Chapter 10
Bryant’s POV
“My real parents?” I waved the arranged marriage profile they gave me.
They froze.
“The moment I became successful, you struck a deal with the daughter of the richest man in the country. You didn’t even bother to tell me, you just used me as a bargaining chip. And you dare call yourselves my parents?”
Having their ways discovered, their faces turned pale. “We… we were just thinking about your future, your marriage…”
But I didn’t even bother looking back as I turned to leave.
They tried to chase after me, but my bodyguards quickly blocked them.
As I stepped out the door, I could hear their desperate, heart-wrenching cries behind me.
“Son! We were wrong! Please come back!”
But I wasn’t going back.
I meant it when I said that this life, I was going to live for myself.
I cut ties completely with Ellen and her family.
But not long after, I was taken away by the police.
Not because I’d done anything wrong, but because Ellen had taken hostages and refused to speak to anyone but me.
When I got to the scene, I saw her on the rooftop, holding Toby and two children hostage, dangling them over the edge.
Toby was covered in blood as he shouted, “Ellen! Let us down! Those are your kids too!” My heart stopped, then I yelled, “Ellen! What are you doing?!”
She looked down at me, eyes red, lips curled into a twisted smile. “Bryant, you finally came to see me.”
Gripping the rope holding Toby, she said, “If it weren’t for this bastard, we could’ve been together forever. I know you’re still angry with me, so I’ll fix it. I’ll get rid of the man who hurt you and the mistakes I made with him. That way, can we be okay again?”
And before I could move, she cut the children’s rope.
I didn’t even hear them cry. By the time I reached the edge, they were already gone.
“No!!” Toby’s screams tore through the air. “Ellen! I won’t come between you two anymore! Let me go! I swear I’ll disappear!”
“Shut up!” She suddenly wrapped her hands around his neck. “If it weren’t for you, he would’ve forgiven me! You stole his life, and you still wanted me to carry your heirs? How am I supposed to face him?”
I froze.
Those words… they sounded so familiar.
In my last life, she said almost the exact same thing while tying me to the edge of a cliff.
Back then, she took a bullet.
Now, she smiled, and the rope snapped.
She had already cut part of it beforehand.
With that, Toby fell like dead weight, crashing to the ground just feet away from me. Blood poured from his mouth.
“Toby!” I rushed to him.
His eyes were filled with tears and blood as he looked up at me. “I should’ve… listened to you. No wonder… you… never wanted… her.”
He died right there in front of me.
Paramedics rushed over, but it was too late.
Covered in blood, Ellen was finally restrained and brought down by the police.
She looked at me through teary eyes. “Bryant… now that they’re gone… we can finally-”
I slapped her across the face.
The officers hurriedly stepped between us.
But I gritted my teeth and roared, “You’re a coward, Ellen! No one ever forced you to choose. It was always you making the decisions. You couldn’t have it all. You didn’t have the guts to walk away from power, but you still couldn’t accept losing love. So what did you do? You lashed out at the people closest to you! You’re pathetic. You’re trash.”
She looked at me in shock.
Tears slid down her face, and then she started laughing maniacally.
As they dragged her away, she kept shouting, “Yes! I’m pathetic! I’m trash! God, please! Give me one more chance to start over!”
She was sentenced to death not long after.
Before her execution, she asked to see me one last time.
But I didn’t go.
The day they executed her was a bright, cloudless day.
As for Toby and his children, I built a grave for them.
I had done it not for him, but for those innocent lives, so they could rest in peace.
Ironically, she had been pregnant with twins again.
Burying them felt like burying the children I never got to meet.
From that day on, the past was buried with the sand, and I walked forward alone, finally, just being me.
