Chapter 2
But not only did he not listen, he took it even further. Things like being trapped in a fire, falling off a mountain, getting seriously ill… and on and on. Every single time, he said he wanted to propose to me 520 times, to make it a symbol of our love. Because I loved him and because I was afraid of the “what if”, I never dared to let a “boy who cried wolf” effect take root. I just never imagined that this time, he would go as far as faking a kidnapping… and because of it, my family was destroyed. But he and Vanessa thought it was just a joke, The other thought it was just a bit of fun. What a perfect match they were. Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming wave of regret for the decision I made back then. Six years ago, the Cole Family went bankrupt. Vanessa, who was engaged to him, publicly called off the engagement. His face turned ashen, humiliated and furious and it was then that I took his hand. I said to everyone, “If Vanessa won’t marry him, I will!” “In this life, whether Damien is rich or poor, ordinary or outstanding, I love him!” That very day, Damien held my hand and said he would never let me down for the rest of his life. Times had changed. In the end, that promise from years ago was nothing but empty words. The door shut right in front of me. I pulled the pink diamond ring off my ring finger and placed it on the coffee table. The next moment, a vase came crashing down, shattering the table. Porcelain and glass shards flew in all directions. The fragments sliced across my cheek, my arm, my leg. But I felt nothing. I crouched down and, amidst the wreckage, silently searched for that pink diamond— leaving only the empty ring band lying among the debris. That pink diamond… Before my wedding with Damien, my sister had saved up her pocket money for three months just to buy it for me. I still remember that time, she, being clever and full of mischief, came up with every trick to get money from me and our parents. After buying the diamond, she secretly met with Damien and together, they designed this ring. Back then, none of us could’ve imagined that she’d go through so much trouble, all just to give me a wedding ring. On the day of the wedding, the joy I felt wearing that ring was now matched only by the pain I felt taking it off. Tears slid down from the corners of my eyes, mingling with blood as they fell onto the pink diamond. I tried to wipe them away, but no matter how hard I wiped, it wouldn’t come clean. I held the ring close and cried my heart out. In the end, I still brought it with me to the police station. Ever since my sister’s passing, I had been hesitating whether to report it or not. Not for Damien’s sake, but because when I found my sister in that abandoned warehouse, her trembling body, her terrified eyes, everything in her told me just how afraid she had been. She was terrified of others seeing her like that, even more afraid that someone might touch her body. Calling the police would mean her body being seen by even more people, possibly even dissected. Even if those people were forensic doctors. But I had no other choice. I didn’t have the strength to avenge her myself. But I couldn’t just sit by and watch those monsters walk free. When Damien called, my sister’s body had just been taken away right in front of me. I was sitting in the hallway, crying uncontrollably. On the other end of the phone, his voice exploded in fury, laced with disbelief. “Elena, you called the police? Didn’t I tell you? It was just a joke—a prank to surprise you! The whole thing was a farce. Why would you call the police and have them arrested? Don’t go too far! Withdraw the case right now. If even one of them ends up in jail because of you, I won’t let this go…” I didn’t listen to the rest of what he said. Every time he said “joke”, “prank”, it was like a knife stabbing straight into my heart. I wanted to scream. I wanted to break down and shout at him. Because of his so-called “joke”, his “prank”, three people in my family died tragically.