His Surprise Was My Family's Funeral

All I did was call the police. How was that going too far?

Where exactly had I gone too far?

I hurled my phone hard against the wall. The screen shattered instantly and it never made another sound.

When I got back to the apartment, Damien and Vanessa were already waiting at the door.

He froze for a second when he saw me, the anger in his eyes momentarily replaced by surprise.

"Where did you go? Why do you look like this?"

I had no intention of speaking to either of them.

I pulled out my key and went straight to unlock the door.

He frowned and yanked my shoulder roughly.

"Elena, what’s the point of blowing things out of proportion like this? I’m here to ask you, do you really want to make such a fuss? Are you saying you don’t want to be with me anymore?"

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

Was there even a 'we' left to go on with?

Because of my stubbornness, this relationship had cost my entire family their lives.

How could we possibly continue?

I tilted my head, letting tears fill my eyes. I didn’t know how to express what I was feeling,

So I just flailed my hands randomly to try to communicate.

But Damien didn’t understand. He grew more impatient and slapped my arm.

“Stop the gesturing! Are you mute or what? Enough with the nonsense, okay?”

His strength was heavy and after two days of no food and no sleep, my body was weak.

Caught off guard, I was spun around by the force and my forehead slammed against the wall nearby.

Stars flashed in my vision as I steadied myself against the wall, slowly sliding down to the floor.

When I lifted my hand from my forehead, I saw blood on my palm.

His voice suddenly cut off.

As he moved forward to help me, Vanessa grabbed him from behind.

“Damien, Elena’s emotions aren’t stable right now. You two probably can’t communicate well. Let me handle this. You go wait downstairs first.”

Damien hesitated, glanced at me twice, then obediently went downstairs.

Vanessa squatted down to meet my gaze, brushing aside the hair from my forehead with a finger, her voice dripping with mocking laughter.

“Elena, do you really think putting on this act to gain sympathy is worth it? You don’t actually believe Damien loves you, do you?”

“Let me tell you a little secret! Damien’s family never went bankrupt. The so-called bankruptcy back then was just them moving all their assets overseas. All these years, you’ve just been someone Damien amuses himself with when he’s bored!”

I stared at her in disbelief, unable to guess what was true or false in her words.

All these years, my whole family believed Damien’s family was truly bankrupt. We were afraid to upset him and always catered to his feelings, not even daring to mention the word “bankruptcy” during family conversations.

He kept testing my family with illness and accidents and we just thought he was insecure and lacked a sense of security.

Even though he scared me half to death every time, I never once complained about him.

But now, Vanessa told me that the Cole Family never went bankrupt from the start. So what was all my family’s accommodation and patience over the past six years worth?

I leaned against the wall and got up, numb, wanting to go back inside.

Vanessa grabbed me. “Elena, I advise you to break up with Damien as soon as possible. I know you only had the wedding ceremony. You never got the marriage certificate.”

“The whole ‘520 proposals’ thing is just an excuse for him to mess with you. Do you really think Damien would propose to you 520 times? How many has he done so far? If he really proposed 520 times, you’d be an old woman by then. Who do you think would want you then?”

I had no energy to argue with her, so I raised my hand to brush her off. But she suddenly gasped and fell backward onto the floor.

In less than a minute, Damien rushed up from downstairs.

Vanessa quickly got up from the floor and stood firmly between me and Damien, tears streaming down her face.