The Bride He Was Warned Not to Marry Chapter 09
I looked at her flat stomach.
“Lended the pregnancy,” Sarah said with a bitter smile. “My parents were so ashamed they kicked
me out. Does that make you feel better, Emily?”
William lost his place as heir to the Harrington fortune.
Sarah was publicly shamed and condemned by nearly everyone.
I got what I wanted, the twenty thousand dollars for emotional distress was in my account.
But did I feel better? Not really.
Sarah looked me in the eyes. “Emily, I’ve been thinking a lot lately. If we had never met William, maybe we’d still be friends, still sisters.”
I shook my head. “No. Even if it wasn’t William, it would have been someone else. Sarah, people like you don’t deserve friends, you don’t have a heart.”
“If I could turn back time, I wish that knife freshman year had landed on you.”
I looked at her pained, regretful face one last time.
“If I could turn back time again, I wish I had never met you at all.”
“Sarah, you make me sick.”
Behind me, I heard something heavy fall to the ground, but I didn’t look back. I had to keep moving
forward.
A year later, I was transferred to the Harbor City branch office.
The day I left, I was going through old things when I found the prototype earbuds William had given
Maybe out of boredom, maybe for some other reason, I put them in.
I didn’t connect them to anything. All I heard was static.
I smiled to myself and started to take them out.
Then a familiar voice came through, William. From ten years later.
“Emily? Is that you?”
I stayed silent.
William heard me breathing. He didn’t push. His voice sounded almost happy.
“I finally found you. I’ve been wondering how you knew everything. Was it the day I gave you those earbuds? You heard us, didn’t you?”
I didn’t deny it. “Yes.”
He finally heard my voice. He paused, then laughed.
“You know what? Ten years from now, you’re amazing. You’re a top executive in Harbor City. You have a bright future ahead of you.”
A year ago, I had already changed the future. The version of me who went crazy over William and Sarah, the one who ended up in prison, no longer existed.
“Emily, you never wanted to see me. All I could do was stay by these earbuds and wait for you. I thought I might never hear your voice again.”
“Do you still hate me?”
I paused. “No.”
“You and Sarah aren’t worth hating. Hating someone takes too much time and energy, and my time
is valuable.”
After I said that, the line went quiet for a long time. Finally, William spoke again, laughing. “Emily, you really are something now.’
I looked up at the sky.
Yeah. I wasn’t that girl anymore, hiding in her shell, waiting for someone to protect her.
In the silence, I took out the earbuds and dropped them into a nearby trash can.
I cut the last thread connecting me to William.
At the airport gate, I took one last look at the city I had lived in for more than twenty years.
Neon lights lit up the dark night, and for the first time, my life felt like my own.
