Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
She hesitated, but his gaze was burning so brightly that she did not have it in her to lie to him. Hence, she had no choice but to tell him everything.
“While he is not seriously hurt, there are over 40 wounds all over him,” she answered as her heart raced anxiously.
“Who did it?”
“Slevin Damazio and his sister.”
He frowned. “I didn’t know he had a sister.”
“It’s a little complicated. I’ll tell you all about it once you’re better.”
He froze as a cold glint shone in his eyes. “That’s fine. I can investigate it on my own. No one who has hurt my son will go unpunished.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it. Your job is to get better. The faster you heal, the faster we can go back home.”
He turned to look at her with hope shimmering in his eyes. “You’ll head back home with me?”
“It won’t just be me. Damian will be coming as well. We will all go home.”
The final outcome was revealed. Nyla was barely alive after being salvaged from the water, with most of her vital signs absent. Despite efforts to revive her, she passed away within two hours of being taken to the hospital. A blossoming young girl met her end in the tumultuous waves.
Elspeth knew that this news would deeply affect Slevin. Before leaving, she decided to visit him, both to say goodbye and to remind him not to harbor any thoughts about her. She arrived at Slevin’s villa, a place she had visited countless times before, and stood at the door. The housekeeper recognized her immediately.
“Miss Lynwood, you’ve returned. Mr. Slevin hasn’t been in good spirits these past few days. If it’s okay, could you please comfort him?” The housekeeper’s face was full of plea, for she had taken care of Slevin for many years and surely had some emotional attachment to him.
Elspeth nodded, indicating that she would do her best, then pushed open the door and walked inside. Slevin had confined himself to his room, refusing to come out.
As such, she had no choice but to go upstairs and knock on his door.
Slevin’s room was as tidy as ever, with no signs of the mess and desolation she had imagined. Elspeth cleared her throat and looked at Slevin, who sat motionless on the armchair.
“How have you been recently, Slevin?” she asked.
Slevin’s eyes flickered upon hearing the familiar voice, and he made a slight movement.
“You’ve come. Do you still have the time to visit me? Weren’t you planning to go back to your country?”
he asked.
Elspeth was surprised. “How did you know I’m going back to my country?”
Slevin chuckled, but due to his rigid facial expression, it only resulted in a strange contortion of his lips. “I’ve told you, there’s nothing in this world that I don’t know.”
Elspeth paused for a moment, then approached him. “I am indeed going back to my country, and I came today specifically to inform you.”
Slevin tilted his head back and leaned against the armchair. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid I’ll try to stop you from leaving?”
Elspeth snorted in annoyance. “Who knows what you’ll do?”
“I must admit, I do want to keep you by my side.” Slevin flexed his wrist slightly. “After all, a talented woman like you… I wouldn’t want you to become my competitor.”
These words didn’t surprise Elspeth much. She had long known the reason Slevin was so insistent on keeping her by his side was because he saw value in her business acumen. To be able to grow Azure Corporation on such a large scale in just a few years was a talent not everyone possessed. Slevin never experienced love and care since childhood, and his mother had gone through terrible experiences, so he had no understanding of what love truly meant. All he knew was that if he could have her or keep her by his side, it would maximize his own benefits.
She had experienced true love, while Slevin’s so-called affection was not love at all.
“Well, you don’t have to worry. I will do my best to avoid any intersections with your company,” Elspeth replied.
Slevin sneered. “Well, if that’s the case, you’re quite hurtful with your words.”
“Slevin, I hope you can understand your own heart. Do you genuinely like me, or are you just using me? You’ll know the answer deep down,” Elspeth said calmly.
Slevin’s eyes flickered for a moment, and for the first time, he let out an eerie laugh. “Hahaha, Elspeth, I suppose you truly are a clever woman.”
Indeed, he was only interested in this woman before him at first, but he valued her talent more. As for love… To hell with love.
Elspeth remained calm and looked at Slevin’s current state with a sigh. “So, how long are you going to keep up this act?”
Slevin froze and raised his head. “What do you mean by that?”
She pondered for a moment, then took a document out of her bag and placed it on the table in front of him.
“I’ve uncovered everything about your past experiences, why you’ve become the way you are now, and why you adopted Nyla.”
Upon the mention of Nyla, Slevin’s temples twitched slightly.
“You initially adopted her simply because she resembled your mother to some extent. Being naturally suspicious, it wouldn’t take much investigation to uncover her entire history. That’s when you discovered a shocking secret. This girl was your half-sister, sharing the same mother but different fathers, and you had been separated from each other for many years.”
Slevin laughed, his voice filled with resentment. “You’re smart, as expected.”
“Wait, I haven’t finished yet,” Elspeth continued. “You didn’t want to reveal Nyla’s true identity to her, and you only treated her as the girl you adopted. But deep down, you were also afraid, right? You didn’t expect that your mother, in addition to being a mistress for this man, also served as a mistress for Hank’s father. Thus, she wasn’t an uninformed victim of love, but rather a woman who specialized in destroying other people’s families.”
At these words, Slevin was furious, and his eyes turned bloodshot. “Shut up! Don’t say another word!”
“You couldn’t believe that your beloved mother was such a person, so you’ve been self-deluding and fooling yourself, even using the excuse of seeking justice for your mother to cause trouble for the Damazio Family. You were even reluctant to let Hank off easily. However, the real reason was to transfer your own pain onto others.”
“I told you to shut up!”
Elspeth realized that her suspicions were indeed correct. “Slevin, isn’t this why you refuse to reciprocate Nyla’s confession? You didn’t expect that your blood-related sister would develop feelings for you. Isn’t it ironic and laughable?”
She had barely finished her sentence when Slevin suddenly pushed her down onto the couch.
“I told you to shut up, can’t you hear me?” He pressed both hands tightly against her neck, his eyes filled with unmistakable hatred, looking as if he would strangle her alive in the next second.
Elspeth felt her breathing almost being cut off, but seeing him in this state, she added one final push.
“Slevin… What is the purpose of your lifelong competition? You’re just competing with an invisible opponent… You’re unwilling to let go of yourself, so you involve innocent people. Does any of this truly have any meaning, though?”
The word ‘meaning’ caused his clenched hands to loosen.
Slevin slumped on the couch dejectedly, his voice gradually becoming softer.
“Without fighting, without competing… I’m the son of a mistress, though. I’m destined to be scorned by others. If I don’t fight my way up, how can I survive?”
Elspeth rubbed her red neck and coughed lightly.
“Slevin, I know you’ve never been able to accept your identity.”
Slevin abruptly looked up and sneered at her. “You don’t know anything. You have no idea. Ever since my mother passed away when I was around four or five years old, I was left alone. Simone, that woman, felt guilty for not saving my mother and gave me a substantial amount of money. However, at the same time, she warned me not to set foot in Damoria ever again. Although I had millions in my bank account at the time, I was still just a young child. When some of my relatives on my mother’s side found out about the money, they all clamored to adopt me. However, I knew they only wanted the money in my hands.”
He continued, “Later on, I lived with my uncle, but do you know what kind of life I had? My uncle was an alcoholic with a volatile temper, and he didn’t have the heart to beat his own son. As such, every time he got drunk, he would come and beat me instead.”
Slevin chuckled and rolled up his sleeve, revealing a scar about four inches long on his arm. “This scar was from when he raised a kitchen knife and cut my arm. Blood flowed profusely, and I was unconscious in a pool of blood. Back then, he probably realized I might be in actual danger, so he took me to a small clinic overnight to get it bandaged. However, the wound wasn’t properly treated and became infected. My arm was almost ruined.”
Elspeth listened, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She never imagined that he had experienced such hardships during his childhood.
“Then, I gradually learned that this so-called uncle only adopted me for the sake of my money. No matter how much he beat me, I wouldn’t tell him the password to that bank card. One day, he finally kicked me out of the house, but there’s always a way out. At that time, a couple adopted me, saying I was handsome and that they wanted me to be their son. I thought it was my stroke of luck, but it turned out to be another abyss.”
Elspeth looked at his pained expression, knowing that something unspeakable must have happened.
“The husband had a pedophilic disorder. At first, I only knew that someone was touching me while I slept at night. Later on, I discovered that it was him sneaking into my room every night, doing disgusting things to me.”
As Slevin spoke, he took a deep breath. After all, recalling the past always caused pain in his chest.
Elspeth couldn’t bear to listen any longer and tried to console him, saying, “If you think that these are too-“
“It’s fine. I’ve long since let it go,” Slevin interrupted.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. A gentle smile appeared on his face.
“By the way, do you know how that couple died?”
