The Surrogate He Discarded

Because I don’t want you.

The words had struck her harder than any insult.

Worse still, Richard wasn’t even tempted.

His eyes swept over her naked body for no more than a second before he simply looked away, as though there was nothing remarkable about her standing before him like that.

He wasn’t embarrassed. He wasn’t flustered.

He was not just interested!

And somehow, that rejection hurt far more than his words ever could.

Her face twisted with humiliation, her pride wounded beyond anything she had ever experienced.

”You’ll regret saying that.”

Richard walked to the door and opened it.

”Get dressed and get out.”

She didn’t move.

”Richard...”

His expression hardened.

”Leave.”

She remained rooted to the spot, staring at him as though she couldn’t believe he was actually sending her away.

Then something in her eyes changed.

The humiliation remained—but beneath it, something darker began to take root.

For the first time, something frightening appeared in her eyes.

”If I can’t have you...”

She swallowed, her voice trembling between fury and obsession.

”...then I’ll make sure nobody else can.”

At that time, Richard had dismissed it as an empty threat.

He was wrong.

Days later, he was ambushed.

Several men cornered him on his way home.

He fought back, but there were too many of them.

By the time they were finished, he could barely stand.

They left him bleeding on a deserted stretch of beach, certain he wouldn’t survive the night.

But fate had other plans.

Richard was found the following morning, half-dead and barely clinging to consciousness. He was taken to a nearby villa, where he would eventually learn that the person who had found him was none other than Sharon Gabor.

The kind-hearted woman who had helped him time and again when he was still living at the orphanage in Aldea.

Richard remembered little of that morning.

He remembered the cold.

It had seeped into his battered body throughout the night, leaving him shivering uncontrollably. His bruised arms were wrapped tightly across his chest, as if he could somehow hold the warmth inside.

Every breath hurt.

Every attempt to move sent another wave of pain through his battered body.

He was barely conscious when the darkness above him slowly began to brighten.

Then warmth touched his skin.

Sunlight.

Its gentle rays fell across his bruised face and swollen body, bringing a faint sense of warmth to his cold, broken limbs.

The dak night passed. Sunrise has arrived.

For one fleeting moment, Richard wondered if he had already died.

Then a shadow fell across him, blocking the sun.

A woman’s voice broke through the haze.

”Good heavens...”

There was shock in her voice.

Then recognition.

”It’s you.”

Richard’s brows twitched.

The voice sounded familiar.

So familiar that, through the fog clouding his mind, he desperately tried to place it.

Who...?

He forced his swollen eyes open.

All he could see was a blurred figure standing above him.

He wanted to speak but he couldn’t.

Perhaps it was a hallucination brought on by blood loss and exhaustion.

Perhaps he was imagining the voice of someone from a distant part of his life.

His eyelids grew unbearably heavy.

The last thing he heard before darkness claimed him again was the woman’s trembling voice.

”Richard... what happened to you?”

The voice faded into the darkness.

Then the memory disappeared.

Richard blinked, returning to the present. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

The warmth of that morning, the cold of the beach, and Sharon’s worried voice were gone, replaced by the dim lights and muted music of High Spirits.

His jaw tightened.

He hated remembering that night.

Across from him, Kristal was still watching him, her half-lidded eyes fixed on his face.

”You really don’t like talking about it, do you?” she murmured.

Richard remained silent.

Of course he didn’t want to talk about it.

He didn’t even want to think about that part of his past.

”You never told anyone about her, did you?”

Richard’s gaze lifted sharply.

”Who told you?”

Kristal blinked innocently.

”Grandma.”

Richard stared at her.

”She said you didn’t want to talk about it.”

”I don’t.”

Kristal’s smile slowly faded.

”Did she really hurt you that badly?”

Richard said nothing.

She had done more than hurt him.

He had come within inches of losing his life.

”Did she pay for what she did?”

Richard’s eyes settled on the woman sitting across from him.

Kristal had her elbows resting on the coffee table, her hands cupping her pretty face as she gazed at him with an almost childlike curiosity.

For several seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then Richard leaned back against the couch.

”She paid for it.”

His voice was calm, almost indifferent.

”Karma got her.”

Kristal’s brows lifted.

”What happened to her?”

Richard’s expression remained unreadable.

”Two months after I was beaten, a scandal involving the daughter of a prominent businessman erupted.”

He paused.

”She was found in a private room of a nightclub. She was assaulted, and someone had recorded what happened. The footage spread across the internet before her family could contain the scandal.”

Kristal’s expression changed.

”And it was her...?”

”Yes. The woman I regretted ever helping.”

The words were quiet.

Richard had never wished that fate upon her.

He simply couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry for her.

...

The band continued playing in the background, their slow melody filling the silence between them.

Then Kristal reached across the table and lightly touched Richard’s wrist.

”You survived.”

Richard looked at her hand.

”Yes.”

She smiled again, but this time there was something strangely tender in her expression.

”You always survive.”

Richard gently pulled his hand away.

Kristal watched the movement.

Her smile disappeared for just a moment.

Then she picked up her glass.

”Maybe that’s why she became obsessed with you.”

Richard gave her a warning look.

”Kristal.”

”What?”

”Enough.”

She stared at him for a few seconds before lowering her gaze.

”Fine.”

But the memory had already been dragged back into the light.

And somewhere in the back of Richard’s mind, the woman’s final words echoed once more.

If I can’t have you, then I’ll make sure nobody else can.

The memory left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Richard hoped he would never encounter another woman like her—someone who mistook obsession for love and entitlement for affection.

He had no desire to repeat the past.

All he wanted was a quiet future with his Isobel.

She was the only woman he had ever willingly allowed into his heart.

And perhaps that was why he had always kept his distance from other women.

He had already found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

He had no reason to look at anyone else.