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When Love Lets Go
When Love Lets Go
Author: Clementine Sicily

Chapter 1 The Wedding

Author: Clementine Sicily
"R-Really?" My mother looked at me suspiciously.

For all these years, I had barely spent a moment away from Nolan.

Even today, on the day he was getting married, he had only been able to leave after staying with me for an entire week.

I gave a bitter smile. "His heart isn't with me anymore. What's the point of holding on?"

My mother's expression finally relaxed. She wrapped her arms around me and sobbed uncontrollably.

I did not know how much time passed before she finally spoke hesitantly. "Then… are you really okay staying here by yourself? I… Nolan wants me to officiate his wedding…"

That was when I learned that my mother had personally introduced Evelyn Brook to Nolan.

I nodded numbly. I could understand her. Relatives throughout the Swift family worked for the Drake Group.

Maybe, to her, Nolan was more important than her own daughter.

My mother left, visibly relieved.

However, after all those years with Nolan, I somehow ended up following my mother to the wedding.

White bellflowers and blue balloons. It was exactly the kind of wedding Nolan and I had once planned.

"Chloe?" Sasha Wingate, my best friend, was the first to notice me.

I clutched the hem of my dress, suddenly exposed beneath everyone's gaze with nowhere to hide.

Nolan had been about to kiss the bride, but he instinctively backed away. He turned stiffly and forced out a few words. "Ho—Chloe? What are you doing here?"

The entire room was filled with contempt and disdain.

He stumbled toward me, words tumbling out as he tried to explain. "Chloe, listen to me. This was just an accident. I…"

Before I could say anything, my mother screamed and rushed over, pinching the soft flesh of my arm hard. "You promised me you wouldn't come! Why are you here?"

I hissed in pain.

"Mom… Mrs. Swift, don't hurt Chloe!" Nolan instinctively stepped in to defend me.

But Sasha frowned. "Hasn't she dragged you down enough? It's been three years. When was the last time you got a good night's sleep? She's using her depression to make your life miserable every single day."

She paused, then muttered a few words under her breath. "A woman who's already been raped, and she still has the nerve to show up at the wedding and defile it…"

My fingertips went white.

Three years ago, I had risked my life to save Nolan after a rival kidnapped him.

I was assaulted.

From that day on, I was plagued by nightmares.

Whenever I bit Nolan's hand until it was covered in blood, I would come back to my senses and feel terrible. He would only shake his head and say, "I owe you this."

"Enough!" Nolan snapped at Sasha.

But then a soft voice rang out, taking away whatever strength Nolan had left to defend me.

"So, you must be Ms. Swift. Welcome to my wedding with Nolan."

She held out a glass of champagne to me with perfect composure. Her beautiful wedding dress outlined her elegant figure.

Then, I looked at myself, gaunt and wasted from cancer. I instinctively took several steps back.

Evelyn's hand remained suspended in the air as she looked toward Nolan.

He frowned and pulled me aside. "Go home for now. I'll explain everything later. Don't put everyone in an awkward position."

"Okay."

My quick agreement seemed to catch Nolan off guard.

But at that moment, a sudden, excruciating pain churned through my stomach. My face went pale, and I doubled over.

Nolan's expression changed. He quickly pulled me into a corner.

"Please. Don't make a scene here, okay? If you do, the Drake family won't let us be together anymore."

Sasha strode over and stepped in front of Nolan, shielding him from me as she glared at me. "Didn't you promise me you wouldn't put on an act? Are you having another episode?"

I did not dare speak. I was afraid the metallic taste of blood in my throat would escape.

At that, Sasha shoved me out of the reception hall. "You promised me. Don't use your depression to get sympathy! Chloe, I really regret ever being your friend."

The strong metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, and I could only swallow back my tears as I hurried away.

If everyone had already given up on me, there was no need to say goodbye.

I bought a ticket back to my hometown.

For whatever time I had left, I no longer wanted to be anyone's burden.
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  • When Love Lets Go   Chapter 9 What Has Passed

    The day Nolan was buried, my mother came.She was dressed all in black. Her hair had gone completely white, and she had grown so thin that her clothes hung loosely from her frame.She stood in front of the grave and left a bowl of noodles in front of Nolan's headstone.As the steam rose, she said, "Nolan, Chloe loved noodles. Have some together."Sasha stood beside her. During this time, she had been keeping track of Evelyn's case for Nolan.Evelyn did not come. She was still in custody, and the case was moving through the legal process.Later, I heard that her father had asked her lawyer to approach the Drake family and request a letter of forgiveness.Nolan was already gone, and the Drake family had directed all their anger at Evelyn.Five years in prison was something she could not escape.Sasha told me the news at my grave.The wind was strong, scattering the bouquet of white bellflowers in front of my headstone.She picked them up one by one and put them back in place.

  • When Love Lets Go   Chapter 8 The Things He Wrote

    Nolan shut himself away at home, refusing to leave our room.He forced Evelyn to divorce him. Then, he handed the company over to a professional manager.Every day, he did only two things.The first was writing. He started from the day I was diagnosed and stopped at the day he discovered the truth.He wrote down what he had done each day, what he had said to me, and what my physical condition had been like at the time.He stopped writing on the third page. Because on the day I was diagnosed, he had been taking Evelyn on vacation to Palm Bay.The flight booking and my biopsy report were dated the same day.He wrote the two lines side by side on the page, drew a line between them, then marked it with a huge X.After that, he closed the notebook. He did not sleep that night.He sat on the couch with the TV on, the volume turned almost all the way down.The news was showing footage of Evelyn being taken away, with reporters gathered outside the police station.She covered her fa

  • When Love Lets Go   Chapter 7 What They Caused

    My mother stayed in our hometown after that.She went back to the little bedroom. The same room where I had curled up and coughed up blood in the final days of my life.She spent the entire day cleaning. She threw away the bloodstained tissues. She patched the scratches on the wall with spackle, folded my old clothes, and put them neatly into the closet.When she was done, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared for a long time at the brownish stain beneath my pillow that would not come out.It was from a nosebleed I had had in the middle of the night during chemotherapy. The blood had soaked through, and I had never told anyone.She started going through the things I had left behind.There was a cardboard box under the bed. Inside were copies of my medical records, payment receipts, and handwritten instructions from my doctors.My mother went through them one by one. …By the third page, her hands had started to shake.My medical records noted that I had been suffering fr

  • When Love Lets Go   Chapter 6 No More Excuses

    Nolan stood frozen, his palm still resting against Evelyn's barely rounded stomach.Her words seemed to blur into a dull hum. He could not make sense of them.All he could think about was what his assistant had just said.Something involving Evelyn."What is it?" he asked hoarsely.His assistant glanced at Evelyn before lowering his head and handing Nolan a tablet."Someone deleted part of the security footage from the hallway on the day of the wedding. But the camera outside the pharmacy next door caught another angle. Ms. Swift did not push Mrs. Drake. Mrs. Drake grabbed Ms. Swift's hand herself and then fell backward."Nolan took the tablet.On the screen, I was wearing an oversized hospital gown. My face was as pale as a sheet, and I could barely keep myself upright.Evelyn approached with her belly showing. My body instinctively recoiled.The next second, Evelyn reached out, grabbed my wrist, and pressed my hand against her stomach. Then she released her grip and threw h

  • When Love Lets Go   Chapter 5 Too Late

    For the past few days, Nolan had been carrying a strange sense of unease. He could not shake the feeling that something important was slipping away from him.When my mother first suggested Evelyn to him, Nolan had wanted nothing to do with it. If anything, he had felt trapped. "Mrs. Swift, why would you do that to your own daughter?"My mother had only sighed. "She is not well. I have no idea when she will get better. Nolan, I have watched you look after our family all these years. I have long thought of you as one of my own. I just want you to have a normal wife."He had fallen silent.For some reason, the memory of all the times I had bitten him until he bled suddenly hurt more than it ever had before.And somehow, he agreed to meet Evelyn.Just as my mother had said, Evelyn was warm and cheerful. Being around her was easy. With her, he never had to worry about getting hurt.Before long, Nolan found himself spending more and more time with her.My best friend, Sasha, noticed

  • When Love Lets Go   Chapter 4 The Last Straw

    "Ms. Swift, have I ever told you? If you keep putting your body through this, you might not even make it through the month. And now you're pregnant, too. With your condition, you won't…"The sting of disinfectant brought me back to consciousness. I froze, and silent tears slipped down my cheeks.How had this little life ended up inside me?The doctor sighed. "You really don't want to tell Mr. Drake or your family? At the very least, they'll have to sign off on the surgery.""What good would that do? If they actually cared, would they really not be here right now?"The doctor said nothing more. She only told me to rest and prepare for surgery.A message from Nolan lay on my phone."Evelyn feels sorry for you. She's worried you'll have an episode if you have to face the reporters, so you don't need to attend the press conference. I'll spend some time with her as an apology. Can you stop making me worry about you?"There were also page after page of messages from my mother and Sas

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