Chapter 102 Chapter 102
He blinked, processing the words. The shock in his eyes wasn't disgust, but genuine surprise.
He never expected her to confess this.
He knew exactly how she had lost her virginity. He was there. He was the man from that night. But he knew she didn't remember his face.
To Caroline, that night had been a terrible mistake with a stranger. And now, she was confessing that “mistake” to her husband, risking being despised, just to be honest.
Caroline peered through her eyelashes and saw his stunned expression. Her heart sank.
He's shocked, she thought, feeling her eyes burn. He's disappointed.
No matter how hard she tried to be rational, the pain of impending rejection cut deeper into her chest than she had expected.
A heavy silence fell over the room.
Caroline felt a tightness in her chest. A little... sad.
As she suspected, his silence confirmed her worst fears: he thought she was dirty. He felt cheated.
But that night, she had been the victim, not the culprit.
She knew, rationally, that men like him might despise her for it. She thought she was mentally armored. So why did her eyes burn? Why did it hurt so much?
She blinked rapidly, forcing the tears back, and lifted her chin, trying to maintain what little dignity she had left.
“If you care about that... we don't have to continue,” she said, her voice trembling but firm. “I'm sorry. I should have told you before we signed the papers, but at the time, I didn't think we would ever get to... this.”
She took a deep breath, feeling as if she were tearing her own heart out.
“If you want a divorce, I understand. We can go to the registry office tomorrow. But... Sara is innocent. I beg you, Nicholas, don't take your anger out on her. Please don't cancel my sister's surgery.”
Caroline had always believed that her marriage to Nicholas was just a contract. No love, no roots. If it ended, it should be painless.
But as she uttered the word “divorce,” she felt a sharp, cutting physical pain, as if she had been stabbed.
She didn't want a divorce!
The revelation hit her with the weight of a rock.
Was it because he had been too kind? Had she become addicted to the warmth of his arms, the protection he offered?
Or had she already given her heart away without realizing it?
Before she could sink deeper into this abyss of thoughts, Nicholas's voice broke the silence. There was no anger in it, only tense curiosity.
“Was it Edward?”
Caroline looked up, surprised.
She searched his face for disgust or contempt, but found nothing. There was only an indecipherable shadow in his gaze.
She hesitated, the memories of that night coming back like ghosts.
“... No.”
“Then who?” Nicholas's eyes darkened, shining with dangerous intensity. “Who was the man?”
Caroline bit her lower lip until she tasted the metallic taste of blood.
“I don't know,” she whispered, with a sad, self-deprecating smile. “I don't know who he is.”
She looked away at the black sheet, unable to face her husband.
"I was... out of my mind that night. Someone must have put something in my drink. I could barely walk. I was taken to a hotel room by strangers and left there. I was dizzy, paralyzed... and then a man came in the dark.
Her eyes filled with tears of anger and helplessness. Her fists clenched tightly against the mattress.
“It was all dark. I couldn't see his face. I was so confused, so scared... I just wanted to run away.”
She lifted her face, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
“But now? Now I regret it bitterly.”
Nicholas's expression changed subtly. A wrinkle of concern appeared between his eyebrows. “What do you regret?”
Caroline clenched her teeth, fury replacing fear.
“I regret running away like a coward,” she hissed. “I should have stayed.”
I should have fought back, beaten the bastard, smashed his face in, and called the police so he could rot in jail. But... I did nothing.
Nicholas was speechless.
...
Beat him up? He almost choked on his own saliva.
Did she think she could defeat him?
“Do you... hate him that much?” he asked, his voice cautious.
“Considering what he did, doesn't he deserve to be hated?” Caroline looked at Nicholas, and the fire in her eyes was real. “He took advantage of a vulnerable woman. He's an idiot, a scoundrel, a despicable piece of trash who doesn't deserve forgiveness!”
Nicholas felt a cold knot form in his stomach.
...
Suddenly, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
He had plans to tell her the truth one day. To tell her that the “stranger” that night was him, that he had also been drugged and was a victim of circumstances.
But now...
Seeing the visceral hatred in her eyes, hearing the insults... he realized the magnitude of the problem.
If she found out now that the “despicable scoundrel” was the husband she was beginning to love... would she forgive him? Or would hatred win out?
Nicholas wasn't sure. And that terrified him.
He remained silent for a long moment, calculating his next steps.
“You...” he began, hesitantly. “You can't remember anything at all about what he looked like?”
Caroline shook her head.
But then, suddenly, she stopped.
Her eyes widened. She stared at Nicholas's face, blinking in confusion.
Nicholas felt his heart skip a beat. Guilt flashed in his eyes for a microsecond. “... What is it?”
Caroline stared at him for a few endless seconds.
That feeling...
When Nicholas asked that question, with that intensity, with that deep, predatory gleam in his eyes... she felt a chilling sense of déjà vu.
Those eyes full of restrained desire... were frighteningly similar to the flaming eyes she had seen in the darkness that night.
It was the same aura. The same pressure.
But... no. Impossible.
Nicholas was her husband. He was kind, protective. He couldn't be that monster.
Caroline shook her head, dispelling the absurd thought.
“It's nothing,” she murmured, looking away. “Just... my imagination.”
But when she looked up again, she realized that the oppressive “shadow” over her had disappeared.
The warmth of his body moved away.
Caroline saw that Nicholas had retreated. He was now lying on the other side of the bed, his back to her, creating a chasm of distance between them.
Her heart sank.
He had moved away.
Was he disgusted by her after all?