Fled Believing She Was Scorned, Crowned as Everyone’s Only Love Chapter 08

Julian drove off.

An hour later, the sound of brakes screeched outside.

The front door was thrown open.

Everyone turned to look.

This time, besides Julian, Declan came back too.

He was a mess. The cuffs of his gray lounge pants were stained with mud, and a shirt was haphazardly thrown over his upper body.

His eyes swept the hall frantically. “Where’s Romy?”

The room was dead silent. No one answered.

Declan’s gaze landed on Romy’s open bedroom door.

Half an hour earlier, he’d still been in the villa’s basement, waiting for Romy to push open that door just as she had the past few days, her face flushed.

The door opened.

Julian walked in.

He stood in the doorway, twirling a key in his hand, and said without expression, “Romy left.”

Declan’s expression froze. “What?”

“She returned everything to the Hartwell family, booked a plane ticket, and left with her suitcase.”

Julian tossed him the key.

“Before she left, she still made sure to tell me where you were.”

“Romy’s really good to you, isn’t she?”

The key fell to the floor.

Declan’s hand was shaking.

Julian leaned against the doorframe, watching him pick the key up from the floor, fumbling three times before getting it into the lock.

Julian drove off.

An hour later, the sound of brakes screeched outside.

The front door was thrown open.

Everyone turned to look.

This time, besides Julian, Declan came back too.

He was a mess. The cuffs of his gray lounge pants were stained with mud, and a shirt was haphazardly

thrown over his upper body.

His eyes swept the hall frantically. “Where’s Romy?”

The room was dead silent. No one answered.

Declan’s gaze landed on Romy’s open bedroom door.

Half an hour earlier, he’d still been in the villa’s basement, waiting for Romy to push open that door just as

she had the past few days, her face flushed.

The door opened.

Julian walked in.

He stood in the doorway, twirling a key in his hand, and said without expression, “Romy left.”

Declan’s expression froze. “What?”

“She returned everything to the Hartwell family, booked a plane ticket, and left with her suitcase.”

Julian tossed him the key.

“Before she left, she still made sure to tell me where you were.”

“Romy’s really good to you, isn’t she?”

The key fell to the floor.

Declan’s hand was shaking.

Julian leaned against the doorframe, watching him pick the key up from the floor, fumbling three times

before getting it into the lock.

Then he grabbed a shirt and rushed out.

Declan’s mind replayed Romy’s question from that day in the basement, over and over.

“Since we’re not really siblings… would you like me, even a little? Even just a tiny bit?”

What had he said?

He hadn’t lied, but he hadn’t told the whole truth either.

He’d watched the light in her eyes fade, bit by bit.

Watched her force a smile and say, “Then congratulations.”

Watched her turn around and walk out of the basement, step by step. Her stride steady, her shoulders

straight.

He’d wanted to call her back.

His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

He was afraid of his own illness.

Afraid of the possessiveness that grew harder to control the closer he got to her.

Afraid he’d hurt her.

Afraid she’d mistaken childhood dependency for love, afraid she’d regret it one day.

He’d thought he was making the right decision.

Let her go. Let her love someone healthy, someone who deserved her.

Declan squeezed his eyes shut.

In the room, there was only the sound of his breathing, suppressed to the extreme, almost silent.

He realized he’d made a huge mistake.