Chapter 81: What is he saying?

I tried so hard to be what you wanted. I gave up years of my life for you.

Caspian said it like the words were ashes in his mouth.

He finally saw that his three years with Michelle had meant nothing to him, all because he felt he owed Sienna. But she was the poison in everything.

Sienna did not feel sorry. She only felt insulted, and it made her furious. “You think that was for me? You never gave me the one thing I asked for.”

A bitter smile touched Caspian’s lips. “And what was that?”

“You. I wanted you. Your heart. Your real self. You gave me hours and expensive things, but you kept me at arm’s length. You were my boyfriend, but you acted like a polite stranger. Now you are my fiancé, and it is no different. You are nicer to Madison than you are to me,” Sienna shot back, full of resentment.

How could it be fair? Michelle got to have his baby. Sienna only got his calendar and his credit card. The injustice of it burned her.

To Michelle, the woman seemed completely insane. The world, it seemed, was determined to give everyone the wrong thing.

“I would have given anything just for his time,” Michelle said, not meaning to speak out loud.

Caspian heard it. The guilt was a physical ache inside his chest.

He remembered it then, ,how her whole face would change when he walked into a room during their marriage. How her eyes held nothing but warmth for him. He had ignored that gift. He had thrown it away.

Now, when she looked at him, there was nothing. Just empty space.

Michelle had won. Sienna was going to prison. In her relief, the truth spilled out.

Sienna let out a nasty laugh, stung by Michelle’s words. “You can talk. He put a ring on your finger the first night he met you.”

“That is a lie.”

mira’s voice cut in. Everyone turned, but Caspian’s focus was absolute.

“Michelle was already in love with him,” mira continued. “From when he pulled her out of the pool.”

“The pool?” Caspian had no memory of it.

But Lake did. “That had to be the night you fought with your brothers. You were in a bad way, so we went to the pool to drink. I left to use the bathroom. When I came back, you were soaked. You just said you fell in.”

The memory came back to Caspian, piece by piece, and each piece was another weight on his conscience.

Michelle looked right at him. “It was even before that. He gave a talk at my college. He was a different man then.”

A mean smile played on Sienna’s lips, though her face was still puffy and sore. She turned the knife on Caspian. “Look at that. After all you did, she still despises you.”

Caspian’s heart twisted. “I did nothing for her. She gave me everything. And because of you, she got nothing back.”

Michelle felt a grim satisfaction that he understood, but it was a sad, heavy feeling.

“But she got to marry you,” Sienna fired back, unable to let it go. “She got to be Mrs. Gannon. I wanted that, and now everyone thinks I am the monster.”

Caspian tried to make her see. “Do you have any clue what her life was like married to me?”

“If it was so awful, how did she end up pregnant? She should have left you.”

To the others listening, it was a fair point. Why stay for three years in a miserable marriage?

Michelle’s voice was clear and calm when she answered. “I will tell you why. His butler. The man would bring me presents, send me to nice restaurants. He always said they were from Caspian. Those lies made me think he cared for me, but was just too occupied to say it. Even on the day of the crash, the butler lied. He told me Caspian was coming to the hospital. If I had not seen those photos online, I would still be living inside that kind lie.”

She gave a short, hard laugh at herself. The whole time she spoke, Caspian stared at the ground. He could not lift his head. The shame was too much.

“And I should thank you for answering his phone that day,” Michelle said to Sienna. “It showed me his heart would never have a place for me.”

Now Sienna felt offended. “But you were the one he wanted. The Caspian I know would not have slept with you a second time if he felt nothing the first time.”

A wave of pure disgust washed over Michelle. “You sound like an animal. If you think sex is the same as love, then you are both sick,” she said, her voice cold.

Sebastian had been quiet, but the pain on his face was plain. He looked at Sienna. “If sex is love to you, why did you pick him and not me?”

Caspian answered before she could. “Do not trouble yourself. She believed she loved me because she did not know you had real money. Tell her you are worth billions. She will be yours in a second.”

Sienna went perfectly still. Her eyes flew to Sebastian. “What is he saying?”