Chapter 145

Stephen stood still with his back to Susan. His posture was straight, while his features were cold and sharp. Susan's tragic story didn't draw the slightest reaction from him. She kept crying. "Every day, I told myself to just hang on and survive that place. If I died, I'd never see you again. "Stevie, please. I'm begging you—just stay with me for a little while. I'm barely holding it together. Every time I close my eyes, I see those bastards hurting me. And the pain inside—it's so much worse than anything they did to my body." Her voice broke. "Can you just talk to me for a little while? Yell at me if you want, I don't care. Just don't walk away. Please, don't leave me. I needed to see you. You're the only light in my life." When any other man was seen as someone's last hope, he might have felt something. But Stephen didn't even flinch. Without so much as a glance back, he continued to leave. His cold, distant back shattered the last bit of hope in Susan's eyes. Once they steppe