He Jilted Me, I Rejected His Plea

Chapter 4

Thirty minutes later, Edward took me to the hospital where Mackenzie was staying.

"Apologize," he demanded.

I dropped my gaze and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

His expression softened a great deal.

He brushed the ash off the cigarette pinched between his fingers, lifted an eyebrow, and spoke, "Gwen, who would've thought you'd end up backed into a corner with nowhere to run? But this is exactly what Mackenzie went through back then. She suffered even more than you do right now."

I flicked my eyelids up to look at him. "What do I have to do for you to stop tainting my name and to just leave me alone?"

Edward crossed his legs and lounged back against the leather sofa, then lazily turned to his little mistress. "Go on, Kenzie. Tell me what you want."

She nibbled on her index finger, putting on her best innocent act. The cheek she slashed herself and framed me for doing was now bandaged.

"I-I just… I just want to put the past behind me with Miss Harold."

He rubbed the top of her head with a helpless sigh, endeared and fond, which makes anger rise higher inside me.

"I know you're too shy to push for what you want, so I'll help you." He then turned to me. "First, you're going to plug the gap in the Smith family's capital chain. Second, you're going to tell all your scumbag friends not to pull out from that research investment. And third, Mackenzie's face was ruined because of you. You're going to give her the skin graft she needs."

I scoffed, but he wasn't done speaking.

"Oh, and you have to apologize to Mackenzie publicly on every single platform. Do all that, and I might just consider going through with our marriage," he said.

I laughed out of pure rage, in disbelief at what I just heard.

I pinned him with one long, burning look, then spun on my heel and stormed out.

That apology I gave? It was for my old self, who was once blind to who he really was.

But what a load of crap he was spouting.

His demands were so outrageous that they were laughable. He was asking for the moon.

Did he really deserve any of what he was demanding from me?

The second I stepped out of the ward, I contacted my private investigator and got back all the recorded footage and photos. I sorted through all the evidence I'd already uncovered and stored on my black card. It was all proof that Edward was using illegal materials in his laboratory.

Since he was so desperate to make these demands, all this dirt would be more than enough to keep him and Mackenzie occupied for the rest of their lives.

Deeming my business here done, I headed for the hospital exit. But the second my foot crossed the threshold, a searing pain exploded against the back of my skull.

My vision went black, and I crumpled backward, falling into the darkness.

When I finally opened my eyes again, a blinding bright surgical light bore straight down into my face.

I jerked and twisted my body, only to find my hands and feet were clamped tight in heavy iron chains.

It must have been long since I have been unconscious. I didn't even know what time it was or how I got here. I only remembered the blow I took in my head that led me to this predicament.

From the corner, I saw Edward strolling toward me, his face carved from ice. "Do you think this hospital is some place you can just waltz in and out of whenever you please? We haven't finished talking. What made you think you had a right to walk out on me? Have you made up your mind yet?"

My heart leaped into my throat, and a pulse hammered so hard against my temple I could see the vein bulging.

"You bastard! If you so much as lay a finger on me, you will regret this for the rest of your miserable life!"

He led Mackenzie over until they were standing right in front of me. "Look at what you did to her! Were you really that jealous of her pretty face that you even went as far as slashing it with a knife?" he snarled. "Do you really think a single pathetic apology is enough to fix this?"

I ground my back molars so hard they ached, every drop of blood in my veins boiling with rage.

"She was the one who hurt herself!"

But he completely ignored my explanation. He turned to the doctor at his side and barked a cold order. "Start the procedure. Take the softest layer of skin from her face, just enough to cover the scar on Mackenzie's face. I don't want her to have a rejective reaction."

A sharp needle pierced my skin with a savage jab. My pupils blew wide with shock, and my whole body shook uncontrollably, wracked by searing pain and white-hot hatred.

As I screamed for what felt like hours, the tortured sounds I produced slowly grew weaker and weaker, fading into hoarse gasps, until I could barely make a sound at all.

Only then did Edward step into the operating room. His guilty gaze fell on my face, completely wrapped in bandages.

"Gwen, I'll marry you, I promise," he said, back to the timid fiancée who seemingly could never hurt a fly.

I gathered every last bit of strength I had left and slapped him hard across the face.

He tilted his head away from the blow, and the corner of his mouth tugged up into a cold smirk.

The next second, rough hands grabbed me and shoved me roughly into the back of a car.

When we pulled up to our destination, a swarm of reporters swarmed over, cameras flashing blindingly straight in my face and microphones shoved right up against me. Their gear a literal barrage of weapons aimed right at me.

He forced me down into a chair at the press conference, his grip bruising.

He leaned in close, his voice soft and coaxing, like he was talking to a skittish animal. "Babe, just clear everything up for everyone, pave the way for Mackenzie's future, and this will all be over."

Under the table, my hand clenched into a shaking fist, knuckles white.

I listened as the reporters below the stage fired off one sharp, deadly question after another, all designed to bury me for good.

My vision swam, and my head spun from the onslaught.

I pulled the corner of my mouth into a faint, cold smile.

Edward Smith, do you really think you've got me trapped?

I've been planning for this for a long time...