Chapter 102 102- All A Lie
Chapter 102 102- All A Lie
“So?” I repeated, the word tasted like acid on my tongue.
“Just so? What type of twisted reply is that, Vince?”
He didn't answer.
He just sat there, that devilish, slow smirk spreading across his face, entirely shameless.
“Is that really all you have to say to me?” I gulped, taking a frantic step backward.
My feet hit the base of the wall.
I was no longer sure who or what the man before me even was.
“Yes,” Vince said smoothly.
He stood up. The sheer height of his frame instantly began to suffocate me.
“What else do you want me to say, Alyssa? Do you want a generic apology? Or, do you want me to lie to you?”
His body cast a long shadow directly over me which was enough to scare me more.
My shoulders hunched, not daring to look into his unreadable sapphire eyes.
“I can do both.” His voice went lower, hand extending to tug a strand behind my ear.
“You know I have always done what ‘you’ want.”
The temptation in his tone repulsed me and I flinched, hard. Rejecting his touch that made him frown.
“I… I don't want that.”
“Then what do you want? Tell me.” He smirked, arms strongly folded at his chest, waiting for a reply patiently.
The mockery in his tone turned my blood cold. I glanced at him, only to find a stranger before me and the patience broke.
“I wanted you to tell me it wasn't true!” I screamed, my voice cracking as a fresh wave of tears blinded me.
I looked at him, breathless, agonized.
Deep down, seeking the man I trust blindly, the man I had considered my world.
“I wanted you to tell me you didn't construct the worst years of my life, Vince!” I sobbed a little, my strength draining.
“That whatever happened wasn’t your fault… justify… explain. But, do something, Vince.”
His gaze only hardened, “Is that what you want me to do? Lie?”
“Vince, please….” I finally gathered my slipping courage and looked up at his intimidating form.
I kept staring through the tears. Ten seconds. Thirty. A whole minute. Nothing changed.
After a thorough contemplation, a weak voice left me, “Tell me the truth... Did you do it?” I dared to ask, afraid of the answer already.
“I did,” he countered, taking a slow, predatory step toward me.
I pressed myself harder against the wall.
The warmth I had basked in for months was completely gone, replaced by a cold, radiating intimidation.
“I hired Ken.”
My eyes widened in pure dread, “Hired….?”
“Yes. I paid him to be the exact brand of monster you needed to finally break your pathetic attachment to Arden.”
This was sick…
How could he?
I stared at him, my chest heaving, completely repulsed.
“You... you paid him to abuse me? To terrorize me?”
“I paid him to shatter your faith in love. Not abuse or terrorize you. The method was entirely his.” Vince corrected coldly. His very shadow was frightening me at this point.
“What the difference…?”
“Lies work too. Abuse was not necessary.” He shrugged, too casual about my literal trauma.
“I knew that once your world was entirely reduced to ashes, you would have nowhere else to look.” He leaned forward, sliding a finger under my chin.
“And who was there to revive it? Who was there to pull you out of the wreckage?”
“You…” I whispered, a sickening wave of horror seizing my soul. “You wanted to play the hero.”
“Play it, Alyssa? I became it,” he hissed, unblinking, deadly eyes locked onto mine.
“You worshiped me for it. You handed me your entire heart on a silver platter because you genuinely believed I was your savior.”
“Why?” I ended up crying, losing my breaths, my composure, my ability to think.
“What did I ever do to you? Why did you marry me if you hated me so much?”
Vince let out a low, mocking chuckle that sent a violent shiver down my spine.
“Marrying you? Hating you? Oh, sweetheart, marrying you was never a part of the original plan.”
I blinked through my tears. “What...?”
“I never gave a damn about marrying you,” he announced carelessly, shrugging his shoulders.
He took the final step, trapping me completely between his solid chest and the wall behind me.
“The plan was simple.”
“Simple…?” I muttered.
“I just wanted to break you so thoroughly that the news of your absolute misery would force Arden to come running back to save you.”
At this point, I had my ears covered with my hands. My anguish reaching its peak.
“A bait,” I breathed, the realization sliced my very soul. “I… was just bait to draw him out.”
“Exactly,” Vince whispered, his thumb suddenly reaching up to trace my wet cheek.
“I wanted him to come back just so he could watch me destroy everything he ever cared about.”
I flinched violently away from his touch, but his grip tightened on my jaw, forcing me to look at him.
“But then you looked at me with those bright, trusting eyes. You chose me….” His eyes dropped to my trembling lips.
“And I realized... keeping you as my queen was the ultimate way to ensure he stays in hell forever.”
“You… you are sick!” I screamed, using every ounce of my remaining strength to shove his chest.
He didn't even budge, but the sheer fury and disgust in my eyes made his smirk finally vanish into a hard, dangerous line.
“Let me go!” I cried, violently twisting out of his grip.
“Alyssa, stop being dramatic—”
“Don't touch me! Don't look at me! Leave me!” I sobbed, my heart completely breaking into a million pieces.
The illusion was gone.
It was all a blood-soaked lie.
Turning around, I didn't grab a bag, a jacket, or think twice; I just ran.
I burst through the bedroom doors and sprinted down the stairs.
The sound of my own frantic gasps echoing through the empty house as I fled from the monster I had called my husband.