Married To The Mad Vampire Lord - Chapter 480

Chapter 480: Taking them out of the establishment_Part 1
He had always believed she deserved better than a man like him anyway. Perhaps this was the only way she would ever find someone better, someone who could live for her when he no longer could.

Tears filled Evenly’s eyes as she glared at the door and said, “Christian, stop it already. I know you are… are trying to push me away, but that doesn’t mean your words don’t sting. I don’t care if you turn rogue, I will get you back to normal, even if I have to—”

Rav suddenly let out a harsh, bitter laugh that cut her words off, and then he said, “I see now why Josh Clifton left you, my lady. You don’t know when to give up. You’re not only annoyingly clingy but suffocating to be around. You always want things to work out your way. And to be honest with you, I was already doubting I could live with such a woman. Why do you think I didn’t tell you about the corruption?” He didn’t wait for her reply before continuing, “It’s because I wish to die. This has always been what I wanted right from the start. At least after I die, I can finally be reunited with my family, my wife and my son, the only people I truly love.”

His voice carried a hollow longing, as if he were yearning for the people who no longer existed in this world. But in truth, every word he spoke to her broke him more than it broke her. Tears rolled down his face as he forced himself to keep speaking, giving her brutal words meant to make her let go.

My stubborn, fiery-haired Evenly… sometimes things don’t work out the way they should. I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, how deeply I’ve come to love you in these past months…

“It is hard to love a woman like you. Go away and leave me. I will die with a smile because my Alison will be waiting to welcome me,” he said finally.

Evenly, who thought she could take any hurtful words he threw at her, couldn’t bear it anymore. She moved back from the door, her lips trembling as tears blurred her vision of the wooden frame separating them. “I hate you for saying that, Rav. Take those words back,” she choked out, her voice breaking.

But Rav only laughed, a hollow, bitter sound that pierced through her.

“What is there to take back when everything I’ve said is nothing but the truth? I don’t need, or want a woman like you.”

Evenly bit down hard on her bottom lip, staring at the door for a long moment as his words struck deep, hitting the softest part of her heart.

“All my life,” Evenly began quietly, her voice shaking, “I have lived believing I was a hard person to love because everyone always ended up turning their backs on me. I stopped trying to be anything I wasn’t and decided to be true to myself. I thought I would never love another man after what Josh did to me. I thought I would never again feel the safety and security that comes with loving the right person… and then you came into my life, Rav. I hated you at first, but I never realized when you started to mean something to me, when a second away from you began to feel like an hour. My heart…”

She pressed a trembling hand to her chest. “I don’t have control over it, and I believe no one does. But just now, you said all those words to hurt me and push me away. I should hate you for it, I should walk away and let you go meet your wonderful family in the afterlife… only this heart of mine has fallen far too deeply for you. I love you, Christian, despite all the hurtful words. And I promise you, regardless of what you say, I will not give up until I cure you of this.”

Saying that, Evenly pushed herself to her feet, her determination burning through her tears. “Only a man who truly cares would try to make someone stop loving him just to protect her. And I want you to know this, I love you.”

Rav, still tearing up, suddenly found himself smiling, a faint, bittersweet smile. You are something else, Evenly. He thought to himself.

“Go away. I don’t care about what you feel. Don’t come back here,” came Rav’s flat voice.

“Coming back, I shall, Christian. Hang on in there. I will be back.”

Please don’t come back. Why won’t you just hate me again, Evenly?

Evenly turned from the door and went in search of Rohan. There had to be a reason he hadn’t killed Rav yet and had instead locked him up. It could only mean the duke knew of a way to save him and had kept him alive on purpose. She needed to know everything, to understand how she could help in any way possible.

What Rav didn’t know was that his harsh words had done the opposite of what he intended. Instead of making her give up, they had only strengthened her resolve.

Evenly went into Angel’s room, thinking Rohan might be there. However, the moment she stepped inside, what she saw made her stop dead in her tracks, her eyes widening in shock.

—

Back in the establishment, Belle went into labor at a moment she didn’t expect at all. The contractions had started that same morning, shortly after she had gone through the reaper scroll. The first one wasn’t strong, but she recognized it immediately for what it was. They came thirty minutes apart at first. She didn’t even tell her cellmate until the warden came. To Belle’s surprise, she was suddenly pulled out, and her chains were linked with Andrea’s, both of them being dragged by the warden.

She hadn’t expected at all to be pulled along with Andrea, as until now she had always been left alone in the cell every morning without food or a bath. Had they changed their minds about starving her and keeping her isolated? At this point, with the pain of the contractions starting, she would have preferred to be left behind!

It was then she noticed the atmosphere in the establishment, the air was thick with panic and urgency. For all the days she had been here, the place had never been as noisy or as loud as it was now. She exchanged a wary look with Andrea, who also noticed that the wardens seemed impatient and in a hurry as they pulled them to stand in long lines with the other slaves.

“What’s going on, Mitchell?” asked one of the wardens who had just walked in from another corridor, his tone filled with concern as he questioned the one pulling Belle’s and Andrea’s chains.