Chapter 853


    Dorothy lingered in silence so long that she feared the voice that would eventually break it wouldn''t


    even sound like her own.


    "Then... don''te back."


    Everett remained silent.


    "Everett, go back to where you belong," she added.


    He clenched his fists so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands stood out like angry rivers.


    "How do you do it? How can you say something so heartless without batting an eysh? Huh?"


    His voice was hoarse, dripping with despair.


    Dorothy had a knack for smashing his slowly gathered courage, his glimmers of hope, into oblivion,


    leaving nothing behind!


    And just moments ago, everything was fine. They were holding hands in the cab back from the


    airport!


    "Because I''m just a rock, I don''t have warmth," Dorothy replied, her gaze piercing through him as


    she enunciated every word. "You should''ve known this by now. I''m incapable of love; I only stick to


    my convictions."


    "I never asked you to change!" He had been trying his whole life to reshape himself! He was


    chiseling away, just hoping to fit into the mold she desired.


    "But I truly don''t want to respond to your feelings anymore. I''m exhausted. And Everett, doesn''t it


    bother you?" Dorothy inhaled deeply, deciding toy it all out. "Your father came to see me. Even


    though I didn''t admit it, I think you knew. The photos he showed me, you''ve seen them, haven''t


    you?"


    Everett''s lips pressed into a thin line. "Yes."


    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Then, that day after you saw them, I noticed something off about you." Dorothy''s smile was a


    twisted mimicry of warmth. "Tell me the truth, were you also trying to convince me to drop the


    criminal charges against your mother?"


    "Yes..." He had considered it.


    Because they were just one step away, just one! The Lopez family was finally ready to ept


    Dorothy. They could be together atst, and he could proudly im Dorothy as his own, proim


    her to everyone!


    To say he wasn''t tempted would be a lie.


    "I won''t drop the charges," said Dorothy.


    "I know."


    That was why he hadn''t voiced it.


    "What do you know? You know nothing! This is exactly why I always see you as the opposition!"


    Dorothy''s nails dug into her flesh, grounding her enough to get the words out. "I can trust Karen,


    even Kehpletely, because their parents aren''t involved in this mess. But you, you''re


    different! It was your mother who deliberately murdered thest of my kin! And then you ask me to


    trust you, to be with you? Don''t you see how absurd that is?"


    Everett''s lips quivered. "I never once helped my mother in this..."


    Even after those photos shook him, even when his father Jonathan''s offer was tempting, he hadn''t


    spoken a single word in his mother''s defense.


    "So what, I should be grateful? Overlook all the animosity and be with you? Everett, there''s no


    reconciliation. Even if you killed your mother with your own hands, it won''t change the fact that you


    are her son."


    Just like now...


    The Lopez family, despite their influence, couldn''t change the fact that Everett''s mother murdered


    Be.


    What''s done is done.


    "If that''s what you truly think, then why did you go on vacation with me? Why did you share a bed


    with me?" Everett was desperate, grasping at her arms as if he were clinging to life itself. "There''s


    still a part of you that''s mine, right?"


    "Yes." Dorothy knew denying it outright would be futile. "But honestly, the way you treat me, it''s


    exhausting, it''s suffocating."