After Lana left, Karen hurried over to talk to Kendrick. However, Kendrick ignored Karen and walked straight over to Niamh.
“If you don’t want people around you to get hurt, show up on time tomorrow to apologize.” His voice was icy, and it was clear that he was siding with Lana.
Niamh looked at Kendrick with no warmth in her eyes. “Get lost.”
“Eveline, stop asking for trouble.”
Niamh’s expression remained unchanged as she added coldly, “Go back to your deranged woman and get out of my sight.”
Kendrick frowned. “You’re so stubborn.”
“You’re right. I am very stubborn. I chose you because I was stupid. I should’ve cut all ties with you so at least my parents wouldn’t have died in the fire!”
Niamh scoffed in self-mockery, hatred oozing off her charming eyes.
“Get out now. Take your woman and go!”
Kendrick did not say anything when he saw Niamh being so firm with her decision. Therefore, he turned around and left.
Karen chased after him. “Kendrick, I’m asking you now. Did you really set fire to Montgomery Manor?”
Kendrick replied impatiently, “Stop making me repeat myself. I’m not your son.”
“You are my son!” Karen replied firmly, “Eveline also came back with a different name back then, so I don’t believe there’ll be two people who look exactly the same in this world. You’re my son!”
Kendrick did not want to explain to Karen anymore, so he got into the car and drove away.
However, he still had Niamh’s cold gaze and words replaying in his head.
“What are you thinking about?” Lana asked when she saw Kendrick staying silent.
Kendrick lifted his head. “Did you set the house on fire?”
“Dummy, why would I do that? Did you forget that you’re the one who did that?” Lana’s gaze was amorous. “Hans, are you feeling sorry for Eveline? Did you forget how she slapped me in front of you? I have to make her pay for it, no?”
“You didn’t have to kill her parents.”
“Who asked her parents to do a background check on me?” Lana was not bothered. For her, money and power were far more valuable than human life.
“Hans, Eveline is pretty good-looking. Could it be that you’re falling for her?” Lana asked while moving closer to Kendrick.
“How can a dull woman like her compare to me? She’s only good-looking, but beauty is not everything.”
Lana trusted her charm. When she saw Kendrick staying silent, she smiled to flatter him.
“Hans, are you blaming me for going too far? You have to understand that we can’t let people find out about the Stygian Johnsons’ background. If not, we’ll get into trouble. You don’t want anything to happen to me, right?”
Kendrick smiled superficially after he heard that. “Of course not.”
“I knew you wouldn’t.” Lana smiled bashfully as she tried to get close to Kendrick to get a kiss. However, Kendrick asked the driver to stop driving all of a sudden.
“Hans, where are you going?”
Kendrick’s eyes were cold as he said, “I think I’m going too easy on Eveline. I need to go back for a bit.”
Lana’s eyes lit up. “Hans, what do you want to do to her?”
“I want her to feel even more pain.”
Even more pain?
Lana was delighted with this answer.
However, after Kendrick got out of the car, he did not go to look for Niamh. On the contrary, he went to Montgomery Manor that had been burned to the ground.
He felt an odd sense of familiarity when he looked at the ground.
He felt as if he had been here before.
He walked into the door, and the burnt smell was still as strong.
It was such a huge building and it was burned down just like that. Obviously, it was not just a simple fire.
However, Lana told him that he was the one who set the fire.
He recalled that evening when Lana asked him to come here and he did.
Yet, when he arrived, the house was already in flames.
He had set the fire.
However, he did not have any memories of that.
Kendrick walked in and tried to find something in the rubble, but he did not find anything.
It was already sunset unbeknownst to him.
When Kendrick was leaving, he saw Niamh.
She was all alone as she wandered mindlessly into the burned rubble, her eyes filled with tears.
Kendrick wanted to avoid her and keep moving, but she was walking straight toward him.
Niamh turned around when she heard noises, and when she saw Kendrick’s tall, slender frame, her eyes became stern. “What are you doing here? Do you want to destroy the evidence of you setting the fire?”
Kendrick was unperturbed. “If I were the one behind it, then I wouldn’t be here.”
“Heh, sure. You have a woman to wipe your butt for you, so of course you can do whatever you want.” Niamh mocked. “This is my home. Even if it has turned into nothing, I won’t allow a cold-blooded murderer like you to step foot inside. Get out.”
Kendrick’s eyes became sharp, and there was a flash of dominance in his eyes. He walked over to Niamh. “I can do whatever I want and no one can stop me. Not even you.”
He reached out his hand to pull Niamh to him. “I told you, a strong woman will only trigger a man’s dominance. Eveline, it looks like you’ve already elicited my interest toward you.”
He pretended to kiss her, but Niamh fought back with all her might. “Don’t touch me, you b*stard!”
However, Kendrick did not let go. While they were fighting, he ripped apart Niamh’s shirt.
Her delicate collarbone and round shoulders entered his vision. However, he did not notice those things. When he saw the faded shell pendant around Niamh’s neck and above her heaving chest, he felt as if his spirit had left his body.
Kendrick focused all of his attention on the colorful shell.
Suddenly, the same image appeared in his brain again.
Under the hot summer sun, he had his back against a little girl as he ran along the beach hurriedly.
The little girl circled her arms around his neck and called out to him sweetly…
Slap!
When Kendrick was immersed in his flashbacks and was about to hear the little girl calling out his name, he received another heavy slap from Niamh.
Niamh ripped her necklace away from her neck in front of Kendrick and threw it on the ground.
“I should just forget about you. You didn’t kill my parents, I did! I shouldn’t have forgiven you and I shouldn’t have given you a chance to start over!”
She pushed him away and started running.
Kendrick looked at Niamh’s back before squatting down to pick up the smashed shell necklace.
It was such a normal-looking shell, but for some reason, it looked so familiar and special to him.
Niamh ran out of the entrance and continued to run aimlessly.
She came to the manor seeking some warmth and memories, but she never expected to run into Kendrick.
She said she regretted this, but so what?
Even if she regretted it, she could not lie to herself and pretend that she did not love him anymore as if she had already let him go.
Niamh ran extremely far in a single breath. The rays of the sunset were unable to get rid of the bitterness and coldness in her heart.
She then fell to the ground and knelt.
The first rain in the early autumn came all of a sudden. The dense raindrops drenched her entire body, and at the same time, it also drenched her heart.
“Why?”
She lowered her eyelids and asked herself in pain.
“Why? Why do I have to suffer all these just because I love him?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.