Chapter 470

The silence was deafening. Alexander could hear Evelyn's soft, mocking laughter cutting through it like a knife.

"Alexander, it's too late. Nothing you say now will ever make me feel anything for you again," Evelyn's voice was ice-cold, devoid of the warmth that once colored her words when she spoke to him.

"Because I don't love you anymore."

Even though he already knew this truth, hearing it from her lips felt like being pierced by a thousand arrows. The pain was excruciating, unbearable.

It was as if invisible blades were shredding his flesh, leaving nothing but his hollow bones behind.

Evelyn suddenly raised her hand and pushed Alexander's limp arms away.

She turned to face him, her gaze filled with bitter sarcasm as she took in his devastated expression.

"Alexander, we're finished. The moment you had someone desecrate my grandfather's grave, I regretted ever loving someone as heartless and cruel as you."

His entire body went cold at her words. His heart plummeted into an abyss of despair.

Evelyn chuckled again when she saw the stunned look on Alexander's face. But in an instant, her expression hardened, her eyes turning to steel.

"When I loved you most, you did everything possible to hurt and humiliate me. You forced me to sign those divorce papers as I lay dying, all for that witch Victoria."

"Do you know that even after you made me sign them, I still hoped you'd turn back to look at me just once? Just one glance! But you didn't. I watched you walk away without a care in the world, taking with you the last shred of light in my life. All I could do was lie there, enduring unbearable pain, waiting for my vision to fade and my life to end."

"So don't tell me you're sorry. Don't say you were wrong. Alexander Blackwood, you weren't wrong! I was the one who was wrong - wrong to ever love someone like you!"

Tears burned behind Alexander's eyes as Evelyn's words struck him like physical blows.

He wept silently, his red-rimmed eyes meeting Evelyn's hate-filled gaze. In that moment, he'd never felt more worthless.

He had hurt her so deeply, yet here he was, foolishly seeking forgiveness with empty apologies.

Alexander couldn't bear to hold her gaze any longer. He wasn't worthy to even look at her.

"I understand." His voice was barely a whisper as he lowered his head, looking utterly broken. "I'll stay out of your life." He turned slowly to leave, but paused after a few steps.

"Is Amelia... our daughter?"

Evelyn pressed her lips into a thin line. "No. Amelia has no connection to you. She could never have such a heartless father."

The last flicker of hope in Alexander's eyes died at her definitive answer.

Now he truly understood the depth of pain Evelyn had endured. His heart sank like a stone, drowning in regret and anguish.

Alexander left the apartment, his tall frame looking more like a ghost than a man.

After the door closed behind him, Evelyn stared at where he'd stood. She took a shuddering breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were red-rimmed.

'Alexander, I was fatally drawn to you once. That love burned away everything innocent in me. But I won't make that mistake again.'

Evelyn retreated to her bedroom, tossing and turning for hours before sleep finally claimed her.

She woke before dawn, restless. On impulse, she decided to go for an early morning run.

But when she opened her apartment door, she froze in shock.

There, curled on the icy floor outside her door, lay Alexander.