He Said He Loved Me in Front of My Ex

The hot girl next to Zach filled his glass with whiskey. She also poured one into my glass, and since I never refused, I drank it in one gulp.

The whiskey had a high concentration of alcohol, and the aftereffect was unpleasant. I gritted my teeth at the warm and burning feeling in my throat as I stood there, thinking that if I could just get Zach to sign the contract, we could discuss everything else later.

Zach took over halfway through my seventh glass of wine. My throat was on fire, and my eyes were filled with tears. His eyes were filled with concern as he looked up at me.

He said, "Stop," in an almost gentle tone.

I was taken aback. He narrowed his eyes and mockingly raised his thin, cold lips.

"It's no fun drinking like this; how about we just drink it straight from the bottle?"

The waiter standing at the table quickly brought over a dozen of brandy and politely asked, "How many of them would you want me to open, Mr. Dempsy?"

Zach pulled out a cigarette and lit it up with his head crooked. He took a flirty glance at me and said, "Let's open them all. "

My heart was as cold as ice. I knew he wouldn't have any mercy on me. He knew how little my alcohol tolerance was. Was he planning to kill me through alcohol poisoning? That would be a good way to get rid of me immediately.

"Don't you like money, Ivy? Here, I'll give you $10,000 for every bottle you drink, and once they're all gone, I'll sign the contract."

I bit my lower lip, feeling as if someone had just ripped open my chest.

"How generous of Mr. Dempsy to pay for all these drinks and still pay me money," I said, squeezing out a smile and trying to sound confident. "I certainly have to drink them all, then."

The wine went right into my throat and burned all the way into my stomach. The anger ignited in his eyes, those deep blue eyes like a pond of water. Halfway through, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me close to him with all his strength.

Bottles fell and smashed on the ground. With my knees on the ground, I couldn't help but sigh.

Zach pinned me down in front of him, holding my wrist with one hand and my chin with the other.

"Do you really love money that much?"

Even when I gasped in pain, I was still stubborn. I wouldn't wave a white flag, even if I already knew I was done for.

"Who doesn't love money, Mr. Dempsy? I mean, unless you are stupid."

With rage on his face, Zach squeaked the words between his teeth, "Fine, and you want to be a bitch, I'll let you be."

Then he lifted me off the ground and walked away. I stumbled downstairs to follow him despite the excruciating pain in my knees and wrists. He drew me into a car. He slammed the door shut and accelerated to the road.

It was raining heavily outside, and the car was speeding on the road. We didn't say a word to each other the entire time until he drove out of the town and stopped at a house—a mansion—near a mountain. Then he told me to get off.

Because of the alcohol, I was drenched and shivering. I followed him into a house, where he pushed me onto the couch and smashed his lips on mine.

His mouth was filled with the kind of cruelty I hadn't felt in a long time. The kiss felt like a violent storm, but it wasn't like that anymore. Zach was acting more like a ferocious beast at the time, his big hands moving ruthlessly all over my body. And I was becoming tense by the second.

Obviously, I still love him. But at that moment, I unexpectedly felt hopeless, even terrified.

Lying on top of me with his lips still rubbing against my cheek, he mumbled, "Ivy, tell me you didn't take that money."

His voice sounded pleading. Like he was wishing that I didn't. That it would break his heart all over again if I confirmed I did.

I felt the lump in my chest tighten, tears instantly coming out of my eyes as it dawned on me that Zach still felt the pain in his heart. Even after so many years, he still couldn't let it go. But there was also something that stuck in my heart, and it was like a thorn that kept aching night after night.

"I took it."

He abruptly came to a halt. I could feel his fingertips burning as he lifted my face with his hand. I could see the lust in his eyes slowly fading away and replaced by disgust in the dim light.

Zach took out a cigarette and lit it. Under the light of the fire, his side face was blurry. He sat there, motionless.

After a while, he took my briefcase from the drawer and said, "Ivy Dikkens, there's nothing that can connect us from now on; you and I are strangers."

'Nothing linked us together, and we were strangers.'

My heart finally broke into pieces, and my ears kept buzzing at the sound of his painful words. All those words I had held in for six years were stuck in my mouth. I lost my last chance to tell him the truth.

I couldn't look at Zach even when I left, and I had no idea how I had left his place. For the first time, I burst out laughing in the pouring rain.

I had no idea Zach's wealthy family had such complicated relationships six years ago.

With the baby, I figured we'd be able to start our own family soon. But all I got was his predicament and his mother going out of her way to separate us.

I had never been a material person, but I still took the money from his mother in the end. It was only because my mom was seriously ill, and it would take our family forever to pay off that 50,0000 dollars fee for her treatment.

I loved him, but I also loved my family. So I had to choose. And no matter how painful the choice I made, I would be glad to do it again.