Chapter 305: Shards of a Cursed Past

Flashback: 22 Years Ago

Author’s point of view

Violet lay carelessly inside Thomas’s car, already completely unconscious, her delicate body entirely relaxing and swaying with the movements of the vehicle as it turned through the streets. Thomas finally arrived at the destination apartment building, stopped the engine with excessive haste and impatience, and quickly got out from behind the steering wheel to open the door next to her.

He bent his body toward her, lifted her in his arms with strength and violence, and carried her up the building’s stairs with hurried, anxious steps until he entered the apartment. Then, he rushed directly toward the bedroom and placed her lifeless, surrendering, and cold body onto the white bed.

He stood in his place for a few seconds, contemplating the features of her face, which was pale as death.

A wicked, vile plan flashed clearly and madly in his mind: if he himself could not obtain Violet and possess her heart and affection, he would make Morgan also unable to ever obtain her or get near her for the rest of his life. He clenched his fist tightly with malice and said in a tone filled with spite, hatred, and gloating: "I have antagonized my only friend and lifelong companion specifically for you, Violet... and I will not allow him to obtain you and enjoy your love, no matter what it costs me."

He moved with suspicious, slow, and calculated steps toward the adjacent kitchen, brought a bottle of aged liquor and two glass cups, and poured a little dark red wine into the two cups to suggest the existence of a shared evening together. He returned quickly to the room, advanced toward Violet who was lying motionless on the mattress, and his fingers began stripping her clothes off her, piece by piece, until he stripped her completely and she became entirely naked before his eyes.

Meanwhile, on the other and distant side of the city, Morgan was sitting alone in his car, holding his mobile phone anxiously; he desperately and longingly wanted to hear Violet’s sweet voice. Even though she had told him herself just a little while ago that she was at the university attending her lectures, he could not bear her absence or tolerate waiting, so he called her number.

The phone rang loudly throughout the dark room where Thomas stood... and it rang continuously for a long time until Morgan was almost convinced deep down that she would not answer due to being busy, when suddenly the annoying ringing cut off and the line opened abruptly.

Morgan quickly brought the phone close to his ear and said with eagerness, affection, and an overwhelming longing: "My beautiful Violet..."

But Violet did not reply to him with her voice; instead, a spiteful, cold, and very familiar male voice reached his ears, shocking his senses violently and freezing the blood in his veins, as Thomas replied with complete coldness and clear mockery: "What do you want, Morgan, at this hour?"

Morgan’s entire body stiffened behind the steering wheel, his eyes widening in deadly shock, surprised by Thomas’s voice which sounded very close to the receiver. He shouted sharply in a roaring tone that shook the place: "What is Violet’s phone doing with you, you piece of shit?! And how do you answer it with this audacity?!"

Thomas let out a light, muffled, and highly provocative laugh over the line and said defiantly: "Rather, Violet herself is the one who is with me right now, and in my apartment."

Morgan flew into a violent rage, his face flushing entirely, and the veins in his neck bulged terrifyingly as he gripped the steering wheel with a crazy force that almost broke it between his palms. He screamed at the top of his voice: "I will never believe this nonsense and insolence, Thomas!.. You are definitely lying just to provoke me!"

Thomas replied with excessive confidence and a filthiness fitting for his plan: "If you don’t believe my words... come to the apartment yourself and you will see the scene with your own eyes."

Morgan ground his teeth violently until they almost shattered, and said with a voice and eyes burning with threat and murder: "Don’t try to mess with me, Thomas; you are already playing with fire."

Thomas swirled the glass cup in his hand, causing the ice pieces to make a provocative clinking sound, and said mockingly: "I am not trying to do anything by force... if you don’t believe me, come and see."

Morgan slammed his hand against the dashboard with a force that made a booming sound, and shouted in absolute denial: "Violet would never do such a vile thing!" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

At that point, Thomas added with extreme insolence and openness to deliver a fatal blow to his pride and manhood: "Don’t you believe that she actually missed me and got tired of your coldness? She wanted me by her own free will, and she prefers the taste of my dick over anything else."

Every muscle in Morgan’s body tensed and his fury ignited. He shouted with a voice that shook the entire corners of the car: "You bastard!.. I will kill you with these two hands of mine!"

Thomas said with a final coldness and a confident tone: "Stay completely out of Violet’s way and don’t come near her again for the rest of your life," then he abruptly cut off the call in his face without warning.

Morgan, losing his mind and sanity, pressed the gas pedal with all his strength using a leg that was trembling violently from the intensity of rage and burning heartbreak. He drove his car at a crazy, supernatural speed, like an arrow toward the apartment’s address.

His conscious mind could not bear or accept believing the filthy and disgusting words he was hearing; he was trying with desperate effort to convince himself that the spiteful Thomas surely intended only to make him angry and provoke him to separate them. Nevertheless, he was rushing madly, wanting to confirm it with his bare eyes, as if the threads of his entire mind had spun out of control and restraint, and his balance was lost.

He finally arrived at the intended building, got out, and ran up the stairs with rapid steps, advancing toward the apartment. When he extended his hand to knock on the door with violence and blind rashness, the door opened before him automatically and easily; the door was not locked with a latch or bolt in the first place, as if Thomas intentionally and maliciously left it ajar so Morgan could enter without hindrance and see everything for himself without preparation.

Morgan entered with crazy speed, cutting through the quiet spaces of the living room, and walked with blind momentum while his heartbeats accelerated toward the master bedroom. There, his breath froze in his chest and he was completely paralyzed with absolute horror at the sight: he found Thomas entirely naked on top of Violet’s body, which was completely naked of every piece of clothing, kissing her with touching and insolence on top of the bed.

Morgan did not think for a single second or hesitate; he drew his black firearm from his waistband in the blink of an eye, leveled it steadily and impatiently toward the bed, and then fired a booming bullet whose scream collided with the walls and lodged directly in Thomas’s lower back.

As for Violet, in those loud and charged moments, she seemed to be regaining consciousness gradually, the heaviness in her head fading slowly. She opened her eyes with extreme heaviness and a blurred haze wrapping her vision due to the effect of the drug, but she was violently shocked and her gaze froze in real terror and panic at the sight of Thomas lying over her with his heavy weight and the crimson blood that erupted profusely from him, and Morgan standing at the threshold of the room holding the weapon with a hand shaking violently from the intensity of anger and disappointment.

She tried with great effort to absorb what her eyes were seeing amid this chaos, and said in a whispering, faint, and trembling voice: "What... what happened here?"

Morgan looked at her with eyes filled with fatal disappointment, total disgust, and revulsion, and said in a mocking, dead tone, shattered from the inside: "Is this what you do to me in secret, Violet? Is this how you play me for a fool in cold blood and cheat on me with him in my absence?"

Thomas had fallen to the side on the bed, completely unconscious due to the fatal bullet wound in his back, entirely naked while the crimson blood flowed profusely from him, filling the mattress of the white bed to stain it red. Violet truly did not know or understand what was happening around her or what this bloody play was; she pushed Thomas’s heavy body off her in panic to rise quickly, and looked at her body in terror and shock, not knowing in any way the reason why she was completely bare-chested and entirely naked. She said in terror while trying to cover herself with the sheet: "Morgan... I swear to you that I don’t know how I got here or what actually happened!"

Morgan looked at her closely and scrutinized her; her facial features had already returned to stiffen and become rigid as was her habit, showing no signs of chaotic breakdown or crying with burning heartbreak like other women in such situations. He said with biting sarcasm and a pain tearing his insides because of her rigidity: "Really, Violet? An entertaining story... what happened then, tell me with your cleverness?"

She adjusted her seating on the bed and said in a dry, strong tone, trying to convince him of the truth: "The treacherous bastard kidnapped me after he drugged me on the way... and I don’t remember anything else that happened after that."

Morgan’s eyes scanned the room suspiciously, and his gaze fell upon the adjacent wooden table; he looked at the two filled wine glasses and the opened wine bottle placed carefully, let out a mocking, bitter, and sarcastic laugh, and said: "And did you romantically drink red wine with him when you were drugged and unconscious, Violet?!"

Violet gave him one long, piercing, and steady look without backing down, then pressed her lips together tightly and did not say anything else, making no further attempt to defend herself because of his disbelief in her.

Morgan turned his face away from her with extreme revulsion and disgust at her silence, and said in a dead tone devoid of life: "I never want to see your filthy face in front of me again."

In that brutal and decisive moment, a mysterious, cold, and extremely calm smile appeared on Violet’s lips. Morgan was bewildered and his mind ignited with madness and questions from that cold and provocative smile in this suffocating situation. She stood up from the bed with absolute self-confidence and began putting on her clothes that were thrown on the floor with extreme quietness and coldness before his eyes, while Morgan was standing there, burning with rage, oppression, and heartbreak eating away at his inside.

He left her with extreme agitation and walked out of the room and the entire apartment; deep in his heart, he was expecting and desperately wishing that she would run and catch up to him outside, or call him on the phone and scream to justify herself more and hold onto his love... but she did not do that at all because of her dry pride.

Violet finished putting on her clothes with absolute steadfastness, then carried her handbag and left the apartment with balanced, calm, and audible steps. Outside, one of the nearby neighbors had clearly heard the booming sound of the firearm being discharged, so they quickly called the police in terror.

Within mere minutes, police cars and ambulances arrived with their loud and annoying siren sounds toward the apartment building, where they quickly stormed the place, carried Thomas who was drenched in his blood, and transferred him to the hospital in critical condition.

As for Violet, she returned to her family’s house with an exhausted, tired body, but with facial features that were steady, stern, and rigid as rock. She entered the living room and found her mother sitting alone, so she advanced toward her, stood directly in front of her with pride, and said in a decisive and calm tone: "Mother... I want to tell you something very important regarding myself."

The mother raised her head slowly and looked at her in wonder and astonishment at her features: "What is the matter, my daughter?"

Violet took a deep, confident breath and said with an absolute steadfastness that shook the corners of the room: "I am pregnant."