In Rebecca’s office, Mio stood before her. Rebecca leaned back lazily in her chair, exuding an air of dominance-no longer the clingy, affectionate woman she once appeared to be, but a commanding businesswoman with a sharp, predatory aura.
If she had been like a soft, cuddly ragdoll cat before, now she was a sleek black panther, poised to strike at any moment.
Mio had already guessed much of the truth, but he still clung to a shred of hope as he asked, “Rebecca, when you were with me, was there even a single moment of sincerity?”
“Sincerity?” Rebecca scoffed, her disdain evident. “Mr. Walsh, you’ve spent years playing the field, yet now you want to ask someone else if they were sincere? Don’t you find that laughable?”
Her words cut deep, and Mio’s expression tightened.
“What if I told you I was sincere with you? Would you believe me?” His gaze softened as he looked at her, his voice trembling with intensity. Losing the project didn’t matter anymore-he couldn’t bear to lose her.
Rebecca sneered, her lips curving into a mocking smile. “Sincere? That’s a line you’ve probably fed to countless women. Even if you haven’t said it a hundred times, it’s got to be at least eighty. Do you think I’d fall for it?”
“If you didn’t believe me, why did you agree to be my girlfriend?” Mio asked, struggling to suppress his growing frustration.
“Do you remember Lisa?” Rebecca replied coldly.
“Lisa? Which Lisa?” Mio asked instinctively, his mind flipping through the endless names and faces he’d encountered over the years.
Rebecca chuckled bitterly. “You’ve forgotten her name, haven’t you? She was the one who tried to kill herself because of you-she sank into depression, and it took her a whole year to recover from the wreckage of what you did to her. And here you are, having completely erased her from your memory.”
The mention of suicide jolted Mio’s memory. “You mean the Lisa who threatened to jump into the sea if I didn’t take her back? What is she to you?”
“She’s my friend,” Rebecca said, her voice sharp with anger. “I couldn’t stand watching you destroy her just to achieve your goals. You left her with scars that will never heal. And then there’s my brother’s girlfriend-you harmed her and her unborn child. Do you really think I’d ever let you off the hook?”
Rebecca’s voice trembled with rage as she recalled all the damage Mio had done. He, on the other hand, was stunned. He had never known that Aurora, his brother’s fiancee, was pregnant.
“Aurora was pregnant?” he asked, his voice low.
“Of course she was! She was already several months along. Let me warn you, if you dare touch her again, I won’t spare you. Don’t think for a second that I’m some saint-if I decide to retaliate, I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your life!”
Mio shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know she was pregnant. If I had known, I wouldn’t have done it.” He had wanted to eliminate Aurora, but he had never intended to harm an innocent child. No matter how ruthless he was, even he had his limits.
Rebecca’s eyes burned with contempt. “Whether you intended to or not, you’ve already done enough harm. I saw what you did to Lisa with my own eyes, and you’ve hurt countless others. Do you really think I could have ever truly loved someone like you?
“Don’t talk to me about sincerity. You approached me only because you wanted this project, because you wanted to secure your inheritance. You were using me from the very start, and I knew it.
“Do you honestly think you’re the only one who knows how to play games? I saw through you from the beginning.”
Mio’s face darkened. “You waited for me in the garden on purpose?”
“Yes,” Rebecca admitted. “I knew you’d find me eventually, no matter where I went. So I gave you the opportunity myself. Otherwise, how else would you have gotten close to me?
“That hamster we played with wasn’t even mine-it belonged to my ten-year-old sister. And the room I took you to? It wasn’t mine either. I dressed up to look innocent and sweet on purpose. How does it feel to be played like a fool? Not so great, is it? But that’s what you’ve done to countless women.”
Rebecca’s mocking tone was like a knife in Mio’s chest. For the first time, he understood how those women he’d deceived must have felt.
The pain wasn’t from losing the project or the inheritance-it was the searing agony of betrayal, of being stabbed in the heart by the person he loved the most. The wound wasn’t physical, but it bled all the same, tearing him apart from the inside.
“Rebecca,” he said softly, his voice filled with regret, “I admit I’ve done terrible things in the past. I’ve hurt a lot of people. But you-I was sincere with you. I love you.”
Rebecca’s expression remained cold. “Aurora and Julian have already signed the contract. There’s no need to keep up this act, Mio. Hate me if you want-I deliberately orchestrated all of this to humiliate you today. I made sure you’d lose face and miss your chance at inheriting your family’s power.
“The more you want something, the more I’ll make sure you can’t have it. This is the price you pay for all the harm you’ve caused.”
Mio’s eyes filled with sorrow. He murmured bitterly, “So this is the surprise you had for me? What a grand surprise it is.”
Rebecca smirked, unrelenting. “Didn’t you say you had a surprise for me, too? Were you planning to use the same cheap tricks you’ve used on other women?”
“No matter what you believe, I fell in love with you the moment I saw you,” Mio said earnestly. “At first, I approached you for the project, but I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. That was no lie.”
Rebecca laughed coldly. “The show is over, Mio. Stop pretending. Let me make it clear: we’re done.”
“Done,” Mio repeated, laughing bitterly. He never imagined that the words he’d said to so many women would one day be thrown back at him. So this was what it felt like to be dumped.
“You never loved me, and I never loved you,” Rebecca said flatly. “We’re adults, Mio-you should understand what I mean. I just hope you’ll learn to be a better person and stop ruining other people’s lives.”
Mio stared at her face-a face once so familiar, now a stranger’s. It was as if he had never truly known her at all.
“Rebecca,” he said quietly, “whether you believe me or not, I’ve wronged the world, but I’ve never wronged you. Remember this: you’re the one who abandoned me.”
He turned and walked away without another word.
Rebecca watched his sorrowful figure disappear. Her heart twinged with discomfort. If it had all been an act, why did he seem so genuinely heartbroken? Who was he trying to fool?
Ten minutes later, a delivery arrived for Rebecca. Her assistant brought the courier to her office, and Rebecca signed for the package.
Inside was a beautifully crafted box containing nine handmade white roses.
So this was his surprise? Just a few roses?
There was also a small envelope inside. Rebecca opened it, expecting a card-but all it contained was an address.
No words, no explanation, just an address.
What was this place? What was he trying to tell her?
Rebecca hesitated, then tossed the card aside, refusing to dwell on it.