Chapter 130: Do You Really Want to Force Me into a Dead End?
Mia looked away, completely hiding the reluctance in her eyes. She stood up as she watched James walk in from outside.
"Trying to leave again?"
As soon as James entered, he spotted the familiar suitcase. His gaze swept over it briefly before turning toward the sofa. "Mia, where else can you go?"
Besides him, who else could she rely on in Imperial City?
Hearing James's obvious mockery about her having nowhere to go, Mia shot back coldly, "How is that any of your business?"
She couldn't wait to leave and didn't want to waste time with him here.
She hadn't chosen to just leave directly, but waited for him to come back—she simply didn't want to give him any chance to hassle her about taking his things.
The old James might have been above such things.
But the current James was capable of any shameless behavior.
In front of James, she picked up the lightweight suitcase and placed it on the coffee table. As she opened it, she said, "Alice gave me this suitcase for my birthday."
There was nothing else in the suitcase except a bag. "This bag was also from Alice."
She took it out and opened it. "Inside are all my documents."
Finally, she pointed to the clothes she was wearing—these were new, bought with a month's salary she'd asked Benjamin to advance her.
"These are from a friend, nothing to do with you."
Everything she had now had nothing to do with him.
All the things he'd bought her—she hadn't taken a single one.
One humiliation was enough.
She would never forget how James had grabbed her suitcase, thrown the clothes inside onto the floor, and then torn the clothes off her body...
Ruthlessly throwing her dignity on the ground and crushing it without mercy.
"James, do you see clearly? I haven't taken anything that belongs to you."
She snapped the suitcase shut with a click, fastened it in front of him, and picked it up.
Not giving herself any chance for regret, she strode toward the exit.
As she passed James, she heard him suddenly murmur, "Didn't take anything?"
Mia frowned slightly.
She didn't want to deal with him.
She kept walking forward.
But her wrist was suddenly grabbed, and the world spun. Mia, along with her light suitcase, was pulled backward.
The suitcase hit the coffee table, and she let go.
She fell directly onto the sofa, with James pressing down on her.
He gripped her chin with one hand and her waist with the other, locking her firmly in his arms.
"Mia, you clearly took my most important thing..."
"James, let me go! Let me go!"
"You tell me, how could I possibly let you leave!"
Mia's angry voice drowned out James's first murmur. She heard him say he couldn't possibly let her go.
Her emotions instantly collapsed!
"What right do you have to stop me! What right?!"
She'd finally found a job. Benjamin had reached out to help her when she was most helpless.
She knew that with her qualifications, she didn't deserve to work at his company.
But he not only believed in her and let her try.
He also called his assistant to arrange temporary accommodation for her when she asked about employee housing.
With a place to stay, she could immediately move out of here.
But she never expected James could be this cruel!
"What right? The truly painful marriage is just beginning—how could I possibly let you go!"
He had a million ways to keep her firmly under his control.
But watching Mia once again decisively draw a clear line between them, James felt like he was truly losing her.
Mia suddenly seemed drained of all her strength.
She stopped struggling.
Lying quietly on the sofa, looking at James who clearly had no intention of letting her go, she suddenly called his name softly, "James."
Her voice was very gentle.
Her eyes filled with undisguised sorrow.
The corners of her lips slowly curved into a smile as she said softly, "Don't push me anymore. When people can't bear it anymore, there's still one last path they can take..."
James's hands restraining her suddenly loosened.
He looked at Mia in shock, his eyes full of disbelief.
He looked at her sorrowful smile, her eyes revealing an unconcealed desolation.
The Mia he knew was like a flower growing in extremely harsh conditions, with particularly tenacious vitality.
Even though she'd experienced pain from childhood that many couldn't bear, she still grew toward the sun, never defeated by life.
The Mia in his eyes would never take the path of ending her own life.
He'd never imagined such words would come from Mia's mouth one day.
Because he knew she wasn't that kind of person.
So when she said it, he knew she was serious.
As if burned, James rolled off her and sat to one side.
Mia closed her eyes, then slowly opened them and sat up.
She didn't look at James again, stood up, and took her suitcase once more.
Just as she stepped forward, her wrist was grabbed again.
The moment she was grabbed, Mia's heart filled with endless desolation.
Was he really going to push her to a dead end?
She'd never had thoughts of suicide.
She always believed that as long as she was alive, any pain would pass.
But at this moment, being stopped again, she truly felt some despair.
"It's late, it's not safe. I'll take you."
James slowly stood up, holding her wrist, reluctant to let go.
"No need to trouble Mr. Smith."
Mia felt relieved.
Good, he still had a last shred of humanity.
Willing to give her a way out.
She pulled her wrist directly from his hand and stepped forward without hesitation, striding toward the entrance.
Her steps were quick. She reached the door, opened it, stepped out, and closed it, without a trace of reluctance.
James stood in place, staring blankly at his hand that had been shaken off.
His palm still held a trace of her warmth.
But soon, that bit of warmth dissipated, until it was cold.
His heart instantly emptied.
Downstairs, Mia dragged her suitcase, walking quickly outside.
From the moment she stepped out the door, she let out a long breath.
She stepped forward, continuing to walk.
Her steps were firm.
From the first step she took, she never looked back, and wouldn't allow herself to look back.
Until she walked out of Luxe Haven, raised her hand to hail a taxi, and bent down to get in.
The car drove away.
She rolled down the window, the night wind blowing on her face.
She'd forgotten how long it had been since she'd breathed free air.
From this moment on, she could finally start her new life.
The taxi drove through the traffic. Mia never noticed that a black Bentley had been following at a distance behind her car the whole time.