CHAPTER 002
1124 Words
Connor remained still, his face expressionless. He hated seeing her like this, and he hated knowing that he was the cause of it. But what could he do? He had tried to explain before, but it never seemed to help.
“You always leave,” Agnes continued, her voice shaking. “You’re gone for days, and when you come back, there’s nothing but lies and secrets. Do you think I don’t notice the money disappearing? Tens of thousands, Connor. Every single time. Do you think I’m blind? Or just stupid?”
Connor's chest tightened. He wished he could tell her everything, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
"Agnes," he started, his voice was soft, "knowing too much won’t do you any good."
Her eyes widened with disbelief, and then her anger flared up again, even more intense than before. “Are you serious?” she cried out. “That’s all you have to say? Knowing too much won’t help me? Don’t you see what’s happening here?”
Connor lowered his head, unable to meet her gaze. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“Protect me? From what? From the truth?” she shouted. Her face was red with frustration as tears filled her eyes. “Do you have any idea what people are saying about you? About us? There are rumors, Connor. People are saying you’re using my money to support a mistress!”
“They all believe that you are cheating on me, and all those secret trips you go, you do it to spend time with another woman,” she cried, her tears flowing freely.
Connor flinched at the accusation, his heart aching as he saw the pain in her eyes. That was not the case at all, but how could he make her understand?
Agnes choked out a bitter laugh. The fact that Connor wasn’t defending himself seemed to her like he was guilty of the accusations.
“It all makes sense, doesn’t it? You disappear for days without a trace, come back without a single explanation, and every time, more money is gone. I feel like a fool, Connor. Everyone’s talking about it, and I’m just here, pretending everything’s fine. You’ve been seeing another woman, and spending all my money on her?”
“Agnes, that’s not true,” Connor said, his voice strained. “I would never—”
“I don’t care anymore!” she interrupted, her voice breaking. “I’m tired, Connor. Tired of this marriage, tired of feeling like I don’t know who you are anymore.”
He swallowed hard, trying to think of what to say. But the words never came.
“You don’t even try to understand what this has done to me,” she continued, her hands trembling as she wiped away her tears. “From the very beginning, this marriage was nothing but a trap. My family manipulated me into marrying you, thinking that tying me to a disabled man would break me. And you just let it happen.”
Connor’s chest tightened at her words. He knew the circumstances of their marriage had been far from ideal, but he had never meant for her to suffer because of it. He didn’t want her to see him as another burden in her life.
“I never wanted that for you,” he said quietly.
“Then what do you want?” Agnes asked, her voice cold and sharp. “Do you even care? Or is this just convenient for you?”
Connor felt a deep pain in his chest, knowing that she was right to question him. He had kept too many secrets, and now it was all crashing down around them.
“Agnes, you’re my wife,” he said calmly. “I care about you more than anything. I just... I don’t know how to fix this.”
She shook her head, her expression hardening. “A man who relies on me for everything isn’t fit to be my husband. You can’t even stand on your own two feet, and I don’t mean that because of your legs.” She crossed her arms with a cold and distant gaze. “I want a husband who’s strong, someone I can depend on. A hero. And you’re not that, Connor.”
Connor’s hands gripped the armrests of his wheelchair tightly. He had heard those words before, from others who looked down on him because of his injury, but hearing them from her cut deeper than anything else.
Agnes’s voice softened, but the intensity behind her words remained. “Do you know who I’ve always loved? The one man who’s ever made me feel like I could trust someone with my life?”
Connor blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace, holding it up between them. It was simple but familiar. Too familiar.
“The man I love is the one who saved me on the battlefield years ago,” she said, her voice filled with emotion. “He gave me this necklace, and I’ve held onto it ever since. That’s the man I want. The man I could love. Not you.”
Connor stared at the necklace in shock, his mind racing. He recognized it immediately. It was identical to the one he had worn during the battle—the one he had given to someone before everything went wrong. The one he had lost in the chaos of war.
And now, here it was, in her hands.
Agnes took a deep breath, her eyes steady as they met his. “That’s the man I could love. Not you. Never you.”
Connor’s world spun. The pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place, and a flood of memories rushed back to him. Agnes was the same lady he saved that day on the battlefield. He was the man who gave her that necklace. He had handed her the necklace, never thinking he’d see her again after saving her life.
He held two identical necklaces that day, gave her one and kept one, but during the war, he lost his.
But now, she stood before him, the woman he had saved years ago. And she had no idea.
His hands trembled as he looked at her, unsure of what to say. His heart ached with the weight of it all—the secrets, the lies, the years of distance between them.
“I...” He started, but the words wouldn’t come.
Agnes watched him, her face hard, waiting for an answer.
But how could he explain it? How could he tell her that he was the man she had been searching for all along, the man she thought she loved?
- Writer
