Faded Oaths

As soon as I stepped outside the garden gate, Liam came to me. "Clara has decided to forgive you. You won't have to sleep at a hotel tonight. The guest bedroom is yours."

He spoke with a tone that radiated selflessness. It was as if he expected me to thank him for it.

I turned him down. "No, thanks. I'm just about to leave."

He frowned, unimpressed. "You're leaving? Where do you have to go?"

"I'm going back to Zentara."

A sarcastic laugh escaped from his lips. He thought I was throwing a tantrum.

"Playing hard to get as a way to provoke me, huh? I told you, Clara is my legal wife. I can't just let you take away her place."

We dated for five years and were married for three. For some reason, it only occurred to me then how much of a jerk he was. Now, everything in the past was starting to feel like a joke.

I calmly replied, "My husband's in Zentara. He'll worry if I'm home late."

Liam was stunned. It took him a long while before he found his bearings. Pale and confused, he yanked my wrist and questioned, "You married someone in Zentara?"

I nodded. "You and I both have our own families to go back to. From now on, I'll be out of your life for good."

I struggled out of his grip, but he was surprisingly strong.

"I don't believe you," he responded. "I'm a CEO worth over ten million now. Are you really willing to give that up? Even if you married someone else while you had amnesia, staying here should still be the better choice, isn't it?"

His urgency felt strange and even a little funny to me. I looked at him with a hint of pity.

Thanks to the fortune I left behind, Liam's company had gone public. However, compared to my current husband, it was nothing.

Besides, wealth was never what I truly wanted.

I slowly pried away his hand. "I don't care about these. I only care about the one I love."

His breath hitched. "And what about Lucas? Are you gonna abandon him?"

"I heard Clara's been good to him. From now on, she can be his mother without guilt."

A black Maybach pulled up just in time, and I recognized it instantly as my ride. I broke free from Liam's hold and got in without looking back.

Outside the window, he stood rooted to the spot, his eyes red-rimmed, staring fixedly in the direction I was leaving.