But every time he saw the scars crisscrossing Hannah's body, every time he watched the once fiercely vain and image-obsessed woman screaming hysterically like a lunatic, reciting fabricated memories of their 'epic love' to validate her fractured reality, he was forced to swallow his words.
He truly had no idea what to do.
All his agonizing hesitation ended the day Bonnie tracked him down in the US. Before heading to the theater, he and Hannah had gotten into a massive argument.
After the ballet, Hannah had been much calmer. But the absolute second they walked outside and saw Bonnie, Lawrence felt a visceral, murderous resolve radiate off Hannah.
Hannah spouted a lot of crazy nonsense then, but her final words were hissed through gritted teeth.
She said, "She actually dared to follow us to America. It's so dangerous here. Isn't she afraid of winding up dead?"
It was that single word—dead—that terrified Lawrence.
After spitting those venomous, heart-shredding words at Bonnie, Lawrence knew he had lost her forever. He had lost his Candie.
Even the driver his mother had sent to look after Bonnie couldn't stomach the cruelty. As Lawrence watched her run away, he practically heard the sound of his own soul being ripped to shreds.
The freezing American sleet felt like acid, rotting him away where he stood.
He wanted to risk everything, to run after her and scream the truth, but Hannah collapsed right then, nearly miscarrying.
"The day you came to the States, I genuinely had no idea you were being bullied at the airport. I wasn't allowed anywhere near the internet. During that time, I barely had access to my own phone. My only existence was surviving under Hannah's suffocating watch..."
The burning in his throat worsened, triggering a harsh fit of coughing. His tears were ice-cold as they fell. He blinked his frosted lashes. The sub-zero weather was doing an excellent job of freezing his heart.
It didn't hurt as much anymore. There was only a hollow numbness.
"If I had known about your ear back then... I would never have said those things to you. Candie, I..."
He couldn't finish. It sounded so pathetic, so utterly useless.


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