Alle Kapitel von Eight Years Wasted, I Rejected His Proposal: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 9

“I’ll make room for her.”I forced myself to breathe normally and turned away. A pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around me from behind. It was Jack.He had always been calm and controlled, the kind of man who needed an air of authority to command his men. Even with me, he usually stayed reserved and distant. He rarely showed this kind of intimacy.He moved around to face me while still holding me tightly, as though he feared I might run.“I didn’t explain myself properly just now. I made you misunderstand. Eleanor, there’s nothing between Layla and me. We only have a marriage certificate. That’s all. I did it to help her. You’re the only woman I love.”Jack usually stayed composed and untouchable. Seeing him desperately try to explain himself made his heartbeat press against my chest. I had been ready to walk away without looking back. My resolve slowly began to crumble.The words let’s break up never left my lips.We had been together for eight years. I had poured so much

Tears streamed down my face without stopping.The house was still packed with all the things it had always held, yet I felt completely hollow inside.I wanted to leave. I wanted to go back to my family.My family might have been a minor branch that depended on Jack’s, but we had earned our own place and standing.Then I remembered the embroidered family insignia my mother had left me. I had kept it tucked away in the wardrobe in my bedroom.It was a symbol of the Stanton family. When messages had to be sent over long distances, the insignia was safer than a written letter.Every family member had a unique embroidered design registered in the family records. Whenever we needed assistance, it served as proof of our identity and our right to call upon the family.I rushed back to my bedroom and began tearing through everything.No matter how hard I searched, I could not find it.I could let go of the real estate division I built for Jack, but I could not lose the insignia my moth

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the room Jack and I shared.The first thing that came to mind was my grandmother.My parents had always been busy when I was little, and my grandmother had been the one who spent most of my childhood by my side.I had to go home. I had to see her one last time.Still groggy, I tried to push myself upright. The moment I moved my hand, a sharp sting shot through the back of it.I looked down and pulled the IV needle from my hand. Blood immediately spilled from the puncture wound, and I sucked in a sharp breath.Jack jolted awake in the chair beside me, as though sensing something was wrong.He rushed over and pressed his hand over the wound. “Doctor! Doctor!”The doctor, who had been waiting outside, hurried in. After stopping the bleeding, he inserted another IV into my other hand and started another infusion.I cried and tried to get out of bed, but Jack pulled me tightly into his arms, just like he used to hold me when he loved me.

The doctor said Eleanor was sleeping peacefully for now and might sleep all the way until morning.Jack finally stopped keeping vigil at her bedside.He had all of Layla’s belongings packed up and thrown out of the house. Then he personally rearranged everything inside, putting each item back exactly the way Eleanor liked it.Only then did he sink onto the sofa to rest. For the first time, he felt strangely alone. The house was too quiet.Usually, whether he read the newspaper on the sofa or listened to his men give their reports in the study, Eleanor always had a way of appearing beside him without him even noticing.She would happily bring him some fruit, hum and dance around the room, then cling to him and beg him to hold her.He always complained that she was too noisy. Yet whenever he worked, he could never resist sneaking glances at her.It had been eight years, and Eleanor was still the same girl he met all those years ago. She was lively, bright, and impossibly endearing

Dead leaves spiraled up from the ground, caught in the wind and scattered across Jack’s face.He reached for them instinctively, but there was nothing there to catch.He had already begun to unravel the moment he realized Eleanor was gone.He searched the house from the highest floor to the lowest. There was nothing. He sent his men to trace her whereabouts, but they could not find her.He went to her friends, one after another. Not a single person would tell him where she was. He went to Eleanor’s family himself, only to be turned away at the door.In the end, he had to invoke his authority as Godfather just to get inside.He had been frantic to find her, to tell her that he had divorced Layla, to finally give her the words she had waited eight years to hear.“Eleanor, let’s get married.”He had been so consumed by the thought of finding her that he had forgotten one thing. Today was her grandmother’s funeral.Jack suddenly began striking himself across the face.“I’m sorry,