You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 62

"Oh, I heard you two are coming and going together, even living together now, right? Are you really that eager to climb into his bed?"

His gaze was utterly frigid, his words dripping with unfiltered sarcasm.

Those sharp eyes gleamed with contempt and disdain.

For a moment, Sylvia thought she had misheard him, or misread his expression.

The man she had once loved so deeply was reducing her to dust.

"I didn't..." she retorted instinctively.

"Didn't what?" Ashton cut her off, his dark pupils burning with an angry, searing fire.

"Didn't want to marry me, or didn't secretly pry for information about Rebecca?"

"You are no different from your brother. You're even more of a hypocrite than he is. He just wants money, but you're better at playing pretend, better at selling your feelings to the highest bidder."

"Being so cheap and frivolous, how could you ever compare to her?"

"You couldn't learn to be as good as her in a lifetime."

She had never, ever felt this miserable.

Sylvia's chest heaved violently, but suddenly she couldn't find her voice. She was on the verge of breaking down, tears prickling her eyes, but she couldn't cry. All she felt was an all-consuming chill.

So this was how he saw her.

To protect the woman he loved, to keep her from saying the word he despised, he didn't hesitate to pierce her with the sharpest insults, using the most ruthless words to demean her, mercilessly shattering the last shred of her pride.

"Do you think the love I showed you over the past three years was all an act?"

She let out a low, breathless laugh. It felt like a profound, gut-wrenching agony, as if a hole had been torn through her chest, letting the freezing wind howl inside.

Right. How could she forget? She was an actress.

So she could act on set, and she could act when she came home. After all, it was all just to make money.

Over the past three years, whether he noticed or not, whether he was present or not, she had consistently played the part of someone deeply in love with him.

She was truly spectacular.

From today on, she would never shed another tear for Ashton.

Behind her, Ashton remained frozen in the posture where she had pushed him away. He didn't move for a long time, his face cast in shadow, hiding whatever emotions stirred beneath.

It was as if he had been stunned by the sheer wounded look on Sylvia's face, or perhaps he had finally snapped out of it, realizing the horrific things he had just said. After a long while, Ashton slowly lowered his hand. In his grip was the transparent bag holding the ticket stubs. It was stained with her leftover tears, but they had already gone cold.

Sylvia walked downstairs into the blazing sunlight, but she felt entirely numb to it.

Facing the sun, her heart was nothing but an empty, freezing void.

She had tried so hard to win his love, only to understand the truth today.

Love was the only thing in this world that couldn't be achieved through hard work.

No matter how hard she tried, someone else had already won just by standing there.

But she would never do it again.

Playing the fool once was enough.