Three Years Forgotten, Why Go Crazy When I Say Goodbye? novel Chapter 499

Taking a shaky breath, Vivienne forced the terror out of her eyes. She looked up at the two men, deliberately softening her voice. "You guys... do you know the way down the mountain? Could you take me to the town?"

The thugs exchanged a loaded look, a sleazy smirk spreading across their faces as they sauntered closer.

The taller one crossed his arms, staring down at her ruined clothes. He let out a dark chuckle. "Sure, we can take you down. But listen, sweetheart, there's no such thing as a free ride."

The shorter one nodded eagerly, his eyes practically undressing her. "Yeah, we got bikes. We can get you to town in ten minutes. But we don't work for free. Be a shame to waste the gas on charity."

Hearing their words, a bleak, chilling smile touched Vivienne's lips. How could she not understand what they were asking?

She understood perfectly.

Before either man could say another word, she raised a trembling hand, gripped her torn collar, and slowly pulled it down.

As the fabric slipped away, she willingly surrendered the last shred of her dignity.

The thugs' eyes gleamed with unrestrained greed, any hesitation completely gone.

The transaction was silently finalized.

True to their word, the men eventually drove her down the mountain. But the moment they hit the town limits, they shoved her off the bike onto the dirt shoulder, laughing as they sped away.

Vivienne wanted nothing more than to lunge at him, scream in his face, and unleash all her festering rage. But the filthy, degrading memory of what she had just done flashed through her mind. She panicked. He could never, ever find out the truth.

Swallowing her venom, Vivienne forced tears to her eyes. She morphed into a fragile, traumatized victim who had narrowly escaped death. "Julian... you finally came..."

With her last ounce of strength, she stumbled forward, throwing herself against his chest. She grabbed his jacket in a death grip, weaponizing her real trauma to play the perfect victim.

Julian frowned, but he still caught her. "What happened to you?"

Biting her lip, Vivienne buried her toxic rage and laid the blame perfectly at another's feet. "It was Willow... She did this to me."