Unrequited Passion

Chapter 1 Why won’t you believe me?

“It wasn’t me, Blake, you’ve got to believe me. I didn’t push her! It was Mikayla! She was the one who pushed her… She…”

Astrid Noelle’s voice trembled uncontrollably as she turned her bloody face to Blake Ledger, looking at him with pleading eyes.

“It’s our wedding day… Please… Please don’t do this.”

Furious, Blake grabbed her by the neck with a murderous look in his eyes. “Our wedding day?Here you are telling me Mikayla pushed my mother and leaped to her death just to frame you? How convenient can things get? Would Mikayla do all these things just to frame you when she could very well end up dead as well?”

Astrid struggled to remove Blake’s grip from her neck to no avail. He was strong, and his rage was beyond reason at this point.

Her face flushed red from his firm clutch. “T-That’s not the point! Besides, why would I care if she dies? She pushed your mother! I hope she dies! She deserves it!” She sneered at him with contempt in her eyes.

“How could you think these things of me when I was the one who was with you all this while! She’s just a wh*re!” Astrid screamed with pure rage showing in her eyes.

“Alright then, maybe I should strangle you. I guess you deserve that too!” Blake snarled.

“Blake, why won’t you believe me?” Astrid screamed.

“Why should I believe you, Astrid?” he replied angrily, tightening the vice-like grip he had on her neck.

His response shattered Astrid’s heart.

‘Blake… I’ve loved you for ten years. You even proposed to me and asked me to marry you! So why? Why did you fall in love with someone else? Of all people, it had to be with Mikayla! Why her?’ Astrid thought miserably. She felt as if all the air in her lungs had been emptied.

Just as she was beginning to think that Blake would strangle her to death, the doors of the operating theater pushed open.

As the doctor walked out of the operating theater, Blake finally relented his grip and threw her to the ground as if she were nothing more than a ragdoll. Her head hit the wall when he threw her, and it began to bleed.

Astrid winced as she felt a seething pain sear through her head; the blood trickling down the open wound. She looked at Blake whose expression had turned from one of pure hatred to one of worry as he impatiently awaited the results of the operation.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Ledger suffered intense trauma to the head from her fall and lost a lot of blood. We weren’t able to save her. As for Miss Harlem, her surgery was a success, and she’s currently in a stable condition,” the doctor announced in a somber tone.

Astrid felt her world crumble to pieces when she heard this; it was as if there was nothing but darkness before her eyes. All the things she had done for him, all the love she had felt for him… Everything she had ever done and sacrificed for him seemed now like it was all for naught. The icing on the cake was that this incident was not even her doing. It was a lie, set up just to frame her.

It was then that the doctor handed a picture over to Blake. “Mrs. Ledger was holding this in her hand.”

Blake accepted the crumpled-up picture and took a look, his eyes widening the moment he saw the picture.

The picture depicted an intertwined couple. A flash of hatred could be seen in Blake’s eyes as he turned to Astrid.

“You really are something else, Astrid Noelle,” he snarled and threw the picture to the ground. “How are you going to explain this now?! Tell me! You say you love me and yet, what have you been doing behind my back, and for how long? Is this the result of those ten years of love you so caringly professed to me earlier?! Is this the result of that love of yours?!”

As soon as Astrid looked at the picture, she froze and began trembling violently — it was a picture of her with his older brother, Terrence.

‘When was this picture taken? Why was I unaware of this? When did this happen?’ She scrambled in an attempt to recall.

Astrid snapped back to her senses the moment Blake put his hands around her neck once more, this time, with an anger she had never seen before. The hatred in his eyes struck fear into her; this time, she truly feared that he might actually kill her.

“So… Is this why you killed my mother?” he snarled.

“No, that isn’t… I didn’t… push her! I don’t know where this picture came from, I really don’t—” Astrid screamed, growing increasingly hysterical by the minute. “You’re the only one I love! You know this!”

“Love?” Blake smirked. “You tell me you love me, yet behind my back, you were sleeping with my brother, all while you were so madly in love with me. Please, do tell. Explain to me how that works.”

“Blake, I swear! Nothing happened between us! I don’t even know where or when that picture was taken!” Astrid argued, trying her best to hold back her tears, all in an attempt to stop herself from showing any signs of weakness.

Blake was furious at this point. “I never thought I’d ever see the day when the saying a picture tells a thousand words would ring so true to me. You say one thing, that you love me, but here is a picture of you with my brother! What am I supposed to think when evidence is staring me right in the face?! Do you take me for a fool?!”

Astrid feared for her life and tried to reason with him, “You’re the only one I love! I even saved your life three years ago… Don’t you remember? Back in that cabin in the mountains, we made lo-”