On the night of the launching event day, Aaron told Kathleen that he had an unexpected meeting at Castell Corporation. While Kathleen said she had promised to hang out with Tiara at the mall. Aaron left the house first, wearing his normal suit to work. Kathleen left half an hour after, wearing a navy blue evening dress. She tried to dress simple so she wouldn't attract any attention during the launching event later. The last thing she wanted was for her picture to be taken by some photographers while she was not aware and got posted online. If that happened, her true identity would be exposed and Aaron would know instantly. She also brought some spare clothes with her, casual ones for her to change after the event ended. That would be her clothes when she came home so Aaron won't suspect anything.Aaron was on his way to Emerald Hotel for the microchip launching event. He arrived there early, but he waited inside the car, still thinking whether he should go in or not. Somehow, after A
Kathleen looked at Nora without saying a word. She was truly baffled to see how much Nora could pull up an act right now as if she never hurt her before. To be able to remain reserved and behaved like she was sinless, Nora was really such a terrifying person.Kathleen's mind slowly rolled back to the past when they were just young teenage girls. When Nora entered college to take a fashion design course, Kathleen had always looked up to her, having admired her sister and hoping that someday she could take the same course too. But her father had a different plan for her and she was forced to study business. Strangely, learning business was actually where her talent was. But the point was, back then Nora wasn't like this. She was not someone who would scheme on people. She loved helping her friends, especially those who studied fashion design together with her. 'What happened to you?' Kathleen wondered what was the reason that triggered Nora to change her attitude drastically. She was re
Now that he looked at her face again, she really resembled Kathleen a lot. 'What's going on?' Aaron's heart started to beat fast."Yes, Jones. I'm not using Campbell as my surname to avoid conflict with Kenneth's relatives. We had a daughter together. You should really meet her. Kathy rarely socializes with people. She really needs to be more outgoing like Nora. Right, honey?" Victoria said."Yes. You should meet our daughter," Kenneth agreed and the couple turned around to beckon their daughter to come forward and meet Aaron.Kathleen gazed up when her father called her and she instantly looked his way only to notice that Aaron was right there, standing in front of her parents. His expression looked calm, yet his eyes showed it all. The ultimate surprise, the shocking truth. It was finally here, happening to both of them in such an unexpected situation."Kathy, what are you doing just standing there? Come here," Victoria pulled her daughter's hand and now Kathleen stood in between th
Kathleen leaned her body against the wall, feeling weak out of a sudden. Her mind went blank. Liam held both her shoulders, facing her, saying something she couldn't care to hear. Everything around her slowly became inaudible and her body melted down like jelly. She fell from her footing and lay like she was about to crawl on the floor. "Kathy... Kathy..." She knew Liam was calling her but she felt like she was inside another dimension right now, couldn't engage with anything or anyone. It felt like in that dimension, it was only her there, lonely. "Get back to your sense! Stop crying! Aaron isn't worth it!" Liam yelled at her. It was fortunate enough that the music inside the banquet hall was loud and no one came out to the hallway at all. Yet, it didn't make Liam feel at ease. He still feared someone might see Kathleen breaking down like a person losing her mind. After a few seconds, she snapped back to reality and she glared at Liam instantly. She stood up and slapped his face ha
"Give me a chance to explain," Kathleen begged again."I don't want to hear your explanation! You're a fucking liar! You ruined my life! You knew how important that microchip project was to me... You knew it was my way out from the Castell, my mother's way out from my despicable father! But you ruined our chances to have a new life! You ruined everything that I'd worked hard for! You're a fucking liar! A fucking snake! You heinous Campbell! I fucking hated you so much!""I... wanted... a way... out too..." she tried hard to speak with his hand on her neck. He began strangling her again. She almost went out of breath and she stopped struggling as she could feel oxygen wasn't able to enter her lungs anymore. She was about to faint but Aaron didn't want to give her a chance to rest. So when she was almost out, he pushed her body hard to the side until she fell roughly to the floor.Kathleen didn't have any energy to even stand on her feet. She managed to grab hold of her body using her e
After leaving his house, Aaron drove straight to Majestic Palace Hotel and stayed at the royal suite for the night. He sat on the sofa in the living area in the middle of the room and stared at his surrounding. This was the place where it all started between him and Kathleen. This was the room where they had their first time making love after Kathleen got drugged by Rodney at Aeroxx's tenth anniversary party. This was also the place where he told her about his plan for the microchip project and how he wished to bring her to move abroad with his mother after the project is successfully launched. He also celebrated his early engagement plan with her in this room. Now that he reminisced back all those happy memories, he realized that Kathleen acted so well that he didn't even have the slightest suspicion about her. "It felt so real..." he mumbled alone. When he remembered what he did to Kathleen inside the house before, he slowly felt like he had become a monster. "That's not me... I'm
When the maids came to Aaron's villa that morning, they were shocked to see Kathleen's appearance. She had a dark blemish on her right cheek, a bruise she got when she fell along with the chair she was tied to last night. Her lips were also cracked and red, with clear bite marks from Aaron. Her right arm had some bruises because the chair hit it when she fell. There were also dark marks around her neck due to the stranglings and another around her wrists because they were tied using a belt. Kathleen looked visibly pale. Anyone who saw her would know instantly that she was beaten. She pretended to be okay despite the maids asking her if she was in pain or needed to go to the hospital. She refused to do any. Instead, she helped the maids make breakfast that morning for Aaron. She didn't even know if he would come home, but she wished he would.By nine o'clock, a car was heard arriving inside the house. Kathleen looked visibly happy to see that it was Aaron. She stood near the dining tab
He left and as Kathleen heard his car drive away from the house again, her limbs got weak and she slowly squatted down. She picked up the dishes that got shattered on the floor piece by piece while her tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. No whimpering sound was heard, only a silent cry. She felt really embarrassed to look up at the maids that approached her carefully. They didn't know what happened last night and they didn't know why the couple fought either. The only obvious thing was that Aaron hated Kathleen so much to the point of harming her."It's okay, madam. Why don't you take a rest? We'll clean this up," Nina, the younger maid said to Kathleen. She saw her hands were full with cuts from the glass pieces of the dishes. It was very strange that Kathleen didn't show any sign of being in pain with such many cuts. Kathleen wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand and some of her blood smeared on her cheek."Madam, that's enough. we'll do it. We'll clean it up. Just leave i