Hamish had known Finn for ten years, and he knew exactly what kind of person Finn was-a real smooth talker, there was no one he couldn’t charm. Someone as naive as Elisa could easily fall into his trap at the blink of an eye.
The image of Finn whisking Elisa away made Hamish wish he could just swallow the woman in front of him whole.
Gritting his teeth, Hamish held Elisa’s chin as if he wanted to crush it.
Elisa’s heart ached. She tightly bit her lip, tears streaming down her face. This was her husband? She would rather believe a few photographs than her own words.
Maybe in his mind, she was just a social butterfly, someone who could hook up with any man. The pain in her slightly narrowed eyes revealed the hurt within her. She choked out, “Hamish, what does it matter to you who I meet or what I do? Why do you have the right to limit my freedom? I’m a person, not a canary in a cage you can keep locked up.”
Hamish’s eyes turned as cold as ice at that moment. He nodded, grinding his teeth. “What are we to each other? Do you want me to show you?”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sound of silk tearing. Elisa’s silk nightgown was ripped apart by Hamish, and before she could even cover herself, an onslaught of kisses and bites rained down on her.
The pain drained the color from Elisa’s face. Her tears flowed more violently, as she not only endured the physical pain but also suffered the verbal assault from Hamish.
“If I hadn’t ‘checked up’ on you today, would you have already booked a room, ready to be in bed with someone else?” Hamish spoke harshly and cruelly, giving her waist a vicious squeeze.
His words grew increasingly unbearable, and Elisa’s expression became grim. She raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.
Despite her effort, he only flinched slightly. The force was mutual, and as Elisa’s right palm turned red, her fingertips trembled in pain.
Hamish’s face darkened. “You hit me for him?”
Elisa’s chest heaved, her voice hoarse as if the words were being forced out of her throat. “I hit you. So what? Would you do it for someone else?”
Elisa took a deep breath and choked out, “Hamish, let’s get a divorce. There’s no trust between us, and staying together only causes mutual harm…” She finally said it.
She had truly liked Hamish during this time. Due to her amnesia, she had regarded him as everything, believing he loved her unconditionally. However, it all crumbled because of a few photographs. Since there was no trust in their marriage, it was better to end it. She didn’t believe she couldn’t live without him.
The determination in Elisa’s eyes was so familiar, a gaze she often used on him before her amnesia, a gaze that had made him tremble in fear.
“You want a divorce with me?”
“Yes,” Elisa repeated, “Let’s divorce.”
“You can’t even think about it!” His eyes were bloodshot, filled with panic, anger, urgency, and unease. Despite being so afraid of Elisa asking for a divorce, he was relentless in his argument.
“Divorce so you can be with other men, I’d rather die!” At that moment, many thoughts raced through his mind. He and Elisa had long been divorced. If Elisa, clever as she was, discovered anything, it might trigger her memory, and then he would never be able to get her back. Just the thought of it made his limbs turn cold, and he grew to hate Finn even more.
To Elisa, Hamish seemed so unfamiliar, so frightening.
“Hamish, you want me to stay away from other men, but can you stay away from women? Can you honestly say there are no women in your company? Have you never flirted with anyone, including Lila who visited here last time? Is she really just your stepsister?”
Since Lila’s visit, Elisa had sensed something. Her silence didn’t mean she didn’t care, nor did it mean she was truly foolish.
Whether it was wearing Hamish’s slippers or the words Lila had said, they all confirmed that they were hiding something from her.
Watching Hamish’s momentarily stiff expression further solidified her thoughts. “I may have lost my memory, but that doesn’t mean I’m foolish. If your love for me is merely possessiveness, then I ask you to let go and not make me resent you.”
Her calm words pierced his heart like a knife, leaving a bloody, painful gash, yet he wasn’t willing to let her golike a drowning person struggling, she forcefully pounded Hamish’s shoulders, wanting to grab him, but her fingers couldn’t even form a nail.
Hamish often said that what he detested most was being betrayed by those closest to him, but wasn’t that what he was doing?
The man who had embraced her and professed love just moments ago now seemed unrecognizable, casually retracting his words of affection as if it were nothing, leaving no room for reconciliation.
At the peak of their conflict, Elisa’s fingers struck the headboard, causing a sharp pain in her fingertips, as if they had been pricked by needles.
The pain vanished quickly, but it lingered deep in her mind, causing her to shudder subconsciously just at the thought of it.
Elisa gritted her teeth, tasting the metallic tang of blood in her throat. In this moment, she would rather bleed from her mouth than show any sign of weakness.
“Hamish, you deceitful…,” Elisa’s voice gradually drowned in the froth of blood in her throat, making it difficult to hear.
Hamish bit her ear and wiped the tears from her eyes with his fingers.
People often said that enduring pain would make it pass, but even as she endured, the pain persisted.