Chapter 263 It’s Only a Matter of Time for Her to Marry Me
Lucian leaned lazily against the wall with his arms crossed. His shirt opened wider with his movements, making the two red marks on his chest glaringly obvious.
“You’re about to turn thirty, or to exaggerate a bit, almost forty. How can you still ask such innocent questions? I’m here because I slept here last night.”
If Paul was still able to maintain his composure as a gentleman earlier when the door was opened, now his expression had completely changed. His brows furrowed tightly, filled with an indifferent reproach.
“You took advantage of her?”
“Could it be that it was mutual consent between us? Paul, back when you refused to help her, you were already out of the picture. You have no chance with her anymore. Your persistence is going to wear off
her impression on you during childhood sooner or later.”
Even though Paul knew what Lucian said only represented his personal opinion, he couldn’t control his emotions. He grabbed onto Lucian’s open collar, and finally, those glaring red marks were out of his sight.
“If it weren’t for you taking my place who gave her the wrong impression, she would never have married
you.”
“It’s only a matter of time for her to marry me. At that time, you couldn’t have helped her, and you didn’t have the determination to go all out for her. I just needed to give her a signal when she was desperate and had no one else to turn to. She would come begging to me. Maybe she liked you at that time, which is why she approached you first. But having feelings under those circumstances is of no value at all. Unless she loved you to the point of being willing to die for you.”
Some debts, no matter how hard one tried and determined they were, couldn’t be paid off in a lifetime.
“Paul, if it wasn’t for me who couldn’t bear to see her begging and trembling in fear every day, hiding and
evading, you wouldn’t even have a chance to be near her now.”
He didn’t even need to do anything. He would just have to wait for Paul to reject her, wait for her to be
pushed to her limits, and then appear like a godsend, saving her from her misery.
She would be grateful, obediently letting him have his way, just like a caged canary.
Lucian knew all too well the methods of loan sharks. It wasn’t just about inflicting physical harm, but
directly destroying a person psychologically,
Not only did they harass debtors, they also harassed those around them, until the person was completely
isioned by all their relatives and friends.
If he patiently waited for that moment, Calista would be completely hopeless. Even after the marriage, she would no longer yearn for Paul.
It’s not that Lucian wasn’t impatient. It was just that if he did it that way, her faith in life would also be shattered as she let go of Paul. 1
A person with severe psychological trauma would find it hard to truly forget the past and regain happiness. Even if he pampered her like a princess afterward, he couldn’t make her forget her past
That’s why as people grew older, they found it harder to be happy. They had endured too many blows. While their ability to withstand pressure grew, their ability to feel joy diminished.
Lucian yearned for Calista. He wanted to be the only one in her life, but he also couldn’t bear the thought of her life when she only had him. He brushed away Paul’s tightly clenched hand.
“Paul, you can still stay by her side now because I did so with the price of her hating me. So, be polite to your benefactor.”
Lucian lowered his head and smoothed out his crumpled collar.
“Hurry up and get breakfast, I’m hungry.”
The tense atmosphere from earlier instantly relaxed with his words. Paul’s gaze swept across his chest
along with his movements.
He said provocatively, “Next time when you twist it, remember to put more effort into it. It’s all faded now.
Lucian lowered his head and opened his collar to have a look. Indeed, the red marks weren’t that visible
anymore. Damn. Was this guy an owl? His vision was so good.
Paul ignored the frustration and embarrassment on Lucian. He turned around and left for the elevator door. When Lucian closed the door and returned to the room, Calista was still asleep.
He had been awake for quite some time. Earlier on, he didn’t want to get up. Now that he was up, he didn’t.
feel like lying down again.
He walked to the side of the bed, intending to straighten the messy covers on Calista. Looking at her rosy
cheeks from the heat, he couldn’t resist reaching out and touching her face.
His fingers stroked past her smooth forehead, her straight nose bridge, and then to her closed elongated
yes Lucian’s touch was light, so as not to wake her up. His fingers were barely touching her skin,
she woke up, the stimulations from last night would be in vain. With her personality, if she clenched her
and ondered him to get out, that would already be a sign of remarkable restraint.
However, when Lucian’s fingers brushed over Calista’s eyes, they suddenly halted. He furrowed his brows Instead of the gentle touch, he used a firmer one to wake her up.
“Callie?‘
He felt something wet on his fingertips. Calista had been crying. He hadn’t paid close attention before, but now he noticed two distinct wet spots on her pillow.
Calista was in deep sleep. It took a few nudges from him before she drowsily opened her eyes. Her eyes were red, and it was hard to tell if she was still sleepy. She stared at Lucian and remained silent.
She was looking a bit dazed,
“What’s wrong?”
Lucian’s brows were still creased. He handed her a tissue to wipe away her tears.
“Why are
“Oh…”
you crying?”
Perhaps Calista hadn’t fully woken up yet, so she was responding slowly. She held the tissue in her hand without wiping her tears. Instead, she was just pinching it.
“I had a nightmare and it scared me.”
Lucian stood there for two seconds. Finally, he could no longer stand it and took the crumpled tissue
from her hand to wipe away her tears.
“What kind of dream could make you cry like this?”
His words sounded nothing like a comfort, more like saying she wasn’t being her usual daring self. There was hardly anything that could make her cry.
As soon as Lucian spoke, he immediately regretted it. He pursed his lips, about to try to remedy it, but to
his surprise, Calista didn’t retort.
She obediently answered his question, “I dreamt that I was trafficked to northern Myian. When you woke
up, the doctor was holding a scalpel, about to cut my kidney open.”
The events in northern Myian had recently gone viral on the internet. Even if Lucian hadn’t paid attention,
he had still seen plenty of related news and short videos.
movements in wiping her tears became gentler.
No one can traffick you, let alone cut you open, Don’t look at those things online
Others might just feel pitiful after watching, but it was a different case for Calista. She had come dangerously close to walking down that path of being trafficked.
That’s why her mind might dwell on it a bit more, leading to nightmares.
“Even if someone wanted to traffick you, they wouldn’t choose northern Myian. A kidney isn’t worth much. It’s nothing even if you have two kidneys. Even if your whole body was covered with kidneys, it still wouldn’t pay off your debt. It’s even more impossible for you to fall into a scam. If you end up being trafficked because you’re that broke, scammers won’t even target you. And the real rich people won’t chat online, let alone get seduced by people online. If you’re trafficked to those places, the money you earn there can’t even make up for the majority of your debt. The loan sharks aren’t that dumb to do this kind of business that makes them lose their money.”
