Chapter 4

After arranging the funeral, I called my boss, Victoria.

“Your proposal from last time? I accept.”

“I’m leaving in three days!”

As soon as I hung up, Serena called.

I rejected her call without a second thought and went to a bar to drink alone.

I didn’t return home until very late.

The moment I walked in, I saw a man and a woman intertwined, rolling on the sofa.

“Serena, tell me you love me most, quickly.”

“Okay, mm! I only love you. I’ll never marry Alex.”

“You have to take me everywhere, don’t you dare reject me.”

If Serena didn’t agree, Victor would “punish” her forcefully in bed, coercing her into submission.

They were completely lost in the moment, utterly oblivious to me standing there watching.

Did it hurt? To witness my fiancée bringing a murderer back home to sleep with him?

No. It didn't hurt anymore. Only profound disgust and rage.

Victor seemed to notice me.

He turned, his eyes full of provocation, but his actions didn't stop.

His eyes openly mocked me: *See? As long as I’m here, you’ll never be together. I’ll make you suffer and despair, slowly.*

Serena had been calling his name for a while with no response, so she involuntarily followed his gaze.

When she saw me, her eyes snapped open.

She quickly pushed Victor away.

Her face, drained of any flushed passion, turned ghostly pale with shock.

She hastily put on her clothes, her breathing ragged.

Ignoring Victor, she rushed towards me.

“Al-Alex, why are you suddenly back?!”

Serena’s hands trembled. Before she could touch me, I violently shoved her away.

I’d been gone for ten days, and she hadn’t even asked where I was, her entire focus solely on Victor.

“Don’t touch me. You’re filthy. You’re covered in another man’s slobber.”

My words left Serena stunned.

She hadn’t expected me to curse her so openly, and she panicked.

“Alex, don’t say that about me.”

“You know he has a mental illness; if you don’t appease him, it’ll trigger him, and he’ll go mad and hurt someone.”

I looked at her face, listening, and felt my anger flare even more.

“Why do you have to appease him? Why do you refuse to send him to a psychiatric facility, even if it kills you? If he’s truly ill, then you’re no better. You’re just pathetic.”

“Take him and get out of my house. I never want to see you again.”

When Serena heard me tell her to get out, she quickly reached out to grab me.

“Alex, please don’t be like this. You have compassion for a stray cat, so why are you so cold-hearted towards a lonely patient?”

I pushed her away, devoid of any feeling.

“Because when I help a cat, it shows gratitude. But him? Helping him just makes him more arrogant.”

“On our dates, you brought him. When we went to bed, he’d throw a fit, and you’d go calm him, even comforting him in *his* bed. Our wedding was interrupted repeatedly. Tell me, after being in such an exhausting relationship, why should I continue with you?”

“We’re breaking off the engagement immediately. I never want to see you again.”

“Now take him and get out.”

My yelling left Serena’s face ghostly white.

And having been caught red-handed doing disgusting things with Victor, she had no ground to argue.

Victor, however, panicked. He threw a punch at me.

“Don’t you dare bully Serena! I’m a mental patient. If you provoke me, I can kill you and not go to jail.”

That same old line again. Enraged, I lifted my leg and kicked him hard, sending him sprawling.

Serena, who had initially been frozen, knowing she was in the wrong, moved the moment I struck Victor.