352 Chapter 352

"Gurl, can you tell me what's wrong? What happened inside?" Diamond asked. "Did he hurt you again?"

"No, he didn't...." Chloe replied to ensure that Diamond didn't get any wrong ideas.

"Then why do you look so... disheartened?"

...

"I don't want to talk about it, Diamond. Not now..."

Diamond sighed, full of worry, "Fine, but I will still follow you until you arrive in front of the penthouse door. It's my duty."

"Mm, thank you...."

Again, Diamond was stumped when she realized she knew nothing about the problem.

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'Damn it, what did he do to her? Why can't they have at least one peaceful talk?' Diamond cursed her boss in her heart. 'That asshat seriously needs to get his mouth stitched. I don't understand how he could hurt my homegirl every single damn time?!'

Chloe felt like she was floating. She drove the car in a daze and walked silently from the lobby to the penthouse. Diamond followed her until she stood right in front of the penthouse door.

Chloe turned around and smiled in front of Diamond, "Thank you for taking me home, Diamond. You can return now."

"Chloe-- are you sure you don't want me to accompany you for a little longer?" Diamond offered. "I'm... worried."

"I need time alone. Don't worry about me, I will be fine," Chloe said.

She unlocked the penthouse door and entered the apartment, leaving Diamond alone, wondering what went wrong.

**

Chloe looked around the penthouse in a daze.

Her heart felt heavy because she started to have sentimental feelings for this penthouse.

After all, she felt much happier staying with her daughter and Vernon for the past six months or so compared to her life with Vincent for the past ten years.

But all the good things would come to an end eventually...

Chloe went downstairs and then entered her bedroom.

She locked herself inside and lay on the bed. She stared at the ceiling with an empty gaze, and then tears dropped from the corner of her eye.

"What have I done?" Chloe asked herself. "Why am I instigating the fights between Vincent and Vernon? I know that Vernon is just a reckless young man. He doesn't know what he's dealing with...."

Honestly, Chloe cared too much about Vernon's well-being. She felt obligated to support and protect him.

So when Vernon dropped the bomb and said he would go against his Big brother, she was shaken.

She was sending Vernon-- a boy she raised until he was a strong, handsome young man, to die in front of his Big brother!

"Should I... return to Vincent?"

That idea popped into Chloe's mind as she was trying to find a way to save Vernon because there was no way she would let that young man die because of her fault.

She imagined returning to Vincent after trying to hide for six months.

She imagined what he would do when they were in the same house again.

"Would he beat me to a pulp in the bathroom? Or slap me in front of the maids?" Chloe murmured. "Or maybe he will force me to watch him fucking a few women, and then... forced me to have sex right after...."

"Urp--!" Chloe got up and rushed to the bathroom. She vomited her lunch in the sink because the horrific imagery in her head was too much for her to handle.

She was breathing heavily and then stared at herself in the mirror.

She was getting healthier each day. She was still thin, but her cheek wasn't as sunken as before.

Her complexion was also better. She was pale as a ghost before. She looked unhealthy as if a gust would blow her away.

But since she got happier and more relaxed here, she started eating more than usual.

"I will lose this again once I return to Vincent...." Chloe lamented as she touched her face. "I will be the same depressed woman on the verge of suicide once I return to Vincent. Is that even worth it?"

Of course, Chloe knew the answer already. She never wanted to return to that malevolent bastard.

She would rather jump to her death than be tortured by Vincent over and over until she couldn't handle it anymore.

"But what about Vernon?" Chloe asked herself. "What should I do when Vernon is cornered by his Big brother? Of course I can't just leave him alone."

Chloe was still trying to find an answer to her question. Because there was no way she would return to Vincent, not when she realized she could be so much happier when she was away from him.

"No, I can't be selfish. Vernon has a lot in his life," Chloe said. "He is still young, and he's a successful man despite his young age. He can be so much more in the future as long as Vincent doesn't do anything to harm him."

...

Chloe returned to her bed and lay in silence. She picked up her phone and started scrolling through the old album that she had kept around.

In it, she had plenty of cute Little Vernon pictures, mostly when she was just eight to ten.

Chloe smiled as she continued scrolling, "Ah, he's so cute when he was young. I still remember how he followed me like a duckling."

Chloe stopped scrolling when she saw one picture.

It was a picture of Vernon, who was celebrating Chloe's birthday. Vernon was eight years old in the picture. He smiled ear-to-ear until his teeth showed, holding a birthday cake that he 'made' with the cooks as a birthday present for his Big sis Chloe.

Little Vernon wrote her name with cream on the cake, but he spelled it wrong.

Instead of Chloe, he wrote it C L O E E.

She remembered what he said back then;

-

"Happy Birthday, Big sis Chloe! Promise that you will be with me forever! I want to celebrate your birthday every year!"

-

Chloe had a helpless smile as she kept staring at the picture and put the phone on her bosom, "There is no way I'm going to let him hurt you..."