Once She Came Like a Flash novel Chapter 25

**Faith Didn’t Survive Time – by Aadi Sharma**
**Chapter 25**

Lola had reached a point where exchanging superficial niceties with Charlie felt utterly pointless. The time for pretenses had long passed; she decided it was time to lay her intentions bare, unfiltered and direct.

As Charlie absorbed her words, an icy dread began to creep through him, chilling his blood until he felt as if he were encased in a block of ice. Each syllable she uttered seemed to solidify the distance between them, making his heart race with a mix of fear and disbelief.

She was genuinely afraid that he might meddle with her charity foundation, terrified he could inflict pain on her once more? The realization struck him hard—what did all those years of effort and devotion mean now?

“Do you really believe I would stoop that low…?” Charlie managed to croak, his voice thick with disbelief and hurt.

Lola’s brow furrowed as she studied the wounded look on his face. “Wouldn’t you? I’ve learned to trust only what is tangible—evidence and the law. I cannot allow myself to fall into unnecessary risks again.” Her tone was firm, unwavering.

As she concluded her thoughts, her finger pointed toward the two security cameras mounted on the wall, their lenses glinting ominously. The message was crystal clear. She no longer had faith in Charlie; even a simple meeting required surveillance and witnesses. It was the most significant lesson she had learned after enduring the unfounded slander from him and Rosen.

Charlie suddenly found himself devoid of any arguments. How utterly absurd he must have appeared, standing there stripped of all defenses. The consequences of his past misdeeds had come back to haunt him, like a cruel boomerang that struck him with painful accuracy.

He had shattered the image she once cherished of him with his own reckless hands, and in doing so, he had obliterated the last remnants of trust she had dared to place in him.

Of course, it made sense. If someone had once committed perjury just to see her thrown behind bars, why wouldn’t she be cautious now?

The remainder of the meeting passed in a blur. Charlie couldn’t quite grasp how he managed to sit through it, nodding along with the lawyer and meticulously hammering out all the details. It felt as if his body was present in the chair, but his spirit had long since fled to a distant place, far from the suffocating atmosphere of betrayal.

By the time the agreements were signed, the exhilaration he had once expected was nowhere to be found; it had evaporated, leaving only a hollow ache in its place. All he craved was to escape, to flee from this place that wrapped around him like a shroud of shame.

Yet, the tumult of the day had taken its toll on him. That very night, the stomach condition he had been managing with sheer willpower suddenly erupted into chaos. What had once been manageable flare-ups transformed into violent hemorrhaging, a culmination of decades of medication and neglect. He was rushed into intensive care, a critical notice signed at his bedside, the weight of his situation pressing heavily on him.

It was well past midnight when Edwin, fraught with panic and overwhelmed by fear, dialed his mother’s number. It was only then that Lola learned of Charlie’s collapse.

Despite his maturity for his age, Edwin was still just a child, and faced with such a terrifying reality, his instincts drove him to seek the comfort of an adult.

Lola spoke softly to him, her voice a soothing balm, but she made no move to visit. A man like Charlie was never short of attendants at his bedside. There was no need for her to join the throng of well-wishers.

So when Charlie finally emerged from the haze of emergency treatment, the first faces he saw were Edwin’s tear-streaked visage and his assistant’s anxious relief. His eyes instinctively searched the room for Lola, but she was conspicuously absent.

A quiet letdown settled within him, unmistakable and heavy, a reminder of the chasm that had formed between them.