He Left Me in a Fire for Her, Now He’s Looking for Me at His Engagement Party Chapter 04

He Left Me in a Fire for Her, Now He’s Looking for Me at His Engagement Party Chapter 04

Christopher walked quickly toward me, reaching for my hand. I sidestepped him.

His face fell. “Emma, you’re still angry with me, aren’t you?”

I frowned at him, genuinely confused. “Christopher, we broke up a long time ago.”

“I never agreed to that. I was out of my mind back then. I regretted it the moment I said it.”

“What exactly do you regret? Nearly letting me die, or forcing me to apologize to your fiancée?”

He choked. Mumbled, “All of it… I regret all of it.”

“And did you even bother finding out the truth?”

“Yes… those photos. Victoria paid someone to fake them.”

I let out a short laugh and turned to leave, pulling my daughter along with me.

He grabbed my sleeve. Then his eyes landed on her face and lit up. His voice shook as hope broke through. “Is she…”

I cut him off. “No.”

But he wouldn’t let it go. He crouched down and asked her, “How old are you?”

“Five.”

“Emma, she’s ours, isn’t she?”

I felt a headache coming on.

“No, Mr. Bennett. Lily is my husband’s daughter and mine. She has nothing to do with you. Stop imagining things.”

“And let me remind you again, you’re about to get married. For both our sakes, have some respect.”

I meant it sincerely. I wanted him to back off. But he heard only what he wanted to hear.

His eyes lit up again, as if he’d found his last lifeline.

“Emma, you still care that I’m with her. You still have feelings for me.”

“It’s not what you think. Just say the word and I’ll call off the engagement right now.”

I stared at him coldly. He was impossible.

“Don’t flatter yourself. What are you, exactly? Just because you regret it, I’m supposed to pretend nothing happened and crawl back to you?”

“We had three years, Emma. You’re just going to throw that away? How can you be so cruel?”

I turned back and watched him crumble.

“What would you consider not cruel? Dying alone in that car crash so you could cry over my grave? Crawling on my knees and admitting I slept my way up?”

“I’m a human being, Christopher. I feel pain.”

“I told you about my past because I trusted you to understand what I went through. Not so you could laugh at it with everyone else.”

“Do you know what they called me online? Whore. Homewrecker. Slut.”

Christopher’s face went gray. “I didn’t know—”

I cut him off. “I saw you helping Victoria clean up her reputation online. I was standing right outside your door with my eleventh unread message unsent. I wanted you to help me. Do you remember what you said?”

I watched his face drain of color and kept going. “You said, ‘She’s too dirty to even compare to you.'”

“I crouched outside your door and deleted every word I’d written to you. One by one.”

Christopher stumbled back and grabbed a pillar to stay upright. His voice came out hoarse. “I… I didn’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Five years had passed, and even he didn’t matter anymore.

I turned with my daughter and walked away.

His voice followed me, raw with pain. “Can that guy give you more than I can?”

I spun around, furious. “You all talk like I used you to climb up in life. Tell me, how exactly did I use you, Christopher?”

“And you say I’m dirty. Which one of you actually saw anything?”

I stepped toward him. “Did you see me sleep with them? Did you see me take their money?”

“I paid back every cent I borrowed from you, with interest. What’s the matter? Didn’t your assistant tell you?”

Christopher stumbled backward until he hit the wall.

I got my daughter into a taxi and looked at him one last time through the window.

“Have some decency and stay away.”

Christopher seemed determined to haunt me. He stood outside my building all day, every day.

Every time he saw me, he looked like he wanted to say something, even when I took out the trash.

I sent my daughter inside to watch Peppa Pig and turned on him. “What do you actually want?”

“I’m married. My kid is five. What’s the point of this?”

He looked like he’d made up his mind. “You’re raising her alone, aren’t you? I can be her father if you’ll let me.”

I stared at him, shocked.

He took it as encouragement. He stepped closer, eyes full of feeling. “Come back to me. Let me make it up to you and your daughter. Please.”

A cold voice came from behind me.

“Trying to steal my wife while I’m gone?”