Chapter 95 Chapter 95
Just seconds later, Yosef was finished, and the magic disappeared. He looked at her carefully, and when he saw that she was fine, he visibly relaxed. Maxwell let out a low curse, watching as his burned skin healed itself. Valerie hadn’t known it would hurt him this badly and that he would go this far just to get rid of her, which sent a pang right through her heart.
“It’s done,” Yosef said calmly as Valerie stared at her wrist in disbelief. There was no mark left; it was gone as if it had never even been there. Her eyes burned with tears as frustration and desperation gnawed at her. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.
She looked at Maxwell, and saw his slightly disheveled state. His hair was tousled and his chain askew, even his clothes were a little singed from the divine magic, but he didn’t seem fazed, simply staring at her with reddish eyes that didn’t reflect a single emotion.
She felt like someone had ripped a hole in her chest—already, she experienced what Yosef had warned them about earlier. There was a void within her, a sense of emptiness that she had never felt before. It was as if someone had torn off an arm or a leg.
Something important was missing, the feeling unsettling her so much that she had to keep herself together, not to let anybody notice her distress. How should she live on with this terrible sensation? It was unbearable.
She was ripped from her thoughts when Maxwell suddenly touched her hand, placing something in it before taking a step back. Glancing down, she saw that it was the chain he usually wore on his nose and cheekbones. “Keep it. It’s yours,” he said quietly and turned to walk away. Her eyes widened, cold dread pooling in her stomach.
“Where are you going?” she asked frantically, running after him. He stopped and turned back to her, steely resolve shining in his eyes. They were colder than usual, the blue reminding her of ice.
“Where I belong,” he muttered.
She bit her lip and glanced at him, a battle raging within her. Her emotions were boiling over as she began to realize something.
“We will see each other again, right?” she asked, smiling shakily. He stared at her without saying a word, the silence weighing heavily on her. It was crushing. “Maxwell?” Her smile slipped. Raw desperation distorted her features when he took too long to answer such a simple question.
“Take this as a second chance at life. You will be able to have a family and grow old peacefully just like you wished,” he said emotionlessly, his expression not giving away his thoughts on the matter. “Forget about me.”
Her eyes widened in horror as he turned around again and walked further away. His demonic magic ripped a tear in space, revealing the raging flames of hell.
“Please don’t leave me! Please!” she cried, but he never looked at her, ignoring her words as he stepped through the portal and disappeared.
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Heavy sadness clouded Valerie’s mind and rendered her unable to form a single positive thought. She had needed hours to comprehend that he had left her willingly and without hesitation.
If Yosef hadn’t brought her home last night, she would have probably wandered through the city forever, feeling numb to everything but her pain. She didn’t care about what would happen to her, thinking only about the demon who turned his back on her. For hours, she had lain in bed and stared at the ceiling until she eventually cried herself to sleep.
When the sun rose the next morning, soft rays of light falling through her windows, she felt more dead than alive, not seeing a point in getting up. It wasn’t like anyone was waiting for her. It wasn’t like anyone would eat breakfast with her and keep her company. Valerie stared at the white ceiling above her with empty eyes, her mind vacant.
Eventually, she reached for her phone on the nightstand, unlocking it and scrolling through social media for a while before she went through the photos saved on the device. It turned out to be a bad idea and served to make her feel even worse than before.
The weight on her chest nearly crushed her when her red-rimmed eyes fell on a picture that Esther had sent her not long ago after their day at the beach. It showed Maxwell kissing her, glowing orbs of light floating around them. The photo looked surreally beautiful, almost like a painting, and it showed her what she had lost, painfully shoving it right in her face. It was a punch to her gut, and the tears came back instantly. A pitiful sob shook her body, and the screen blurred before her eyes.
“Why did you leave me?” she cried. “Am I not enough for a demon?”
She used her sleeve to dry her tears, erratically rubbing her eyes until her skin was red and raw, but her tears couldn’t be stopped. They kept flowing down her cheeks like an endless river, dripping down her chin and leaving dark blotches on her shirt. “Come back,” she hiccupped.
Valerie stared at the delete button on the screen, conflictedly, part of her wanting to get rid of the damn photo. Her thumb hovered over it, trembled, but never moved. She couldn’t do it.
Deleting it was the same to her as forgetting about him, but how could she? She wasn’t ready to forget the time they shared and everything they went through. He was engraved in her heart, and had left deep marks on her that could never be erased.
Her heart clenched painfully as her eyes traced the photo, lingering on his soft features, the warmth in his eyes, and the happiness her smile conveyed. She longed to see him again, to touch him, to be with him.
Why had he turned his back on her? Why did he leave her without hesitation? She felt betrayed and alone. Curling her body into a ball, she lay on the bed and clawed at her shirt in desperation, the pain and sorrow unbearable to her. The memories of the day they had spent on the beach were still too clear in her mind. She couldn’t see the photo any longer and put her phone away.