Chapter 3

My chest tightened with raw agony, but I forced myself to speak. "Julian, I didn't touch her! She did it to herself!"

Nicole was already sobbing hysterically, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Julian, it's my fault... I said something wrong and upset her. Please don't be mad at her..."

Julian turned on me, his jaw clenched tight. "Scarlett, after everything, you're still the same spoiled, violent brat! You attack people the second you don't get your way!"

I bit down hard on my lower lip, my vision swimming. "Julian... is that really who I am to you?"

Julian let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "Isn't that exactly who you've always been?"

The words cut deeper than any knife. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Shut up, Julian! You know damn well who she is! Don't act like you're blind! Why are you blaming me?!"

"Scarlett, did you honestly think I would protect you unconditionally like I did in our past life?"

The tears spilled over, hot and bitter.

"Julian... look at my hands! I'm bleeding too!"

I held up my hands, shredded and dripping crimson onto the floor.

His expression didn't waver. He looked at my bloody palms with pure indifference.

"You brought that on yourself."

I completely lost it, screaming, "Julian Hayes, come back here! Apologize to me!"

He didn't turn around. He wrapped his arm around Nicole's trembling shoulders and led her out the door, offering only a cold, dismissive glance over his shoulder.

I bit my lip until I tasted copper.

"Julian... in our past life, you could see through cheap tricks like that in a heartbeat..."

That evening, Julian returned to the villa alone.

Seeing me still sitting on the couch with bandaged hands, he did something unusual—he walked straight over to me.

A small, hopeful smile touched my lips, but before I could utter a word, his deep voice cut through the silence.

"Scarlett, pack your things. You're moving out tomorrow."

I scrambled to my feet, hurt and indignant. "Just because Nicole got hurt, you're kicking me out?!"

"We're divorced! Living separately is standard procedure, isn't it?"

Perhaps I had been spoiled too much by his fierce, suffocating devotion in our previous life, because I snapped.

"Julian! I told you I don't agree to this divorce! Can't you give me a single chance to make things right?!"

Julian stared at my outburst, his eyes gleaming with biting mockery.

"Make things right? Where was this remorse before, Scarlett?"

He leaned in, his voice dripping with venom. "What? Did you finally realize your beloved fiancé and your precious parents never gave a damn about you? Is that why you're clinging to me like a leech?"

My breath hitched. The air was knocked clean out of my lungs.

I never imagined Julian could say something so cruel to me.

He knew. He knew how brutally they had destroyed me.

In my past life, my fiancé, Liam Carter, had pretended to love me while sleeping with my adopted sister, Chloe, behind my back.

Even my own parents favored Chloe over me. She was just the orphaned daughter of their late friend, taken in out of charity. Yet slowly, she stole my family, my fiancé, and my life.

The kidnapping in our past life was staged by Chloe herself.

She just didn't expect the rickety warehouse to actually collapse on top of us.

My eyes burned, my throat tight with tears. "Julian... how could you say that to me?"

"Am I wrong? Scarlett, who else would ever want you now?"

Leaving those words hanging in the air, he grabbed his keys and slammed the front door shut behind him.

A choked sob tore from my throat.

"You liar. You told me in our past life that you would stay by my side forever."

"How can you throw me away like garbage now?"

"You absolute liar!"

Furious and heartbroken, I stormed upstairs and threw my clothes into a suitcase.

If he didn't want me, fine! I didn't want him either!

I dragged my suitcase out the front gates and marched into the chilly night air.

But anger is the worst advisor.

After wandering the empty streets for hours, shivering in the cold, I found myself standing back in front of the villa gates at three in the morning, dragging my heavy luggage behind me.

Julian probably didn't even know I had packed up and left.

I lifted my trembling hand and punched the passcode into the digital lock.

"Beep. Error."

I froze. I carefully entered the numbers again, one by one.

"Beep. Passcode Incorrect."

He changed the code? The moment I walked out, he wiped my access?

I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.

"The number you have dialed is currently unavailable."

He blocked me.

Desperation clawed at my chest. I pounded on the heavy wooden door with my fists, screaming his name into the night.

"Julian! Julian, open the door!"

After what felt like an eternity, the door clicked open. Julian stood in the entryway, looking down at me with utter irritation.

I sniffled, my voice small and pathetic. "Julian... why did you change the code?"

"Was my message not clear enough?"

Julian's lips curled into a cold, derisive sneer. "Nowhere else to go, Scarlett? So you came crawling back, shamelessly begging at my door?"

"Julian, stop talking to me like that!"

"I know I was wrong before," I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. "I know I hurt you. But I truly regret it! Why won't you give me one single chance to make it up to you?"

Julian let out a low, humorless laugh, a wave of profound sorrow flashing beneath his dark eyes.

"Scarlett, who gave you the right to think a casual 'I'm sorry' entitles you to my forgiveness?"

His gaze pierced straight through my soul.

"In our past life... did you ever give me a single chance?"