Chapter 222 Caught in the Middle
Her fingers tenderly traced the shallow scar, causing her heart to twinge with pain. The sensation was an involuntary recall of the chaos and his unhesitant charge to her aid.
She was unable to forget the hurt inflicted by Alexander, yet the memories of his kindness were equally indelible. The blend of good and bad experiences was an undeniably torturous tangle.
She yearned for the simplicity of selective memory, to remember only the good and not the bad. Alternatively, she wished she could focus solely on the bad, allowing herself to be consumed by rage.
However, she was not so simplistic, nor could she be so extreme.
Caught in the middle, she remembered both his kindness and his cruelty. This left her teetering, sometimes leaning one way, then the other, without a firm stance to call her own. In the end, she was the one who bore the brunt of the pain.
Alexander caught her hand, witnessing the sadness in her eyes. A pang squeezed his heart, leaving him gasping with a desperate and undeniable despair.
He was at a loss to understand why he felt this way.
It was as if he had plunged into the sorrow of her gaze, both body and soul entrapped.
What did this woman's eyes imply?
Had she not fallen out of love with him? Was she not fed up with their unhappy marriage? So, why did she now look at him with such reluctance to let go?
And hadn't she already acquainted herself with William, confessing they'd been together? As ridiculous as it seemed, there was a moment he had comforted himself, thinking perhaps Ava was merely speaking out of spite. But she had gone to stay with William.
Had they possibly slept together?
The thought alone transformed Alexander into a furious lion, flames of anger flaring in his eyes as he fiercely crashed his lips onto hers in a kiss devoid of any tenderness, as if venting some deep-seated fury.
Ava closed her eyes, her face numb below the nose. Her hands pressed against the man's shoulders as she attempted to push him away.
Sensing her resistance, the man seized her wrists and pinned them above her head.
The moment lingered, and Ava felt nearly suffocated.
Finally, she ceased struggling, dropping her arms limply to her sides, resigning herself to his will.
Ava's struggles had only seemed to incite Alexander's fervor, but when she stopped, so did he. He suddenly paused, looking at her with a dazed expression, falling silent for a long while.
Faced with Ava's indifferent gaze, he clenched his fists. The fiery anger in his eyes was doused with cold water, leaving behind but a wisp of smoke.
Ava opened her eyes, regarding him calmly, saying nothing, as if she had come to terms with her fate.
Alexander gritted his teeth, and after a while, he rose from her and said coldly, "Be at the City Hall at nine sharp tomorrow."
As he prepared to leave, his hand on the doorknob, he suddenly turned back to gaze darkly at the woman on the bed. After a lengthy pause, he finally spoke, "Do you really think I would throw you down the stairs?"
The truth was, he had drunk a lot that night, not just out of frustration over the evening's events.
A significant part of it was the realization that this woman actually thought him capable of such an act.
Was he really that bad in her heart? Or had she always been on guard against him?
Ava pulled the covers over herself and spoke indifferently, "Didn't you see for yourself?"
She had no defense; she had indeed harbored that thought.
