Chapter 35 I Gave You a Chance
Her fingers curled around the cold brass of the doorknob, the chill seeping into her skin and crawling up her arm until it reached her spine. A shiver ran through her before she could stop it.
Terrence stood behind her, his gaze fixed on the rigid line of her back. Every inch of her posture screamed finality, a wall he could not breach. In his mind, unbidden and merciless, images flared—Bianca smiling in another man's arms, a stranger's hands touching the skin he had kissed, her body arching beneath someone who was not him… Each fragment tore into him like a blade, slicing away what little control he had left.
He would not allow it.
Letting her go, walking away, pretending to be noble… all lies.
Terrence had never been a saint.
Just as her fingers began to turn the knob, a sudden force seized her from behind. His palm was hot against her wrist, his grip unyielding, iron-strong.
"Bianca, I gave you a chance." His voice was low, rough, and trembling on the edge of something dangerous.
He yanked her back with no room for resistance. She slammed into his chest, the solid muscle radiating heat, trapping her in a prison of flesh and will. His scent—sharp, clean, and unmistakably his—closed around her, his arms locking around her waist with a pressure so fierce it felt as if he could erase the space between them entirely.
"Let me go." Bianca froze for a heartbeat, then the dam broke. Rage surged through her, raw and unrestrained. "Terrence, let go! You told me to leave, so I'll leave—leave so far I'll never cross your path again."
Her fists struck his chest in a rhythm born of desperation. Tears welled, spilling freely, soaking into the fine weave of his shirt.
"You bastard, you don't understand anything! Yes, I was blind before. Yes, I liked Samuel, that worthless man. But I regret it. I've been trying to make it up to you, to be good to you.
"I was afraid your eyes would hurt, so I learned massage in secret. I taught myself to cook just to make the dishes you love…"
Her voice broke under the weight of her sobs, each word a blade sinking deep into him.
"But you… you only trust your cold, precise investigations. You can't see what's inside me. Terrence, is your heart made of stone?"
The tears kept coming, draining her strength, leaving her shoulders trembling in helplessness.
Terrence stayed silent, letting her fury pour out, but he never loosened his hold. If anything, he held her tighter, as if her pain only made him more unwilling to let her go.
When her sobs finally eased into ragged breaths, he spoke. "I can see it."
He drew in a slow breath. "I'm sorry."
Her crying faltered.
Terrence buried his face against her neck, his voice muffled. "Bianca."
"Tomorrow morning, we're going to the registry."
She jerked her head up, her tear-bright eyes locking on the hard lines of his face. "What?"
"Marriage."
"We're getting married."
The shock hit her like a wave, scattering her grief in an instant. She stared at him—this man who had just been ready to throw her out, now demanding to marry her?
"I'm not going."
She turned her face away, shutting him out. "What do you take me for, Terrence? A pet you call when you want me and kick away when you don't? You don't trust me. What's the point of a marriage like that?"
"It's not you I don't trust."
He cut her off, his hands framing her face, forcing her to meet his eyes. His sunglasses had vanished in the struggle, and his gaze—deep, fierce—caught her breath, pulling her into its gravity.
His voice was rough, laced with bitter self-mockery. "It's myself I don't trust."
"Bianca, I've never been able to keep anything. Anything good… always leaves."
His thumbs brushed the wetness from her cheeks.
"I'm used to controlling everything, eliminating every uncertainty. Investigating you wasn't about suspecting you—it was about fear. Fear of change. Fear that if I believe in it, losing it will destroy me completely."
Bianca's heart clenched. She remembered fragments of his past—Marcus and Dion gone too soon, the cold, unyielding walls of the Anderson estate closing in around him. He had had too little, lost too much, built walls so high that trust became a dangerous luxury.
It wasn't that he refused to believe her. He was terrified of believing in a happiness that came without warning.
Her anger and hurt dissolved into a deep, aching tenderness.
Seeing that rare vulnerability in his eyes shattered the last of her defenses.
She slipped her arms around his waist, pressing her face to his chest. Her voice was softer now, though the tears lingered. "Idiot."
"Terrence, listen to me."
She lifted her chin, meeting his gaze head-on. "I'm not leaving. Unless you tell me, yourself, that you don't want me, I'll stay—for life."
"Investigate me if you have to. I have nothing to hide. My heart is yours, completely, and time will prove it."
Terrence's body went rigid. He searched her eyes and found only unwavering resolve. His Adam's apple shifted, and suddenly he bent down and kissed her hard.
Bianca closed her eyes, answering with a gentleness that met his trembling. Her heart melted into something soft and certain.
When the kiss broke, both of them were breathing unevenly.
Terrence rested his forehead against hers, his breath hot. He lifted a hand, clumsy in its tenderness, and covered her eyes. His voice was hoarse, almost breaking. "Don't look at me like that."
It made him feel as if every shadow and flaw inside him was laid bare… as if she could strip away his control.
Bianca stayed still beneath his palm, the corners of her lips curving faintly.
They stood in silence for a long time.
The thought of tomorrow's marriage papers stirred a flicker of anticipation in her chest.
"You still have work, don't you? I won't keep you."
Terrence's gaze darkened. "Fine."
Leaving the study, Bianca descended the stairs—only to find Mira clutching her face.
Mira's eyes burned with resentment. "Bianca, what are you so smug about?"
Even if Terrence had punished her, she refused to believe he would tolerate a fiancée who cheated.
Bianca's eyes went cold. In the stunned silence of the onlookers, she lifted her hand and slapped Mira twice.
The sharp sound cracked through the air. Mira's head snapped to each side, her cheek swelling in seconds. She clutched her face and screamed, "Bianca!"
Bianca flexed her fingers, shaking off the sting. "Looks like the last lesson wasn't enough. You still have the nerve to act wild in front of me."
"You!" Mira shook with fury and lunged. "I'll tear you apart!"
Robert closed the distance in a heartbeat, his expression carved in stone. "Miss Rodriguez, you have no place here—"
"She has no place here… and you think you do?"
The words, cold and razor-edged, sliced through the air from the staircase.
Everyone froze, turning to see Terrence descending, his expression carved from ice, the air around him dropping to a lethal chill.
He crossed to Bianca's side, his gaze flicking briefly to her reddened hand, ignoring everyone else.
"Pack your things. Get out of the Anderson Mansion."
He had once considered using Mira as a pawn.
But in the study, Bianca's tears had shattered his reason, tearing apart every calculated plan.
In the face of her pain, no strategy mattered.