I pressed my burning cheek, stunned, but the words caught in my throat.
She became increasingly aggressive, yanking my hair and delivering sharp slaps with a voice dripping with fury. “My son is perfect, looks, family status, everything. And you still turn him down?”
“You can leave if you want, but you’ll have to pay back every penny we’ve spent raising you!”
I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Over the years, the amount Caesar’s family had spent on me seemed almost a joke.
It wasn’t that I looked down on their support, but the meager fifty dollars they provided each month barely scratched the surface of my needs, leaving me to scrape by day after day.
Later, I discovered that the Wallace family offered support to students like me for the sake of publicity, inflating expenses to lure in more business partners.
When I failed to respond, Caesar’s mother dragged me outside and seized a nearby stun baton, striking me sharply across the head.
With each blow, warmth trickled down my face. Just as I was about to beg for mercy, a pair of strong arms enveloped me in a familiar embrace.
The scent of smoke surrounded me, and Caesar said, irritation lacing his voice, “Enough! She’s my woman!”
Then, unexpectedly tender, he lifted me and placed me gently in the passenger seat. “Zelia, don’t you see? No one will ever love or care for you the way I do.”
As he reached for some rubbing alcohol to disinfect my wounds, the sight of Gaia’s personal stickers adorning the dashboard made me recoil in disgust.
I instinctively shifted away, earning a warning look from him. “Go apologize to Gaia. Act like none of this ever happened, and you’ll remain the lady of the Wallace family.”
I let out a derisive snort; his so-called kindness was the very thing I longed to escape.
He fancied himself my savior, blind to the suffering he had caused.
Once, I had imagined a lifetime together, willing to manage every aspect of his life.
He had never been my hero; only I could rescue myself.
With steely determination, I replied, “Caesar, you’re fooling yourself. I won’t apologize, nor will I make amends with you.”
I flung open the car door and strode away, refusing to look back.
Behind me, Caesar’s furious voice erupted as he honked the horn frantically. “I’m warning you, Zelia! You’ll regret this!”
I didn’t glance over my shoulder, muttering under my breath, “You’re the one who’ll regret it.”