Chapter 434 434

"Why didn't you ask for a divorce back then?" Vernon asked. He recalled two months after Chloe and Vincent's wedding.

Vernon had already left for Europe at that time. But he kept checking his phone, hoping that Big sis Chloe would try to contact him with another number even after he blocked her.

He knew he was childish for blocking her number, but he wanted an effort. He wanted Chloe to just do something to find him and ask him to return to New York.

If Chloe asked him to return at that time, he'd return despite all his heartbreak, just to meet with Big sis Chloe again.

But there was no phone call.

Not even a text.

Or even an email.

He checked all of them every day just to make sure he didn't miss a thing.

But there was no effort as if Big sis Chloe simply discarded him because she was too happy to care for the inferior version of his Big brother.

After all, just like what she said back then with his late father; Vernon was a dimwit, an inferior version of his Big brother. Why'd she cared about Vernon when she was married to Vincent?

Chloe scoffed as she ridiculed herself, "You know what I did after witnessing him kissing another woman? I forgive him."

"I thought it's just Vincent trying to be a bit adventurous. I thought it's just a simple mistake that will never happen anymore. There is nothing to worry, and that Vincent will always love me. I believe all that, trying to play down the cheating."

"But it's not a simple mistake, because Vincent kept doing it over and over. He kept pushing the boundaries, wanting to see how much I would tolerate," Chloe lowered her head, a bitter smile pasted on her lips. "And I stupidly tolerate him. I keep expanding my boundaries, giving him even more chances to cheat."

"After he's done sleeping with countless women, he starts beating me in the meantime, maybe it's just his way to test how much I would endure his torment, and I stupidly endured it for the past ten years."

Chloe's chest started feeling heavy as she recalled all the batshit insane things Vincent did.

"Sometimes I wonder if Vincent has always been crazy, or am I the one who turned him into the monster that he is," Chloe muttered. "If only I reprimanded him when we were just married, maybe things would be different."

"It's never your fault," Vernon replied after listening. "He's always batshit insane. He inherited his perversion and abusive nature from our late father. What they did are almost the same. Both are just bastards."

Chloe didn't know whether she should be relieved that Vernon confirmed Vincent's nature or she should be sad about it.

She was relieved that she wasn't the main cause of Vincent's unhinged behavior.

But she was sad because it proved she had simply married the wrong man. She was no different from her mother, who married a bastard that left them in shambles when Chelsea and Chloe were still babies.

Vernon kept his eyes on the road while glancing at Chloe repeatedly to check on her.

He felt guilty for pressuring Chloe to recall the bad memories. He was so agitated with the idea of Chloe leaving him that he forgot this must be heavy for Chloe too.

Because he basically forced her to rip open her wound once more, just for Vernon to see whether her wound was real or not.

Thus, Vernon parked his car at the side of the road and apologized, "I didn't mean to make you remember sad things. I was just scared that you…." Vernon stopped briefly, wondering if it was proper for him to say this. But when Chloe lifted her head and stared at him with teary eyes, his guilt started eating him from inside. "…you will leave me. I'm sorry."

"Don't cry, Chloe. You hurt me when you cry," Vernon wiped Chloe's tears, wetting her cheek with his thumb. He continued caressing Chloe's cheek with the same thumb before adding, "I won't ask about this again, I promise."

Chloe was quite surprised at how fast Vernon changed his mood because she cried a little. She wasn't crying because she was intimidated. She was just a little sad whenever she remembered Vincent and their love life.

Chloe wiped the tears that welled at the corner of her eyes again and replied, "I'm not crying because of you. I was just sad whenever I remember about my failed marriage life with Vincent."

"I keep thinking of a way to salvage our marriage for the past ten years, thinking he would eventually stop hurting me, but it's just wishful thinking in the end…."

"That's why I can't give you a concrete answer whether I still love him or not," Chloe said. "I've wasted my ten years with him. I changed for him, and I try to make him happy in any way possible to the point that I don't even know about myself anymore."

"I changed so much, losing my innocence and joy just for him. I sacrificed everything just to be with him. It's so difficult for me to detach my life from him. It's too complicated, you don't know the feeling, Vernon."

Vernon went stiff instantly. He sighed and pulled his hand from Chloe's cheek.

He stared straight at the street and replied, "I know the feeling, Chloe. To change yourself, losing your innocence and joy, sacrificing everything just to be with one person important in your life. I understand that."

Vernon wondered if Chloe hadn't realized that SHE was the one who made him change. She was the reason he sacrificed so much by returning here and fighting against his Big brother, even though he could just live an empty life full of glamor by kissing up to his Big brother.

'But it'll be an empty life in the end. I don't want to stuff the void in my heart with alcohol and sex. Not when I have you by my side.'