“Stop talking nonsense!” I jumped up. “Patrick and I don’t have that kind of relationship!”
“Then who are you in that kind of relationship with? Cameron?”
“You…”
“Laura,” he stared at me, “if I show these photos to Cameron, how do you think he’ll react?”
I was stunned, unable to say anything. I didn’t know what this man was up to or why he suddenly underwent such a drastic change.
I wanted to reassure him, after all, we still carried the title of husband and wife. In The Lynch Family, I could only rely on him.
“Carter, I…” I swallowed hard. “Let me explain everything from the beginning. Can you please sit down first?”
Carter seemed to have anticipated that I would say this. He raised the corner of his mouth, swaggered over, and sat casually on the sofa, his eyes glancing at me. “Go ahead.”
“Don’t know how to say it?” He laughed, “Then let me tell you! Patrick is a cop, and Cameron used to go around yelling that you were involved in Anne’s death… Now, it seems he was right, isn’t he? Did Patrick really find something on you?”
I was shocked, my body numb, unable to move.
“Speak!” He stared at me intently. “Is it true? What did Patrick find out? Is it possible that the person who kidnapped Anne back then was…”
“Carter!” I stopped him from continuing.
I went to close the door and shut the windows. My mind raced, thinking about how to tell him these things. But I couldn’t figure out why Carter took these photos and what he wanted to threaten me with.
“Carter,” I tried to speak calmly, “Can we not argue today? I don’t know why you’re tracking me, but Patrick and I are not what you think… Carter, have you remembered something? Are you recalling the day you saw me with Cameron?”
He suddenly swung his crutch, hitting a vase on the cabinet with precision. A crash, and shards scattered on the floor.
A shiver ran down my spine.
He looked at me with that malicious expression, the first time I had seen such a look on Carter’s face.
“Don’t mention that day to me. It makes me sick!” He said viciously. “Laura, you really have some nerve! Have you forgotten that I am your husband? We had a wedding!”
I trembled, as expected, he had indeed remembered everything.
In this case, wouldn’t my relationship with Cameron become a time bomb that he held in his hands?
“Laura, let’s not talk about anything else, just about how I treated you from childhood till now.” He turned his face aside, his chest rising and falling with uneven breaths.
I spoke softly, “You treated me very well. The Lynch Family probably won’t find a second person like you.”
“But how have you treated me?”
“Carter…”
He stirred up the guilt deep in my heart again.
I lowered my head, unsure of how to answer him. His anger, his resentment, and his difficulties with me were all understandable. It was me who couldn’t control my own heart, me who betrayed him first.
“I know you have feelings for Cameron, and he likes you too.” He said coldly. “I don’t want to think about what happened between you two… But not wanting to think about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Both of you are traitors, and you should go to hell!”
“Carter, stop it!” I panicked. “What do you want?”
Carter remained silent for a long time.
He never smoked, but that day he lit up a cigarette for the first time. The room was filled with smoke, the nauseating smell of nicotine making me dizzy.
“Laura,” after a while, he hoarsely called my name. “Do you still want to continue living with me?”
I looked up at him, staring blankly.
“If you don’t, we can go to our parents right now and explain… After all, we only had a wedding ceremony, we didn’t get the legal marriage certificate. We are not legally married. If you leave me, you’ll be free, and you can be with Cameron.”
No, I can’t!
If my relationship with Cameron is exposed, it won’t just turn The Lynch Family upside down; The Scott family won’t spare me either. After all, Cameron is already engaged to Queenie, and he will soon be The Scott family’s son-in-law!
At that time, I would become a target of public criticism, my reputation shattered. I would be cast out of The Lynch Family, and perhaps my true identity would be revealed. Everyone would know that I am the daughter of a murderer…
“If you want to continue living with me,” Carter looked at me with a cold gaze, “then you forget about Cameron. From now on, be wholeheartedly with me! I won’t dwell on the past, I will treat you as my wife, protect you thoroughly… No matter what Patrick finds, no matter what suspicions they have, as long as I’m here to protect you, it will be fine.”
“Laura, make your decision, think it through!”
My heart was in chaos, and my mind was blank. I glimpsed at those photos and noticed the faint cold smile on Carter’s lips.
My heart trembled. Every step leading up to this moment seemed involuntary. At this point, I didn’t see a better option. If I didn’t comply with Carter, he wouldn’t just reveal my relationship with Cameron to our parents but also show the pictures of me meeting Patrick to Cameron.
Cameron, being excessively suspicious, would undoubtedly turn against me. In this situation, I couldn’t provoke Cameron and certainly couldn’t anger Carter.
I walked up to Carter, half-knelt in front of him, and looked up, softly saying, “Carter, I want to be with you… I swear I won’t have any further contact with Cameron. He is Queenie’s fiancé now, and I cannot have any relationship with him.”
“Really?”
“Really,” I closed my eyes, aching in my heart.
This was our way of dealing with each other. Every time I solemnly swore, but each time insincerely, and every time, I broke those promises.
“Get up,” Carter gently held my hand, sighing.
He looked at me, his emotions calming down, but a lingering sense of distrust still in his eyes.
“Laura,” he said, “if you have truly decided to live with me, I have one condition.”
“What is it?”
“You have to give birth to a child for me.”
He glanced at me and continued, “Since you’ve chosen me, then we have to be together for a lifetime. I can’t disregard the future. A family needs to have children to be complete. I won’t hide it from you; this is also my way of keeping you. If you give birth to a child for me, we will officially get married. We’ll register, have a more splendid wedding than the last one. Don’t worry, Laura. I won’t give you any less than what Cameron can provide. I only have one request… Please take on the responsibilities of a wife and uphold the boundaries of a woman!”
“My request isn’t excessive, right?”
As Carter spoke these words, he seemed calm, his mind composed, no longer the weak man who used to rely on others for decisions.
I felt a strange and indescribable sensation in my heart. Perhaps his personality underwent a significant change after the amnesia incident, or maybe… he was always this way, just hidden too deeply for me to notice?
In the end, I agreed to all of Carter’s conditions. There was no other choice. I needed to survive, to live decently, and Cameron couldn’t provide the conditions for my survival. Even now, I didn’t know what kind of feelings he harbored towards me.
Did he hate me? Most likely, he did. He had always believed that I was responsible for his sister’s death, and he had harbored that hatred for fifteen years. However, his method of revenge was to make me unknowingly fall in love with him, deeply entangled in his feigned tenderness, like a moth willingly rushing into the flames in his hands.
Did he love me? Perhaps to some extent, but it was closer to a kind of desire. His body needed an outlet for release, and Queenie, as the high and mighty heiress, couldn’t be offended. I, on the other hand, conveniently became his possession under the pretext of revenge.
I was just a humble plaything, yet I foolishly fell in love with this man who treated me like a plaything.
After settling things with Carter that day, I witnessed him tearing up the photos.
At night, we lay together, and his hands roamed over me brazenly. He even pressed against me from behind, but he was ultimately impotent… I stiffened my body, feeling repulsed, yet I didn’t resist. Finally, with a sigh of relief, the torment ended. Tears streamed down my face, a sense of humiliation buried deep within my heart.