With Cedric standing firmly at my side, the Holloway family swallowed their discontent. Not one of them dared to voice it.
Kendric was depressed for a long time.
Then one day, he came to me excitedly.
“Catriona, don’t be angry anymore. I’ve already cut things off with Juliette.
“We can start over. I promise you, this time I’ll be a good husband.”
He handed me an abortion report.
“I had Juliette get an abortion. She won’t trouble us again. Please, stop punishing me. Can we just be good again?”
A life that never saw the world was turned into a thin sheet of paper, which became Kendric’s tool to win me back.
I didn’t take it. And I didn’t speak.
Instead, memories began to surface.
Through the years, Kendric did apologize to me.
Sometimes because he’d gone too far, sometimes because the family business demanded it.
Evan would force him to say sorry.
Every time, Kendric swore he’d change.
But it wouldn’t be long before Kendric came at me with an even crueler revenge.
Love was consumed by pain.
Trust collapsed under betrayal and lies.
I would never believe Kendric again.
And I would never forgive him.
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“Stop lying to yourself, Kendric. You know as well as I do. We will never go back. I’m married to your brother now. You shouldn’t say those words.”
He stared at me quietly, tears sliding down his face.
“How can you do this to me? Nine years, Catriona. And now I have to watch you marry someone else. Do you know what that feels like?”
How could I not know?
That was my life for nine years.
I watched him parade Juliette on his arm and show her the tenderness and devotion that should have
been mine.
I wept, I broke, I doubted myself.
I cooked and cleaned, knelt on the floor to scrub until it gleamed, and made sure every meal was differ- ent to please him.
At one point, I even dressed like Juliette, copied her gestures, hoping he’d see me again.
But all I earned was Kendric’s mockery.
He cut my clothes into rags before my eyes, dumped my food into the dog’s bowl, and sneered.
“Catriona, do you even know what ‘a pale imitation‘ means? Look at you, how could you ever compare to Julie?
“You’re only good for laundry and cooking. If you can’t even cook properly, you are completely use- less.”
Kendric’s cruelty finally taught me: in the eyes of someone who doesn’t love you, every effort is mean- ingless.
So I pulled back my love.
I chose to entrust my future to someone who deserved it.
After hearing my words, Kendric fell silent for a long while.
He said, “I didn’t mean it. I never thought those things would wound you so deeply.
“Most of the time, I was just teasing you.”
Even as he said it, guilt crept into his voice,
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Kendric dropped his head, thought for a moment, and left in tears.
But Kendric still refused to let go.
He tried everything to surprise me.
Sometimes he sent me the meal he cooked himself, sometimes he surprised me with a handbag he had carefully chosen.
I threw away each gift, one by one.
Still, he kept coming back.
In the end, Cedric had enough. He sent Kendric abroad.
Half warning, half threat, Cedric said, “I’ve already dealt with your friends and everyone who ever hurt Catriona.
“You’re my brother, so I’ll let you off this time. But if you ever appear before her again, I’ll send you to an island cut off from the world. You’ll spend the rest of your life there.”
Between my indifference and Cedric’s warning, Kendric finally yielded.
He asked only one thing.
He wanted to stay until my wedding, just to see me in a wedding dress.
We refused.
The day Cedric put him on the plane, Kendric wept like a child.
“Catriona, I really know I was wrong. I bullied you because I loved you. If I had another chance, I wouldn’t do it again.”
I answered calmly, “I’ve already given you so many chances.”
Nine years of marriage. Ten divorce licenses.
Every one of them was a chance.
After Kendric was gone, Cedric and I held our wedding.
Cedric stood beneath the lights, smiling as he watched me.
And I, dressed in a gorgeous wedding gown, walked step by step toward my own happiness.
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The end.
