The Bride He Was Warned Not to Marry Chapter 08
I smiled sarcastically. “What? You thought I’d be a mess by now? Wallowing in self-pity over a failed relationship?”
William opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. He didn’t deny it either.
The silence stretched on.
I was getting impatient. You wanted to see me. Well, you’ve seen me. If you don’t have anything to
say, I’m leaving.”
He looked up at me with hollow eyes. “Emily, what happened with Sarah was an accident, the baby
too. Neither of us meant to hurt you.”
“After your parents died, you were in a really dark place. That’s when Sarah and I started spending more time together.”
“One night, you were drunk. No, we were all drunk. None of us were thinking clearly when it
happened.”
“Emily, Sarah tricked me. She said she would pretend it never happened. But then she wouldn’t
leave me alone.”
I listened quietly and didn’t interrupt.
After William was sentenced, both he and Sarah gave separate interviews to the news.
I saw her clip, she blamed everything on William and painted herself as the victim.
The online reaction to her was mixed, some believed her, some didn’t.
I was sure William saw it.
But watching the two of them tear each other apart was more tedious than I expected.
“Emily, I explained everything clearly. Do you believe me?”
He looked nervous, hopeful, like my answer mattered to him.
I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I looked out the window beside me.
Sunlight streamed in and fell across the table between us.
He sat in shadow. I sat in light.
“William, let me tell you something funny.”
“One day, someone told me I was going to end up in prison for killing someone.”
“He said I would kill the baby you had with Sarah. That I would ruin Sarah’s face and her life.”
“He said he hated me for it.”
“He said he would hire the best lawyers in the country and make sure my sentence went from seven years to fifteen.”
William went completely still. “What? How do you know that? Who told you? That’s impossible, you couldn’t possibly know that.”
He stammered, repeating himself.
I smiled at him as I slowly stood up.
“Right then, I told myself I would never let myself become that person.”
“I wouldn’t let one man or one woman destroy my life like that.”
“William, how you and Sarah got together doesn’t matter to me anymore. I don’t care.”
Because I don’t love you anymore. William, your life and your feelings have nothing to do with me
now.
1
I left without listening to anything else he had to say.
I didn’t expect to see Sarah again outside the prison.
In just three months, she looked like she had lost a ton of weight.
If it weren’t for the phone charm I recognized, I might have thought she was a stranger.
I used to have the same charm. Sarah gave it to me when we graduated from college.
I threw it away the day I moved out, along with everything William ever gave me.
