    　　What? Why does he kept on bringing Tom up? What did he ever do to him?

    　　"This has nothing to do with Tom ! Stop shifting the blame to him, Marcus Mo!” Exasperated, I threw up my hands. “I want a divorce from you and you know exactly why. It’s all about Maureen and nothing else! I don’t want anything to do with you or Maureen anymore!”

    　　He was stunned at this revelation. It took him a while to recover from this. And when he did, he was back to his usual self. But I felt something change.

    　　"Do you know why you are here, huh, Sarah? You don’t do you? You’re here because I want to protect you! As for the divorce, no! Don't even think about it! That’s not going to happen!"

    　　He stormed out of the door.

    　　There was no mistaking the hurt that I saw in his eyes. The pit of my stomach churned. Suddenly, I wanted to take back everything that I’ve said. But then, t

    　　We haven’t seen Maureen nor heard anything from her in such a long time. Seeing her now, she definitely had gotten a lot thinner. Even though she was wearing makeup, I could see that something was wrong with her. I guess since Marcus Mo has been living with me for quite a while now, that really made her sad. Though seeing her again brought memories that I tried to forget.

    　　Marcus Mo took us to a suburb by the mountain.

    　　Seeing the lush greenery and the pristine waters lifted my spirits.

    　　Marcus Mo went to the trunk of the car to get something. I took out a blanket and spread it on the ground. Then I proceeded to put all the food that we brought on it. All of a sudden, Maureen pushed me aside and seated herself.

    　　I instinctively protected my belly.

    　　I almost fell down. Good thing I was near a tree, and I was able to hold it for support. If it weren’t fo

    　　At this, Tom finally melted. He shifted his eyes away from mine and sighed. When he recovered he spoke again, not looking at me this time.

    　　"This man, what did you ever see in him? He doesn’t love you, Sarah. Why are you forcing yourself on him? There are other guys out there who will love you for who you are."

    　　That never even occurred to me. Marcus Mo is the only man that I ever loved. That has never changed even now.

    　　"You know very well that I loved him so much. I have never looked at another man the way I looked at him,” I said, then paused. A sudden thought occurred to me. A really painful one.

    　　Marcus has never come across as the kind of person that would commit incest. He’s far too bookish, and he never liked breaking the rules. Well, I can think of exceptions, since he tried to coerce me to donate bone marrow against my will. But other than that one desperate moment, he’s the kind of person who despised selfish behavior.

    　　As if he had read my mind, Tom said matter-of-factly, "Sarah, do you know that Marcus Mo and Maureen are not blood-related?"

    　　I looked at him, thunderstruck.

    　　"W-what did you just say?" I grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to look at me. “Tom , look at me! Say that again!”

    　　"Maureen was the child born by Jiang Yuan's affair with another man. This has long been an open secret in their family circle. As for who Maureen's biological father is, no one knows."

    　　After Tom left, I paced about as I simmered in anger. Jiang Yuan is Marcus Mo’s stepmother. If she had Maureen with another man, then they aren’t even brother and sister.

    　　If Marcus Mo chooses to announce their relationship one day--and he’s bound to, from the way they’ve been carrying on--what will I be? Do I divorce him? Do I leave all of my family’s assets in his care, as is stipulated in our grandfathers’ agreement? Do we split everything in the middle?

    　　I have seen Marcus Mo's love for Maureen. How can I compete?

    　　It was painful to leave him, but I would die if I continued to witness the intimacy between him and Maureen.

    　　I walked to the door and opened it. The men outside the door blocked my way.

    　　"Get out of the way, I want to see Marcus Mo!"

    　　"I'm sorry, Miss Tang. Mr. Mo’s orders are for you to stay here until the child is born."

    　　"Tell Marcus Mo to see me right away, otherwise, I am not keeping this child!"

    　　"But Maam, today is Miss Mo's birthday and President Mo can't get away from the party."

    　　Maureen, Maureen, Maureen! I was tired of hearing her name.

    　　"Oh, I get it. He doesn't need to come, as long as nobody else finds out that the baby and I are dead, he’ll still get his inheritance! He doesn’t care if he kills two humans!”

    　　I slammed the door and I went back to the room angrily.

    　　Half an hour later, Marcus Mo appeared in front of me.

    　　"Sarah, what exactly do you want to do?"

    　　He spoke coldly, looking at my eyes with a little impatience.

    　　I looked at him and slowly opened a hole in the heart. One wound that will never heal.

    　　I said the heart-wrenching words, " Marcus Mo, let's get a divorce."

    　　Marcus Mo looked at me with penetrating eyes. He slowly walked towards me.

    　　"So you want a divorce, is that right, Sarah?”

    　　He edged even closer to me. “I know Tom came here to see you. You’re asking for a divorce now so that you can throw yourself at his arms once and for all, am I right?” His face now so close to mine that I can feel his breath.

    　　I was livid. ”If I wanted to be with him then I would have married him!” I screamed. “I want to leave you because you treat me like this!”

    　　“If I told you to die for me, you’re going to die for me, Sarah! And you will die by my side! Only by my side!"

    　　At this, he suddenly pushed me at the couch then pinned me down at my wrist. He proceeded to lay on top of me, pressing his body to mine then our mouths met.

    　　This was the first time he ever kissed me. Oh, how long have I yearned for a kiss from him, but now he was doing it to hurt me! I couldn’t breathe! What is he doing? Suddenly, he bit my lower lip! This lunatic!

    　　I pushed him away. "Marcus Mo! What is this? Why are you doing this?" I said as I gasped for air. I felt my lip with my tongue. It stung. I tasted blood. I touched my lower lip with my fingers trembling.

    　　"Does it hurt?" he said mockingly. He got up and towered over me. "You don’t love me anymore because of Fang Tom, isn’t it?"


　　What? Why does he kept on bringing Tom up? What did he ever do to him?

    　　"This has nothing to do with Tom ! Stop shifting the blame to him, Marcus Mo!” Exasperated, I threw up my hands. “I want a divorce from you and you know exactly why. It’s all about Maureen and nothing else! I don’t want anything to do with you or Maureen anymore!”

    　　He was stunned at this revelation. It took him a while to recover from this. And when he did, he was back to his usual self. But I felt something change.

    　　"Do you know why you are here, huh, Sarah? You don’t do you? You’re here because I want to protect you! As for the divorce, no! Don't even think about it! That’s not going to happen!"

    　　He stormed out of the door.

    　　There was no mistaking the hurt that I saw in his eyes. The pit of my stomach churned. Suddenly, I wanted to take back everything that I’ve said. But then, the Maureen situation came back to me. I felt my anger rise up again and called him back.

  

Chapter 8