Pulling a long face, James said nothing as if to show no interest in communicating with Ryan.
Seemingly unbothered, Ryan raised the corners of his lips to a faint smile.
"When we were young, we did suffer a lot. When I'm all grown up, I vowed to marry her when things get better for me. I'll bring her home, and eliminate all the worries for the rest of her life..."
He paused briefly and his eyes dimmed, seemingly caught in his past memories.
"Do you know, she asked me countless times when I'd marry her, and I'd always tell her to wait. It was only now that I realized that I shouldn't have made her wait..."
James cast a cold glance at him with his indifferent eyes.
"You finally married her."
The smile at the corner of Ryan's lips was bitter.
"Yes, I did..."
James' handsome and well defined face grew a little gloomy.
"Congratulations," he said and was about to leave.
Ryan then said, "I don't want this acquisition contract, you can take it back."
James halted in his tracks and turned to take a cold glance at Ryan.
"It isn't for you."
Ryan, who remained calm and composed, chuckled.
"I know."
Saving him, taking care of him, protecting him, and handing the Collins Group over to him, it was all for Amelia.
He had done all he could to prove that he loved Amelia dearly, but there was one thing Ryan didn't quite understand...
He raised his head to scan James from head to toe, his eyes full of doubts.
"Since you love her so much, why did you leave her back then?"
James' face flashed pale.
"It has nothing to do with you."
Ryan decided against probing and handed the contract back to him.
"Mr. Evans, thank you, but I don't want to owe you a favor."
James snorted.
"Only when you returned to the Collins family could you protect her. Now, what right do you have to talk about owning favors?"
Ryan's heart missed a beat, suffocating as if James had touched a sore spot that made it seem as if he was a good-for-nothing when it came to James.
He clutched the contract in his hand tightly and took a deep breath to manage a bitter smile.
"You're right, I am not capable of protecting her."
In the past, he had been incapable of giving her a better life, and so was she hurt by his family.
Right then, he was confined to a wheelchair and permanently disabled. What did he have to protect her?
The man before his eyes exuding a domineering aura was in the power of the Evans Group, the Leinster Group, and the Moore Group.
Should Amelia stay by James' side, how could she have suffered?
With a relieved smile, Ryan curled his lips and let out a soft chuckle before placing the contract aside to withdraw an exquisite box.
Slowly, he opened the box, took out the diamond ring, and went on saying in a light voice, "I prepared this diamond ring for her eight years ago. It's not exactly priceless, but it's what I paid for with my scholarship after nights of academic research and endless experiments..."
After recovering his memory, he brought the diamond ring back to the Collins Family, and sent his men to take it back in the past few days.
He had initially planned to give it to Amelia at the wedding, but right then...
A pale smile appeared on his gentle face. He raised his slow gaze to James.
"You don't know what happened the night I got into a car accident, do you?"
James responded with a condescending icy glance.
"I'm not interested in your past."
Ryan knew that he was not interested, but he continued blabbering on talking about their past.
"I wanted to propose to her the night of the car accident, but I got into a fight with her that night..."
"I blame myself for getting jealous for no reason because I saw her laughing and joking with her male classmates when she was working at a restaurant."
"I couldn't control myself from saying horrible stuff to her. She ended up so mad that she ran into the rain..."
"There was a howling rain. I rushed over to carry her, but she shook me off, so I dared not carry her on my back again. Instead, I followed her in silence from behind."
"You may not know that what she hates the most is that when it comes to encountering conflicts, is that I choose to remain silent."
"It was when she saw me not saying a word that she turned to run in a fit of anger, but by coincidence, there was a car going out of control..."
Ryan paused when he came to that point, his face pale. The smile gradually faded into indifference.
"I told you all this to let you know that, don't hurt her just because of jealousy, and don't choose to remain silent should any conflict arise."
"Although I don't know what happened between the two of you when you broke up with each other, my guess is that there must have been a similar situation with mine..."
He used to be the same kind of man as James, obstinate and possessive.
Such men would only learn to love after losing it...
James had never spoken a word since then, but his eyelashes fluttered slightly.
If Ryan hadn't had a car accident back then, he wouldn't have had the chance to own Amelia either...
Ryan's eyes fell on the diamond ring in his hand, as if to feel reluctant, but braced himself to hand the ring over to James nonetheless.
"This wedding is for you."
James chose to let go for love.
It was only then he understood that true love was to learn to let go.
A flash of shock flashed across James' cold and charming eyes.
Little had he expected Ryan to make such a decision at such time.
Yet, he suppressed the emotions in his heart just with a glance at the diamond ring.
Like an almighty king, his unfathomable eyes fell on Ryan from above.
"She's not an item, she's not something you can give, nor can 1, or you think you can manipulate as you like. She has her thoughts, and her thoughts are to start everything all over again with you. How could you let her down?"
If she had chosen him, there was not even the slightest need for him to take Ryan seriously or even pay attention to Ryan, but since she had chosen Ryan, he could only let go.
Ryan's face was pale when he heard the words.
"Then what about you..."
James' handsome and flawless face showed a faint trace of anger.
"Since you've gotten her, be selfish. Why bother me."
After James finished the sentence to see Amelia walking towards them holding the hem of her gown, he left the remaining words in a cold voice, "Take good care of her."
With that, he turned around to leave in a flash.
Staring at the cold arrogant figure from behind, Ryan was filled with admiration.
It turns out that it was James, and that was probably why Amelia had fallen in love with him...
In a wheelchair, he saw a limping sanitation worker, holding a glass bottle, rushing towards James.
He had carried out tons of experiments, so he could tell what was in it at a glance.
Wasting no time, he yelled at James. "Be careful!"
As the shout left his mouth, he witnessed as the sanitation worker opened the bottle and turned to splash the liquid out at
James.
There was a sharp sizzle that pierced through the air...
The sound of sulfuric acid corroding the skin was heard.
While Ryan's heart tightened, his face turned completely pale.
The person who appeared in front of him was Amelia wearing a milky wedding dress...
She used her back to shield James without hesitation...
The intense burning sensation prompted Amelia to drop to the floor with a thud in pain, her knees kneeling on the ground with hands propped in the rain.
The rain all over the sky, as if against her, poured heavily on her back, causing her to tremble in pain.
James turned around to see Amelia kneeling on the ground, the skin on her back corroded to black by sulfuric acid...
Her petite body was so in pain that she huddled into a hall. kneeling on the ground, not even daring to move. Her face and lips were all deathly pale.
With her eyelashes fluttering, she looked up and smiled at him. "I'm disfigured, am I..."
She took great care of her appearance all her life. Even the medicines prescribed before her death were all to prevent edema, for fear that she would die ugly.
Right then, however, her back was no longer as flawless as before...
Seeing her in such a state, James' heart stopped beating instantly, his handsome face turned pale.
He threw away the umbrella in his hand and fell to his knees before Amelia, barely able to stop his trembling hands. He wanted to hug her, but he didn't know where to start.
The wedding dress on her back had been corroded into ashes, her skin scorched, and her bones clearly visible.
James' heart ached at the sight of such a severe injury, along with tears streaming down his face.
At a loss, he raised his trembling hand and touched her face...
Amelia was in so much pain that she was dripping with cold sweat. "Don't, don't touch me...it hurts..."
James hurriedly let go with his mouth slightly agape. His thin lips parted, but not a word came out of it.
A pair of eyes that reflected her pale face was full of distress.
Helplessly, he looked at Stella who was rushing towards him in the distance.
"Quick! Stella, come and save her!"
His voice was so hoarse that it trembled. He could never understand how much pain she was in at the moment.
All he knew was that seeing him in such a state distressed him, so distressed that he couldn't breathe. "Why, why are you so stupid..."
With the last bit of strength, Amelia looked back at the pale-faced Ryan, her eyelashes slowly lowering...
When she looked back at James, a faint smile appeared in her eyes. "I... owe you too much..."
In her life, she owed kindness to two men.
Ryan took care of her for half of her life, took his life for her, and ended up having his legs crippled. She was at a loss for repaying his favor.
James loved her for eight years, spent so much money, and did everything for her sake. Nor was she able to return the kindness.
She wanted to spend the rest of her life with Ryan and compensate James with the money she worked so hard to earn...
No matter what she did, no matter what she chose, she'd hurt them.
In fact, all the faults originated from her. Three years ago, she should have died and should not have survived. Only then was it fair to both of them.
Yet, she survived against God's will. That was why she owed so much debts. What her master said was right. If she owed a debt, she would have to pay it back...
It began pouring with rain, washing her back. As the scorching temperature rose, Amelia could no longer hold on from falling to the ground.
Looking at the red-eyed anxious men in front of her lifeless eyes, a sense of helplessness gradually emerged...
"James, although I've repaid your favor as I did, I... don't want to see you get hurt,"
Deep down, she muttered to herself.
"I'm sorry. When I knew about everything you've done, I promised Ryan, and I can't let him down."
James knelt before her. His tall and straight body drenched, his bloodshot eyes filled with a deep sense of powerlessness.
Watching as she lay prone on the ground, about to lose consciousness, he suppressed the heart-piercing agony in his heart to comfort her with a trembling voice.
"You paid it off. You don't owe me anything, but Amelia, behave and don't fall asleep, will you?"
Amelia resisted the continuous burning pain in her back and obediently answered, "Okay..."
After the word left her mo uth, she broke her promise nonetheless. The severe pain prompted her to close her eyes unbearably.
When James saw her losing consciousness, he lost his mind to pick her up, intending to rush to the hospital.
With just one touch of his fingers, that petite body started squirming in pain.
It hurt so much even in a coma, just to show how much she was in at the moment.
James no longer dared touch her again.
Just as he was so helpless that his whole body trembled, the sanitation worker unsheathed a knife to come rushing toward him again!
When the knife was about to pierce his neck, James raised his scarlet eyes, grabbing his wrist with his backhand.
One forceful snap broke off the sanitation worker's hand before he snatched the knife from his hand to stab the worker in his chest.
He used all his strength to plunge it in. Bright red blood spurted all over, staining his sleeves red.
Without batting an eyelid, he plucked the dagger out to stab it down once again...
"Mr. Evans!"
Andrew, who rushed over before Stella, stopped him in time sensing his murderous intent. "You can't kill anyone. Leave it to
me."
The sanitation worker subdued on the ground burst out maniacally laughing.
"James, kill me if you dare do so. With a criminal record, let's see if you'll still be in power at the Evans Group!"
James' blood-red eyes burst out with a hint of sudden frostiness. Ignoring Andrew's obstruction, the knife in his hand raised and fell, aiming for the neck...
Andrew thrust his hand forward to block the attack. A deep wound appeared on the back of his hand.
Without even a look at it, he endured the severe pain to try his best to persuade James.
"Mr. Evans, don't be provoked, hurry up and save Ms. Garcia."
Stella rushed over and knelt on the ground. Seeing Amelia's back corroded by sulfuric acid, her face flushed pale.
Her frantic gaze scanned her surroundings. In the empty park, not a single piece of first-aid equipment was in sight, and nor was there even a place to wash the wound, only rain was all over the sky.
Sitting in a wheelchair, Ryan, paralyzed, only seemed to have returned to himself.
He told Stella in a trembling voice, "There's water in the orphanage..."
Hearing this, Stella forced herself to calm down and gave James an anxious look.
"Mr. Evans, hurry up, take Ms. Garcia to the orphanage!"
James threw away the knife in his hand, carefully picked up Amelia, and sprinted towards the orphanage.
Stella, too, ran over. When brushing past Eva running over, she shouted, "Eva, call the hospital for an ambulance!"
Eva's steps came to an immediate stop before she reached for her phone with trembling hands and ran to the orphanage.
When they were in a mess, the sanitation worker cackled once more.
"Hahahahahahaha..."
"Amelia, you bitch, never would you have thought of this day, would you?!"
Ryan, who had pushed the wheelchair around, stopped his fingers hearing those words.
He looked back at the sanitation worker lying on the ground, wearing a mask that completely covered his face.
He thought the sanitation worker was there to take revenge on James, but little did he expected him to know Amelia...
He turned to Andrew, and before he could speak, Andrew speedily ripped off the sanitation worker's mask.
"Kevin..."
Ryan's brows drew to a frown, as if he hadn't expected it to be him.
Kevin opened his scarred mouth, saying through his gritted teeth, "Jackson Collins, I wanted to take revenge on James before dealing with you, but I didn't expect that bitch, Amelia, to rush out!!!"
Ignoring the pain in his chest, he clenched his fists and roared hysterically.
"It's all thanks to James for the past three years that he sent Joe to deal with me and throw me into prison!"
"If I hadn't been lucky enough to be able to think of a plan to escape, I wouldn't have been able to avenge myself!"
"It's just a pity..."
He turned his head to shoot Ryan a vicious glare.
"It's a pity that I didn't manage to kill you and James!"
Ryan stared at him coldly, without answering.
Andrew's face darkened as his eyes fell on Kevin's hand.
"Didn't your hand have a tendon cut off?"
Kevin threw his head back for a wild laugh.
"When the blonde guy ripped my tendon off, I found a doctor to connect it back. Why? Do you want me to stay paralyzed all the time?"
When he said so, his eyes widened as he cursed like crazy once more.
"That bastard who broke my tendons, don't let me find out who you are, else I'll make sure you die an unburial death!"
Seeing that he didn't know Mr. Shawn's true identity, Andrew heaved a slight sigh of relief.
"You won't have the chance!"
As his voice died away, he sent a punch in Kevin's face, knocking him unconscious before getting up to order the bodyguards standing at the ready.
"Get him back to the police station. After he enters prison. send an assassin to kill him in secret."
Anyone who puts Mr. Shawn in danger must die!