Chapter 3

Aidan glanced down at his blood-stained clothes before looking back up at Eliana, his face full of shock and astonishment. This crazy woman just tried to kill me…! I would’ve been dead by now had I not swerved to the side in the nick of time. How dare she attack me like this? Alarmed at the situation, the chauffeur unfastened his seatbelt and hastily got out of the car to try and diffuse the situation. Alas, before he could even do anything, Aidan shot him a cold look and ordered, “You - stay out of this.” As such, the chauffeur had no choice but to retreat and watch on from a distance. Just then, Aidan swiftly grabbed Eliana’s hand which was wielding the knife, effectively apprehending her before he pressed her against the hood of the car. He spat out icily, “Eliana, oh, Eliana - you’ve really gone mad now, haven’t you?” “Yes, I have.” Eliana retorted, before continuing challengingly: “What are you going to do about it? Come at me if you hate and resent me so much - why did you have to come after my family? Why did you push my mother to commit suicide? Why couldn’t you have been merciful on our child? Aidan Nelson - are you even human?” “Human?” Aidan sneered coldly, “What right do you, a member of the Harvey family, have to talk about being human?” Aidan leaned in closer to Eliana and hissed into her ear: “Eliana - you of all people should be aware of just how vicious and despicable your mother was. She seduced my father and tore my family apart - she’s the reason why my mother got into a car accident and became paralyzed. Your mother - she deserved to die for all of her sins.” Smack! As soon as he finished his sentence, Aidan found his head being whipped to the side from a harsh impact. Even though Eliana barely had any strength left, she’d mustered up whatever remaining strength that she had to send a tight slap across Aidan’s face. I will not tolerate anyone talking about my mother like that. “How dare you!” Aidan growled as he wrapped his hands around Eliana’s throat, his eyes flashing warningly and dangerously - if looks could kill, the latter would’ve been dead by now. “Whores like you deserve to die - do you still remember the day that I nearly died in that fire? I would’ve died had it not been for Laura - as for you, Eliana, do you still remember what you were doing? You were absent, off having an affair with another man!” “N-No, I wasn’t, I’ve never done anything like that! It was Laura…!” Eliana protested weakly. Disgusted that Eliana was still trying to deny what he’d believed her to have done at this point, Aidan scoffed, throwing her aside as he completely turned a deaf ear to everything that she was trying to say. “God, I can’t believe that you’re still trying to defend yourself at this point - do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up. You’re so fucking vicious - every misfortune, every mishap, everything bad that has happened to you thus far is all your fault. You deserve all of this misery.” Eliana, who’d been thrown aside by Aidan, crashed limply into the wall of Blanchard Garden. She’d been hurled so roughly against the wall that the wounds on her arms started to bleed again, instantly soaking her sleeves crimson red. Alas, Eliana could no longer feel any sort of pain - she’d been hurt and tormented enough by Aidan to even feel anything by now. Hannah and Laura Collins had originally been fostered by the Harvey family - tragically, at one point in time, they ran into a group of bastards, who captured and brutally raped both of them. Hannah succumbed to her injuries and died on the spot, while Laura was so seriously injured that she would be barren for the rest of her life. It’s all Eliana’s fault that this happened to the two of them. I remember how I’d choked her back then, just like I’m doing now, and asked her - “You know well that Hannah saved my life. Why did you still harm her and cause her to die?” Aidan refused to listen to Eliana no matter how hard she tried to explain herself. He remained firm in his belief that Eliana had committed all of those evil deeds out of resentment and jealousy towards Hannah and Laura. To make matters worse, I later found out that the Harvey family also had something to do with the death of my brothers… Eliana stared at Aidan, at an absolute loss for words - just then, she broke into a chuckle. She giggled for a moment, before abruptly bursting into tears - her wails sounded despairing and helpless. She covered her ears, lowered her head, and shook her head vigorously, as though she was trying to wake up from a terrifying nightmare. “Yes, you’re right, you’re completely right - I shouldn’t have fallen for you. I shouldn’t have slept with you. I shouldn’t have married you…” Just then, Aidan couldn’t help but be reminded of what Eliana had said a few years ago in Mallstrick City, back to when they were still deeply and madly in love with each other… ...looking stunning and gorgeous under the limelight, Eliana had declared, her voice full of conviction and sincerity, “I, Eliana Harvey, shall only marry Aidan Nelson, and stay by his side for the rest of my life.” She looked dazzling… ...I can’t remember the last time that I’d seen her look like that. All of a sudden, Eliana looked up at Aidan - her eyes full of despair and pleading, she asked, “Aidan - I don’t love you anymore, nor can I ever love you again. Tell me, now - if I let you have my life, would you give my mother and daughter back to me?” Just them, she raised her hand and pulled the knife that was sticking out of Aidan’s shoulder out of him- Aidan felt the sharp pain in his shoulder as the knife abruptly left his skin - but what happened next came as a shock to him; it was so fast that he did not have any time to respond at all. Eliana had plunged the knife into her lower abdomen - the area around where the knife stuck out immediately turned red, spreading throughout the fabric of her clothes. Eliana let out a bitter chuckle, before stumbling and falling backward - Aidan instinctively lunged forward to catch her in her arms, such that the two of them collapsed onto the ground together. “E-Eliana…”