Five Years Wasted Now They Beg Her Back novel Chapter 396

Even if it was hate, wasn't the lie "my father once loved me" a little warmer than the truth, "my father has always wanted me dead"?

Dorian's fists slowly unclenched.

"Dad…" Dorian lowered his head, his voice choked with sobs. "Just stop. Grace has been through enough."

"I won't expose that you're faking your illness, and I won't tell Grace the letters were fake."

Dorian looked up. "Just let Grace think you really did love her. For her… maybe that will be some comfort."

"But from now on, I will never help you hurt her again."

With that, Dorian turned and walked away.

Behind him,Edward Hart threw his head back, his triumphant, maniacal laughter echoing through the room. "I knew it! Dorian, you're a Hart through and through!"

Dorian fled the hospital room as if his life depended on it.

***

At the hillside villa.

The doctor had just given Grace a progesterone shot to prevent a miscarriage. Her face was as pale as a sheet, the crooks of her arms and the backs of her hands covered in fading, purple bruises from endless IVs and blood draws.

Due to years of malnutrition and medical abuse, her veins had collapsed, making them nearly impossible to find.

Dorian stood outside the door, his head bowed, lost in thought.

Damien sat on the sofa by the bed, fiddling with the lighter in his hand, his dark gaze fixed on Dorian.

If Grace hadn't been sleeping soundly, he would have already had his men throw the guy off the mountain.

"Dorian…"

From the bed, Grace struggled to open her eyes.

"You're here."

Dorian's heart ached, and he instinctively avoided her gaze.

"Grace, I…" Dorian's throat tightened. He thought of his father's vicious expression, then of the paternity test report Damien had thrown in his face.

*Say it! Tell her the truth!*

"I understand, Dorian." Grace gently closed her eyes, her voice weak. "You can go. Tell him… I don't hate him anymore. But I don't want to see him, either."

She was too tired.

So tired that she didn't want to dig deeper. So tired that even if it was just a fragile bubble of illusion, she was willing to curl up inside it for a while, to pretend that she, too, had once been loved.

"Okay, okay, you don't have to see him!" Dorian said, forcing a tight, painful smile. "You just focus on getting better. I'll come see you another day."

After Dorian left, Damien took her hand, his heart aching. He raised it to his lips and kissed it. "Grace, if you don't believe him, we can…"

"Damien."

Grace cut him off without opening her eyes, but a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

"Whether it's real or fake, as long as I don't look too closely, I can pretend it was real."

"I don't want to waste the last bit of my energy hating those people."

"I'm tired. I'm so, so tired."

Watching her curl up into a small ball, Damien felt a physical, suffocating ache in his chest.