3. "A Stranger Known"

 Chapter 3:"A Stranger Known"

 

"Hey!" Taylor shouted in a way that startled her, but there was a hint of regret in his eyes.

 

"She tried to hurt me!" Emma accused while portraying herself as a victim. He moved toward Emma and saw the nail mark on Elizabeth's face.

 

"How dare you!?" He returned to face her angrily.

 

"She's the mistress, not me! How can you still defend her? Everything you said... all our vows..." she asked tearfully, still seated on the floor.

 

Taylor smiled somewhat bitterly as he looked at the ceiling with skepticism. Then, he directed a disgusted look toward Elizabeth.

 

"You... I just wanted to use you, I wanted you to surrender to me, and then I'd leave you."

 

Elizabeth was speechless, petrified as she stared at him.

 

"Four years? Just for that?"

 

"No!" He chuckled discreetly. "Also out of pity, and... besides, you were pretty. Guys still desired you even in those rags..." He lowered his gaze, assessing her clothes, realizing they were different. "Even looking disgusting and neglected, men always want to get close. I was just smarter, a naive and virginal girl, well... not so naive after all, smart enough to wait until after marriage. You do defend what you believe in." He commented indifferently.

 

"The ring?"

 

"This? An old corner shop ring that I lied about being a family heirloom. Look..." He sighed, crouching to meet her eyes, at the same time noticing how different she appeared, literally another Elizabeth. "From the start, I would never marry such a simple woman like you. I can't... not having a surname like mine. You'd be a disgrace to my family, and I'd even be disinherited for getting involved with a poor woman like you, understand Elizabeth, people like you are destined to be mediocre employees in companies that will never see any value in you, no matter how smart you are, you'll always be a shadow and nothing more. And..." He stood up, extending his hand to Emma, who proudly positioned herself by his side. "Emma is like me too, we are important people, and people like us can't mix."

 

Elizabeth remained unresponsive for a few minutes, listening to every word and engraving them in her heart as the hurt grew.

 

"She's so pathetic, I don't know how you put up with someone so... I don't know, useless, didn't even serve you as a woman," Emma grumbled, while Taylor remained silent, discreetly swallowing, feeling confused.

 

Finally, Elizabeth stood up, wiped her tears, trying to maintain her dignity, her gaze lowered hiding the coldness amidst the pain. She removed the ring and tossed it at Taylor's chest; her cold look made him a little apprehensive, as if something had changed, then she left the room.

 

"How audacious..." Emma muttered, picking up the ring and throwing it in the trash.

 

Once out of the apartment, Elizabeth walked along the road on foot, almost a kilometer alone until she sat by the roadside, feeling her ankles ache, red from the discomfort caused by the heels, which, even though not very high, were painful, especially after Taylor pushed her. It had been so long since she only wore sneakers that it was torture.

 

After realizing she was far enough from the apartment, she finally let the tears fall without holding back.

 

Amidst the pain, she remembered the signs she had ignored, and at the same time, wondered how long he had been cheating on her to the extent that Emma was already considered his fiancée.

 

Then she remembered that for some time, Emma had been hinting and making indirect remarks, so she suspected that he might have been cheating on her for almost a year.

 

There were so many signs, but Elizabeth had the habit of ignoring anyone who always spoke ill of her, except for her best friend, with whom she lived, and who helped her endure the adversities that came her way. But at that moment, there was only her and her pain, and her desire to be alone until the pain subsided.

 

At that same time, Richard Campbell had just left the same university Elizabeth attended. It was lunchtime, so he would head to a restaurant after his unsuccessful search for a girl named Eliza Ferrari.

 

For some reason, he had a list of meticulously selected girls in hand. The man with a striking appearance and noticeable presence maintained a serious demeanor as he headed for the exit of the Elêusis campus.

 

"Are you frustrated for not finding the first girl on the list?" his bodyguard and best friend Alfred asked. "Look at how many girls are captivated by your presence; any of them would accept a million-dollar deal with you."

 

"I don't want just anyone; I want a smart woman with a bit of sense. I want to get rid of the agreement with the Leblanc family, but I'm not desperate to choose any woman, and this Eliza... she seems quite intelligent."

 

"Besides being very beautiful too, but don't you think the Campbell family will feel betrayed?"

 

"Don't forget they gave me an opening themselves. If I'm already married by some miracle if the spoiled Elizabeth accepts the marriage, I'll already be married, and they won't be able to force me to marry her."

 

"You seem not to like this girl," suggested Alfred.

 

"You know, I have problems with spoiled women, and Elizabeth is nothing more than a woman who lives in the shadow of her parents, being hidden and pampered. She does whatever she wants with them, and that's why the agreement hasn't been sealed yet," he commented disgustedly.

 

"Okay..." Alfred sighed, stopping in front of his car. "I'll go back to the company; I have some things to take care of. Is it okay if I leave you alone?"

 

"You know I like to have lunch alone."

 

Richard got into his car, threw the clipboard with the information about the girls, and drove toward a restaurant he frequented. The trip was smooth because of the time, but the red light was always something that disrupted his journey.

 

"It seems like today I'm catching all the red lights possible," he grumbled as he had to stop for the fourth time.

 

He sighed heavily while looking around until he noticed a girl sitting on the roadside alone, and a few meters away, a strange man was approaching her with his hand on his waist, indicating that he was going toward her to rob her.

 

He frowned in surprise as he recognized her; that was the Eliza Ferrari on top of the list of women he had

 

 selected. He had a complete file of her.

 

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