“It’s all my fault. I’ll make it up to you. Natalie, be good. Once today is over, I’ll come home to you. Everything will be settled. Trust me, okay?”
I blinked away my tears, remembering how I had begged him earlier, how desperate I must have looked. Forcing myself to sound indifferent, I said, “Quentin, there won’t be a future. I’m breaking up with you.”
His brows furrowed, his gaze filled with dissatisfaction and condescension as if I were throwing a childish fit.
“Stop it, Natalie. What will you even do after breaking up with me? Didn’t you say before that you wanted to have two kids with me? To be a good wife and mother? Now that you’re breaking up with me, what else do you have?”
I froze. He was right.
For him, I had left Ryan’s company at a critical moment. I gave up everything because he once told me that the Lawsons only needed a wife who could manage the household. Now, he was using that against me.
Just as he was about to leave, I grabbed his sleeve and insisted, “Quentin, I mean it.”
His expression darkened. His patience had run out. Coldly, he pried my fingers off him one by one.
“Natalie, you’re really willful. Good thing Olivia’s memories will take another year to fully return. After today, we won’t see each other for a year. She can’t handle any more stress. A year from now, I’ll reconsider whether you’re fit to be my wife. Don’t disappoint me.”
**********
Over at the ceremony hall, with Olivia leading the charge, all the guests had gathered. The moment she saw me arrive, a wicked glint flashed in her eyes.
“Natalie, you’re finally here! Where’s the groom? Why isn’t he here yet? Oh my God! Don’t tell me the groom abandoned you on your wedding day!”
Whispers began spreading through the crowd.
“Wasn’t the groom supposed to be from the Lawsons? Is it not him up there?”
“Could it be one of the old Lawson man’s illegitimate sons?”
“The groom still hasn’t shown up. Did he really call off the wedding?”
Olivia clung to Quentin’s arm, looking at me triumphantly.
Just as I was about to announce the wedding being called off, a strong arm suddenly wrapped around my shoulders. A gasp rippled through the crowd.
