Chapter 10
When the last nail broke, Damon finally looked up at me in delirium.
“Who are you, Serena? Who are you really? Say it!”
Then a calm, stern voice rose from the crowd.
“She is the only daughter of the Hale family. She merely stayed with your family for a time.”
The voice came closer.
My father was wheeled in before me in a chair, his expression colder than ice.
He looked at Damon and said, “Back then, your grandfather knelt in front of me and swore he would take good care of my daughter. Is this what you call care?”
Years ago, my father had no choice but to separate from me to avoid disaster.
Damon’s grandfather had begged to take me in, promising again and again that I would never suffer any grievance in the Locke household. My father had been reluctant, but in the end he entrusted me to them.
He also promised that as long as I lived well, the Hale family would support the Lockes with everything they had.
That was why, during those years, the Locke family climbed steadily to the top.
But as time passed and my father disappeared from public view, Damon’s grandfather gradually assumed he had died unexpectedly. From then on, the old man stopped caring what happened to me.
Even when he knew exactly what Damon was doing, he would just wave it off.
“He only treats you this way because he likes you,” he used to say. “Why doesn’t he do this to other girls? You should be happy.”
Over and over, he stuffed that poison into my mind.
“You’re the one who will marry Damon someday. Our family raised you, searched for news of your father for you. You should repay the Locke family.”
So even though I never loved Damon, even though I hated him to the bone, when the old man threatened me with my father’s whereabouts, I still agreed to marry Damon.
And that choice set off all the tragedies that followed.
Yvette kept provoking me. Damon humiliated me for her. He locked me up. And no matter how much I endured, I still could not protect Ranger.
After Ranger died so horribly, I gave up all thoughts of searching for my father. I went mad and stabbed Yvette just to avenge him.
I would have happily dragged them all to hell with me.
But then Damon’s grandfather came.
He asked me, “Can’t you really live with Damon anymore?”
His eyes were cold. He would not allow me to lie.
I shook my head and said, “I want nothing. I only want my freedom.”
That was when Damon finally handed me the divorce papers.