Blood And Promises Novel by Sabrina Hart Chapter 19

Blood And Promises Novel by Sabrina Hart Chapter 19

Richard’s pupils contracted.

“Are you showing it to me? Or to yourself, just to make yourself feel better?” Samantha took a step forward, so close that he could clearly see his own disheveled, unshaven reflection in her beautiful almond-shaped eyes beneath her long lashes. “I don’t need it anymore.” Her voice was soft, yet carried a crushing weight that landed heavily on Richard’s heart. “Your remorse, your attempts to make amends, your confessions… I don’t need any of it. Richard, from the moment you chose to believe Rebecca and handed me over to her discipline, everything between us was over for good.”

“No, Sammy, I…” Richard tried desperately to explain, to hold on to something.

“And another thing,” Samantha interrupted him, her gaze sweeping over his haggard face and pausing for a moment. There was no pity in her eyes, only a faint trace of exhaustion. “Look at yourself now—what’s the point? Major General Cantrell, don’t make me despise you even more.”

After saying this, she no longer looked at him. She reached out and gently took hold of Humberto’s sleeve.

“Bert, let’s go upstairs. I’m a little tired.”

Humberto turned his hand to hold hers, his warm, dry palm enveloping her slightly cold hand. He shot Richard a cold glance, an unmistakable warning in his eyes, then put his arm around her and turned toward the entrance of the apartment building.

As the door was about to close before his eyes, the last thread of reason in Richard’s mind snapped completely.

“Sammy!” He lunged forward just as Samantha was about to step into the apartment lobby, under Humberto’s suddenly icy gaze and the astonished stares of the security guards at the entrance—

“Bang!”

A dull thud sounded. The once proud Richard, who had never bowed his head even before thousands of troops, fell straight to his knees on the cold, hard marble floor. The sound of his knees hitting the ground was not loud, yet it was like a thunderclap, exploding in everyone’s ears.

Humberto’s pupils contracted sharply. Samantha’s steps finally came to a complete halt. With her back to him, her slender figure stiffened almost imperceptibly.

Richard knelt there, his back straight as a spear that would rather break than bend. He raised his head, looking at Samantha’s back. His eyes were red, filled with bloodshot lines and a desperate, nearly shattered plea.

“Sammy,” his voice was hoarse, every word squeezed from the depths of his soul, raw with pain. “I don’t ask for your forgiveness. I know I don’t deserve it.”

“All I ask is… give me a chance to make it up to you. Let me stay by your side, I’ll do anything. Punish me however you want—stab me, pour acid on me, make me kneel on broken glass… for as long as you wish. Just don’t abandon me, don’t… don’t let me lose sight of you.”

He lowered his head, messy hair falling over his forehead, hiding the overwhelming pain and humility in his eyes. Once the man who controlled everything and whose word was law, Richard now knelt before his ex-wife, humbled to the dust, begging for a sliver of hope.

Time seemed to freeze.

At last, Samantha slowly turned around. She lowered her head, looking at the man kneeling before her. His uniform was wrinkled and clung to his body, stained with mud. His face was unshaven, his eyes sunken—there was nothing left of his former stern, commanding presence.

She looked at him for a long time, so long that Richard nearly drowned in the silence, the faint light in his eyes gradually dimming.

“Richard,” her voice remained calm, so calm it was unsettling. “It’s too late.”

“Some wounds can’t be erased by kneeling or making amends, as if they never happened.”

“Get up.” She looked away, refusing to look at him again. “Don’t do this. Acting like this only makes the past five years seem even more like a joke to me.”

After she finished, she did not linger, nor did she spare another glance at the man kneeling on the ground. She took Humberto’s arm and walked step by step into the bright, warm lobby of the apartment. The glass door slowly closed behind her, shutting out the figure kneeling in the autumn wind, as if abandoned by the whole world, into another cold world.

Richard remained kneeling there, motionless. Like a soulless statue, slowly weathering in the wind.

Until the security guard could no longer bear it and cautiously approached to persuade him: “Sir… the ground is cold, why don’t you get up? That lady has already gone upstairs…”

Richard seemed not to hear, still kneeling upright, his gaze empty as he stared at the tightly closed glass door, watching the elevator numbers climb floor by floor, finally stopping at a level he could never reach.

He kept that posture, kneeling in the cold night wind of late autumn, for the entire night.

Samantha’s life seemed to return to normal. With Humberto’s arrangements and encouragement, she relied on her excellent skills to successfully join Fort Riley’s Army Band, becoming a dancer once again.

Richard did not give up. He used his connections to have himself temporarily transferred to Fort Riley. He knew where Samantha rehearsed, so every day, without fail, he appeared outside the Army Band. He did not approach her, only watched from afar. When her rehearsal ended, he would hold a large bouquet of fresh, dewy roses or bring a thermos filled with the snacks and soups she used to love, silently offering them to her.

Samantha never accepted them. The first time, she threw the expensive bouquet of roses straight into the nearby trash can right in front of him. The second time, she did not even glance at the thermos in his hand and walked away. The third time, the fourth time… countless times.

Rumors gradually began to circulate within the Army Band. Stories about Samantha’s past, about her and the handsome yet haggard Richard from New York, about her current “fiancé,” Humberto… all kinds of speculation spread in private.

Samantha had heard some of it, but she remained silent. Every day, she rehearsed as usual, had dinner with Humberto, and occasionally accepted his rides. She wrapped herself in a layer of ice, shutting out all the prying and gossip from the outside world.

Richard watched her increasingly thin yet upright figure, saw her give Humberto gentle but distant smiles, and felt as if his heart was being fried repeatedly in hot oil. But he had no right to say anything. All he could do was, day after day, guard the places where she might appear in this clumsy, almost self-tormenting way.