The loud bang made William and Nora whip around instantly.
David had met William before. Back then, Nora had introduced him as her cousin, saying he was crashing at her place to save on rent.
David never thought Nora would lie to him about something like that.
Now, it was crystal clear-he’d been made a complete fool.
William, who had no problem acting tough around women, instantly shrank the moment he faced David. He stammered and mumbled, struggling to get any words out.
Nora’s face turned ghostly pale. She never imagined David would catch her in this situation.
Nora’s eyes were full of panic. “David, let me explain! He forced me! He’s a freak-he made me do all kinds of things I didn’t want to do. This is all just a misunderstanding!”
She stepped forward, trying to grab David’s hand.
Nora knew how deeply David felt about her. He was the only man in the world who cherished and cared for her, and she couldn’t afford to lose him.
But David smacked her hand away. His gaze was cold-worse than that, it was filled with disgust.
Nora stumbled back a couple of steps, her heart aching as regret washed over her for the first time. “Please, just let me explain…”
“Explain what?” David sneered. “You’re gonna tell me the baby isn’t his? What, we kissed and I somehow got you pregnant?”
The tension in the room was thick-but Merry couldn’t help herself. She let out a quick laugh, stifling it behind Sarah’s shoulder as if she might get hit for it.
Sarah gave Merry’s back a light pat, watching the drama unfold with amused detachment.
Tears streamed down Nora’s face. Now, real fear took hold-fear that David would abandon her and send her back to the exhausting, ordinary life she’d escaped from.
She dropped to her knees. “I’ll get rid of the baby! Please, don’t leave me. We can still be together, okay?”
In the past, David might’ve softened, thinking she was just a naive girl manipulated by some jerk.
But after months of her endless demands, he finally saw her for who she really was.
“You think I’m some kind of trash collector?” David kicked her away with a sharp motion. “I don’t keep garbage.”
William, sensing danger, stepped in quickly.
Compared to David’s size and strength, William knew he didn’t stand a chance in a fight.
So, he immediately threw Nora under the bus. “She only wanted your money! She made me come up with ways to scam you! I swear, David, I had nothing to do with this-it’s all her idea!”
David punched him square in the face, breaking his nose. Blood gushed everywhere.
William collapsed in pain, nearly passing out, and even pissed himself in fear.
Nora glanced at the man she used to love, now lying on the floor in a pathetic heap. Disgust twisted in her gut.
Desperate, she crawled back to David, clinging to his leg. “If you’re mad, hit me! Just don’t leave me, please!”
David kicked her off again, even more repulsed.
As much as he hated her now, he wasn’t going to hit a pregnant woman.
Disappointment weighed heavily on him, enough to crush whatever feelings remained. Without another word, he turned and walked away.
Sarah and Merry followed him out.
The night air was cool, and David felt a strange sting in his nose, like he might actually cry.
He’d only ever watched Sarah and Merry deal with heartbreak-he never knew it could hurt this much.
“David,” Sarah said, folding her arms. “Are you crying?”
“No,” David muttered, taking a deep breath. “Hell no, I’m not crying over a chick like that.”
He sat down on the nearest step, lit a cigarette, and casually handed one to Sarah and Merry.
Sarah hated the smell of smoke and never wanted to try it, but seeing her friend in such a miserable state, she lit the cigarette anyway.
“Look on the bright side,” Sarah said, trying to comfort him. “At least you didn’t marry her. Imagine finding out after the wedding that the kid wasn’t yours. Now that would’ve been tragic.”
David groaned. “… Sarah, you’ve really got a way with words. Nothing like rubbing salt in the wound to make it burn even more.”
Sarah held the lit cigarette without taking a puff, occasionally flicking off the ash. “Or, even worse, you never find out the kid isn’t yours. You happily raise someone else’s kid, promote the real dad to a cushy security job that pays tens of thousands a month, give him access to your company’s secrets, and then get framed and tossed in prison to sew uniforms…”
David, “…”
Damn.
After hearing both versions of Sarah’s scenario, David suddenly didn’t feel so bad. For some reason, that second version felt disturbingly plausible.
If Sarah hadn’t given him some dating advice early on or taken all his money, he might’ve handed everything over-completely duped by Nora’s fake sweetness.
David had always been stubborn, trusting only what he saw with his own eyes. If things had reached that point, even if the people around him warned him about Nora, he probably would’ve believed they were just trying to come between them.
A cold shiver ran down David’s spine.
He thought about his mom, who had already suffered so much because of his father’s selfishness. It was only in recent years, with David around to protect her, that things started to improve. If he ended up in prison because of these two scumbags, he couldn’t bear to think about what would happen to her.
An aging woman abandoned by her cheating husband, with her son imprisoned and her wealth stolen by the very people who destroyed her family-she might end up homeless, broken by life, and lose the will to live.
That little bit of sadness he’d felt earlier? Gone. Now, all that was left was rage.
David never saw himself as a good person, but there was no way he’d let Nora and William get away with this.
Snuffing out his cigarette, David shot to his feet.
Merry blinked, curious. “Where are you going?”
David smirked coldly. “That’s my house. First thing I’m gonna do is kick their asses out.”
In the middle of the night, William and Nora were both stunned when David threw them out on the street.
Seeing the disgust in David’s eyes, as if she were nothing more than a fly, Nora’s heart ached with fear and emptiness. “David, where am I supposed to go now?”
She had blown all her money on William’s gambling debts and had nowhere else to turn.
“Not my problem,” David said icily. “You could sleep in a dumpster for all I care. Now get lost.”
After being kicked out, Nora and William wandered aimlessly through the streets.
When William tried to hit her, Nora shoved him away in disgust.
With a sneer on her face, she snapped, “So now that everything’s fallen apart, are you happy?”
Without anything to hold over her anymore, Nora wanted nothing more than to stab William right there. The man she once loved with all her heart had now become the one she hated most in the world.
She gave him a once-over, her voice dripping with contempt. “You’re nothing but a leech. You’ll never measure up to him!”
William sneered right back. “I’m the leech? You’re the gold-digger whose dream of marrying rich just went up in flames. Hurts, doesn’t it? Why don’t you crawl back to David and beg? See if he takes you back!”
Furious, Nora lunged at him, only for William to shove her to the ground. Then, without a shred of remorse, he stomped on her stomach-twice.
When blood began pooling beneath her, William finally panicked. Terrified, he fled, leaving her behind.
It wasn’t until dawn that a street cleaner found Nora and rushed her to the hospital.