Chapter 2

Three years ago, Sienna made a comeback thanks to a single movie.

Lance crawled back into her life, shameless as ever.

When Sienna refused to reconcile, he tried to run her over.

I pushed her out of the way, got caught under the car myself, my insides shredded. I died on the operating table more than once before they managed to pull me back.

When I woke, Sienna was holding my hand, sobbing so violently it tore at my heart.

She swore that she would make him pay for what he had done if she ever saw Lance again in this lifetime.

Now, he had hurt me again, and she was choosing to protect him with her own body.

I picked up my phone and sent him a message:

[You win. Give me three days to settle things here, and then I’ll go back.]

It did not matter.

I did not have to marry Sienna.

…

The emergency room was a blur. The doctor was wrapping up my wounds.

Sienna burst in, storming past the nurses like a whirlwind.

She looked at me. My face was pale, battered, and scolded me,

“Zach! You were way too reckless! How could you stab Lance? What if the police had caught you?”

I raised my eyes and let a bitter laugh escape.

“Shouldn’t the one who should’ve been arrested be Lance?”

“Or, maybe he should have been taken in three years ago.”

I lifted my shirt, revealing the jagged scars crisscrossing my abdomen.

“Have you forgotten these? What about the justice you promised me back then?”

Sienna fell silent.

Suddenly, she snatched the scalpel from the doctor’s tray and drove it hard into her own palm.

Her movements were so fast that no one could react in time.

Warm blood spattered across my face. The coppery smell was sharp in the air.

She held her hand, blood pouring from it, and stared at me.

“Is this enough? Does this make it fair?”

”Stop causing trouble for Lance, okay?”

The string holding me together in my mind finally snapped.

The bitter, acidic ache I had held back for years surged up my throat, almost suffocating me.

I had not touched Sienna in ten years.

She had always said her body was sacred, that she wanted to save her most beautiful gift for our wedding night.

I respected her for it, and I waited for that moment.

The night before I proposed, she was drunk, stumbling, but her kisses were scorching. They were on my lips and on my neck.

She whispered in my ear over and over,

“Zach, I love you. I should love you. This life, I can only love you..."

I thought everything was falling into place.

Then, at the last moment, she pushed me away. Her eyes cleared for a brief moment.

“No, I just remembered something. I have to go out for a bit.”

She ran like she was escaping.

I assumed it was nothing more than pre-wedding jitters.

Now I realize, she was keeping herself pure for Lance.

“Why?”

“Sienna, why are you doing this to me?”

Her eyes were rimmed in red, tears trembling on the edge of her lashes.

“I promised him a child and a wedding. After that, it’s over.”

“Zach, just wait for me, okay? You love me so much. Please just wait one more year.”

I gave a hollow laugh.

My ten years of selfless love were just a chip she could cash in endlessly.

“I can’t wait.”

“Sienna, we’re done.“

The entertainment headlines exploded that evening.

[Rising Actress Sienna Spotted Kissing Mystery Man. Romance a Mystery]

Even in the blurry paparazzi photos, I could still make out Lance’s face.

The woman who had always been reserved in front of the cameras disappeared completely with him.

I moved out of the house I shared with her, planning to stay a couple days at my mother’s old place.

Back then, to keep Sienna safe from a deranged fan, my mother took the blows. The fan stabbed her multiple times. She never came back.