He Once Said Love Lasts Forever

1
Everyone said Caleb Stone loved me to the bone.
To marry me, he defied his parents, even enduring his family's brutal disciplineninety-nine lashes with a cane.
But on the day of our wedding, for the sake of a young housekeeper, he was willing to give up his inheritance just to marry her instead.
His grandfather, the patriarch of the Stone family, finally relented.
When I confronted him, my heart shattering, he could only look at me with reddened eyes and say, "Kelly, you have to believe me. You're the one I love."
"As for Jenna," he continued, his voice choked with a twisted sense of duty, "when my enemies drugged me, she saved me by giving me her body. I have to be responsible for her."
From that day on, I became his secret lover, hidden away in the shadows.
Until the day Jenna had a miscarriage.
Without any investigation, Caleb decided I was to blame. He ordered his men to beat the six-month-old child from my womb.
"Kelly Hope," he spat, his voice laced with venom, "I never knew you were so malicious. You killed Jenna's baby, so don't even think about keeping yours!"
I was beaten with a wooden rod until I vomited blood and died. One body, two graves.
This time, I woke up on my wedding day.
"Kelly, I'm only marrying Jenna to repay a debt."
"She's just a small-town girl. If people found out she wasn't a virgin before marriage, the gossip would destroy her."
"You're different," he pleaded, his voice a familiar poison in my ear. "You grew up in the city. You're worldly, open-minded. Even if you're with me, no one will dare say a word."
"Marriage is just a formality. The one I love will always be you."
The voice I was back. I had been reborn.
In my last life, Caleb had knelt before me just like this, begging. He had deliberately shown me the vicious welts on his back to soften my heart. The thought that he had endured ninety-nine lashes for me made me agree to anything.
And so, my nightmare began.
When Jenna got pregnant, he forced me to wait on her hand and foot. When her deadbeat brother came demanding money, he sent me to deal with him. If I hadn't sensed danger and called the police beforehand, I would have been assaulted. The terror of that encounter left me unable to leave my apartment for a month.
Caleb's only response was a cold accusation: "Why were you dressed like that? You were asking for it."
He grabbed my hand and forced me to sign a settlement agreement, absolving the man. "She's my wife," he said flatly. "Shouldn't I help my wife instead of my mistress?"
I endured it all. I kept enduring until the very end, until I watched him murder me and our child.
"Kelly?"
Caleb's voice, soft and cautious, pulled me from the horrifying memories. I yanked my hand from his grasp.
"By your logic, every high-society woman in the city should be content to be a mistress," I said, my voice dripping with ice. "You may have no shame, Caleb, but I do."
I snatched a pair of scissors from a nearby table and plunged them into the pristine white fabric of my wedding dress. With a savage rip, I sliced through the layers of silk and tulle.
The heavy skirt fell to the floor in a heap. The color drained from Caleb's face.
"Since you've chosen Jenna, then stay the hell away from me. This wedding is off."
I shoved him aside, gathered the butchered remains of my dress, and stormed out.
Caleb tried to follow, but Jenna appeared as if from nowhere, grabbing his arm.
"Caleb, if you leave today, what will people think of me?" she whispered, her eyes wide and innocent. "Once the ceremony is over, I'll go with you to apologize to Kelly, okay?"
Bound by the pretense of honor, Caleb went through with the wedding. The bride was just a different woman.
My parents, who had rushed to attend the ceremony, found me standing outside the hotel, stunned. I gave them the short version of the story. My father's face contorted with rage, ready to storm in, but I stopped him.
"Dad," I said, my voice eerily calm, "could you call the Croft family? They made an offer before if I married their son, they'd invest three hundred million. Is that deal still on the table?"
My mother's eyes filled with tears. "He was the one who wronged you, darling. You don't have to do this, to marry a"
She trailed off, but we all knew what she meant.
Sebastian Croft, the heir to the Croft empire, was rumored to be gay.
"I'm not doing this out of spite," I said, my voice flat. "I've just realized that even the deepest love can fade. Compared to something as fleeting as affection, money and status are far more real."
"Isn't marriage just a transaction, anyway? Sebastian Croft likes men. He won't bother me. I'd prefer the peace and quiet."
My father was silent for a long time before he finally made the call.
The answer came back quickly. "The agreement stands, but the terms have changed. Marry within a month, and the investment is yours. Otherwise, the deal is off."
"I accept," I said without a moment's hesitation.
In this new life, I would never make the same mistake again.
2
The Croft family sent their lawyers. We negotiated for the entire afternoon, finally setting the wedding for two weeks from now. By the end of the day, I was so exhausted I didn't even glance at my phone. I went home and fell into a dead sleep.
In the middle of the night, a faint noise woke me.
My eyes snapped open. A dark figure was standing by my bed. A scream caught in my throat.
"Kelly, it's me."
"Caleb?" I couldn't believe it. I had changed the passcode to my apartment the moment I got home. How did he get in?
He draped his jacket over a nearby chair. "A man should spend his wedding night with the woman he loves. As for you blocking me on social media, changing the locks are you really that angry?"
My eyes fell on a dark, unmistakable mark on his necka love bite. I sneered. "The woman he loves?"
After sleeping with Jenna, you come here and talk about love? Your love is cheap, Caleb.
He took a step closer, his gaze burning. "You can fool everyone else, Kelly, but you can't fool me. You changed the passcode, but you left my fingerprint access you were waiting for me."
Crack.
The sound of my hand connecting with his cheek echoed in the silent room. He stumbled back, stunned.
"Are you awake now?" I hissed. "Good. Now get out. You're filthy, and I don't want you here."
"I forgot to delete your fingerprint. That's all. Don't flatter yourself." I grabbed my phone and, right in front of him, deleted his access from the system.
Caleb's face hardened, his eyes locking onto me. After a long moment, he let out a bitter laugh. "So this is still about Jenna. It's just a title, Kelly. Why do you care so much?"
"Besides," he added, his voice dripping with condescension, "Jenna is being very gracious about this. She was even generous enough to give you her wedding night. What more could you possibly want?"
I'd lost count of how many times he'd accused me of being petty about Jenna. In my last life, she had "accidentally" shattered my mother's heirloom necklace. She had stood there, crying, insisting it wasn't her fault. Caleb hadn't even looked at me. He just berated me for being "aggressive" and forced me to apologize to her. In front of everyone, he had physically pushed my shoulders down, making me bow to a housekeeper.
He had personally crushed my dignity into the dirt.
Later, when I was pregnant, he made me kneel for an hour as punishment because I didn't share the special prenatal tonics my mother had sourced from specialists with Jenna.
"We have money for supplements, Kelly. What's the big deal if you prepare a portion for her? She tolerates you being my mistress, can't you show her a little consideration?"
But my mother had pulled countless strings to get them. There was only one course. And I had watched him, spoon by spoon, feed what was meant for me and our child to another woman.
That was the moment I understood. His so-called love was just poison coated in honey. And I was the fool who had wasted a lifetime drinking it.
His voice pulled me back to the present. I looked up at the man who had been my ruin.
"Want to make a bet? I guarantee that within thirty minutes, Jenna will call you back with some excuse."
He looked at me as if I'd told a ridiculous joke, his eyes filled with scorn. "Fine. Jenna's not that kind of"
Before he could finish, his phone rang.
The name "Jenna" glowed on the screen.
His expression was a mixture of confusion and frustration. After a long pause, he turned and left the bedroom to take the call. When he returned, he had his excuse ready.
"Jenna said she cut her hand while making a late-night snack. The house staff isn't there, so I'm just going to go check on her."
He stood to leave, his concern for her written all over his face.
"Wait."
Caleb thought I was trying to stop him, and his voice became impatient. "Yes, Jenna called. But it's because she was hurt and needed my help. Don't project your own cynical worldview onto her, Kelly."
I just stared at him, my heart a placid, frozen lake. This wasn't the first time he'd abandoned me for her. On my birthday, while everyone was celebrating with me, my own boyfriend was hiding on the balcony, cooing sweet nothings to another woman.
When I caught him, he was indignant. "You have plenty of people here with you. It's not like you need me. Besides, Jenna's had headaches for days. I was just telling her a story to help her sleep. Are you going to control that, too?"
"Don't you forget who saved me when I was drugged, Kelly! I am repaying a debt!"
I had tried to tell him there was more to that story, but he always cut me off. "Whatever excuse you have, it doesn't change the fact that Jenna was the one who saved me!"
Watching him choose her, again and again, I had suppressed my unease, telling myself he was just repaying a debt. After all, our love had once been so passionate. He had defied his entire family to invest in my father's failing company, had taken a beating just to marry me, all to prove to the world that he would give up everything for me.
And in the end, on our wedding day, he gave it all up for Jenna.
I walked over to the chair, picked up his jacket, and shoved it into his chest.
"I'm getting married, Caleb. I'd appreciate it if you, a married man, would stop harassing me."
"Otherwise, I'll call the police."
"I'm sure you wouldn't want a headline like 'Heir to Stone Industries Forces Fiance of Rival into Mistress Role' to start trending, would you?"
His eyes widened in shock. I slammed the door shut.
But his hand shot out, jamming the door before it could latch.
"Kelly," he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Are you threatening me?"
Before I could answer, he pushed the door open again. Our eyes met, and a slow, cruel smile spread across his face.
"If you have the guts, Kelly, look me in the eye and say that again."
It was a rule we'd made when we were dating: when you say you love someone, you look them in the eye. The same goes for when you don't. He was certain I was just bluffing, trying to force me to back down.
I simply took a step back and met his gaze without flinching.
"I said, I'm getting married."
He let out a short, sharp laugh. "Everyone in our circle knows you're obsessed with me, Kelly. Do you really have it in you to leave me?"
His smile vanished. "Alright, that's enough. I don't like these games. Don't let me hear you say that again."
"Jenna's waiting for me. I'm leaving."
As his figure disappeared down the hall, I whispered to the empty air, "I'm serious this time, Caleb. I don't want you anymore."

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