Chapter 3

Derrick's face turned even colder. "Cassandra Schmidt! I never wanted to marry you! If you never saved my life, if my parents never forced me to repay you, I would never even have gotten engaged with you in the first place!"

I laughed hard, suddenly realizing that I couldn't recognize him anymore. He was just being ridiculous at this point.

"So, in the end, it's all still my fault? You're not stupid, Derrick Lodge. You're just plain evil! You and your family have your eyes on my family business, but you hadn't wanted to give up on your first love. You're weak and greedy, and that was what killed her in the end!

"You refused to blame yourself for it, and you didn't dare blame your parents, either. So, you ended up pinning the blame on me, the person who saved your life! You're such a pathetic being!"

That night, I bore with the pain and pulled myself all the way to the pharmacy to get myself some painkillers, and finally got over the worst of it.

Ever since then, our relationship had never been the same. It was thoroughly wrecked. I also refused to show him any moment of weakness.

But now, Xander was taking such good care of me, even though I was going through the same cramps and pain during my period.

I felt my nose tingling with emotion and quickly looked away, forcing my tears back.

"Thank you."

Xander looked up and smiled innocently at me. "You don't need to be so polite."

Just then, a rescue doctor poked his head into the car. "Mr. Tarantino, you called us just now because you said that you found a survivor. Were you referring to this young lady?"

Xander nodded and turned to me. "This is Dr. Jessica Sanders, the medical doctor on our rescue team. Let her have a look at you."

I nodded, so Xander immediately shifted aside and let the doctor in.

After a quick preliminary checkup, she said, "There's nothing terribly wrong with Ms. Schmidt. It's just that she'd been caught in the flood for a while, and her period cramps were acting up simultaneously, which is causing a slight fever now. She'll be fine after a good night's rest."

Xander hummed in acknowledgment and saw the doctor off before returning to my side. He said in a gentle tone, "The rescue truck will be sending you to a temporary shelter in a bit. You can rest there for a while before I send you home later when the typhoon is over."

Home?

Suddenly, I didn't want to go back to that cold, cruel place I'd been calling "home" anymore.

My parents had always wanted a son of their own, and they were disappointed with me because I was a female. They only cared about molding Derrick into the perfect company heir and wouldn't even care if I never went home for a whole month.

In their eyes, their son-in-law was a lot more reliable than their own daughter and was therefore more suitable to inherit their company and other assets.

As for Derrick, since we'd died together in my past life and I'd traveled back in time to relive my life, I figured that it was also the same situation for him now. He was most probably happily hugging Victoria in his arms and celebrating the fact that he'd finally made the right choice this time.

In my past life, we'd been married for three years, but he never acknowledged his relationship with me in public and also refused to sleep with me in the same bed.

He even managed to convince my parents to chase me out of the company to be a stay-at-home wife, locking me up at home and refusing to let me out.

Every time anyone brought my name up, he would give them a pitiful look that said I'd betrayed him. So, eventually, people started hating me because of my reputation as a promiscuous woman.

Furthermore, my parents were even more determined to hand over their company to him instead of me, also as a way to make it up to him.

This time, however, I would rather that Derrick get forever entangled with Victoria than come after me to destroy my life again.

I turned to look at Xander and said in a beseeching voice that even shocked myself, "I don't have anywhere to go. Can you please… let me stay with you for a few days?"

When Xander didn't reply, I tugged on the hem of his shirt anxiously, looking at him with pleasing eyes.

He had been the only one who believed me when I insisted on getting a divorce from Derrick in my past life. He didn't attack me like the other people in my life did.

It was also that time when I realized he had had a crush on me for a long time.

Xander remained quiet for quite a while. Suddenly, he leaned forward, his breath ghosting against my ear, and said, "I'm not a good person. What if you get dragged into my mess just by staying with me?"

His voice was low and gruff, with an underlying concern. He was so close to me that his woody scent began invading my senses. He smelled so good that I nearly lost my mind.

"I'm not afraid. I don't care about the consequences."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

I looked at him and saw his eyes twinkling very briefly as his face turned red. Finally, he said, "Okay."

The rescue vehicle finally dropped us off at the temporary shelter. I was already beginning to burn up even worse than before.

When Xander carried me out of the car, I suddenly heard a familiar voice cry out next to me.

"Cassandra! Is that really you?"

It was Derrick. He was leading a team of firefighters with an anxious look on his face, like he was trying to form a team of rescuers.

He immediately ran up to me with a look of surprise on his face. "Cassandra! You're alright! I nearly went crazy trying to find you!"

I slid down from Xander's arms and steadied myself. Then, I looked at Derrick's lying face with an icy glare.

"What does it matter to you whether I'm alright or not?"