zoe.”
Zoe laughed. “Who else do you think would treat you better than me?”
The idea of someone else flashed through Soren’s mind, but he shoved it away. Holding Zoe closer, he said, “Yeah, no one else would treat me as well as you do.”
He clung to those words, desperate to quiet the restlessness in his chest.
That night, Zoe turned off the light, and the two fell asleep in each other’s arms.
But Soren slept fitfully. He kept dreaming about Parker Group’s bankruptcy and the image of Rodney and Joyce jumping to their deaths while he slept soundly.
He sold the family villa and everything of value, moving into a rundown shared apartment packed with more than a dozen people.
His days followed the same routine–working at the restaurant and the bar, then returning to the apartment. He developed a serious stomach problem and often jolted awake in the middle of the night.
Disturbed by the noise in their musty rented apartment, his housemates would curse at him, leaving him no choice but to keep apologizing.
The debts weighing Soren down were suffocating. He was certain these tormenting days would never end–until one day, he intervened to stop a drunken heir from causing a scene in the bar.
The spoiled heir was drunk, and his temper flared. He threw his drink all over Soren, shouting, “Who the hell do you think you are, putting your filthy hands on me?
11
Soren clenched his fists at his sides, but his expression remained meek. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t cause trouble here.”
The wealthy heir’s expression turned stormy, and he tried to take a swing at Soren, but a small figure suddenly jumped between them. “Go ahead. Hit him if you
dare!”
The young woman had an unexpectedly intense presence, and the wealthy heir froze in shock. She signaled to a few bodyguards, who quickly hauled him away. Then, she turned and carefully draped a coat over Soren’s shoulders, offering him a sweet smile. “Soren, I’ve cleared all your debts. You don’t have to live like this anymore.”
Bathed in the glow of the bar’s neon lights, Sylvie appeared like a guardian angel. “Starting from today, you’re mine. You’ll never leave me for the rest of your life.” From that moment on, Soren stayed by her side, yet he saw her love as a cage and struggled endlessly to escape.
“Mr. Parker, I’m Zoe Lasky. I’m here to apply for the secretary position.”
Just like the main characters in a romance, Soren was immediately taken with Zoe the second he laid eyes on her.
He questioned his intense feelings for her, but he couldn’t make sense of them. Eventually, he concluded it must have been love at first sight.
Soren fell head over heels for Zoe and was willing to do whatever it took for her. Even giving up one of his kidneys was no exception. It all seemed destined, as though they were meant to be together without a doubt.
The guardian angel who’d once pulled him from darkness slowly became the target of his hatred.
He resented the financial agreement she’d imposed on him and despised her smothering devotion Worst of all, he hated how she came between him and Zoe, denying them the freedom to love openly.
In his dream, it was as if he were hovering weightlessly above the scene, observing everything unfold beneath him.
Soren saw Sylvie in the hospital hallway, doubled over in pain as she pleaded with the impassive bodyguards for medication. When they refused, she collapsed onto the cold tiles, her face drained of color.
He witnessed Sylvie stagger backward from Zoe’s words, only to be pelted by toppling vases that left her bleeding.
Remy, who’d been silently observing from the sidelines, suddenly lunged forward in alarm, causing Zoe to recoil too quickly and twist her ankle.
Then, Soren watched as the bodyguards pushed Sylvie into the walk–in freezer. She was still holding onto Remy’s lifeless body. Frost formed on her hair, but she wouldn’t let go of Remy’s corpse.
He saw Sylvie try to reason with Zoe before shutting the villa’s door and walking away. Yet, Zoe remained kneeling outside the door in the rain all night.
Unaware of this, Sylvie later endured Soren’s harsh accusations. Then, when the car crash left her clinging to life by a thread, he heartlessly turned his back, almost leaving her to die.
Finally, there stood Sylvie, delicate and fragile, on the airstair. Without hesitation, she turned away.
Hier lips barely moved as she whispered into the distance, as if saying, “Goodbye, Soren.”
