The slap was delivered with such force that her face instantly swelled, becoming almost twice its original size.
Disbelief filled her eyes as she stared at the man before her, dressed in a suit but so unfamiliar to her.
"Why..." she muttered, unable to comprehend why the boy who once cherished her had turned into someone who only wanted to torment her to death after becoming a Coburn.
Was it because she didn't believe in his amnesia and kept seeking him out, irritating him, or because in his eyes, once he rose to prominence, he could discard his past lover at will?
"Why?"
He murmured to himself, his once clean and handsome face contorting into a sinister expression filled with hatred.
"You dare to ask me why? I lay unconscious in the hospital, and you were cavorting with another man!" he accused.
"You've fallen so far and still think I would continue to be with you. Isn't that a pipe dream?"
See, he hadn't lost his memory at all.
Unfortunately, it was only at this moment that she realized he had feigned amnesia just to completely abandon her.
And she, like a fool, had naively believed that this well-dressed man was still the boy who had once promised her a lifetime together.
She regretted kneeling at the Coburns' doorstep, letting go of all her pride and self-respect, hoping to reclaim her boy.
However, the man who had changed his name to Calvert no longer gave her any room for regret...
Luana remembered how he had retreated dozens of steps, then suddenly, with all his might, charged at her like a maddened beast.
Using the momentum from his run, he lifted his heavy boot and kicked her in the chest with deadly precision.
He knew her heart had undergone a bypass surgery and couldn't withstand such an impact.
That's why he calculated the position so accurately, delivering a fatal blow.
After spitting out several mouthfuls of blood, she finally realized that the boy she loved truly wanted her dead...
She collapsed into a pool of blood, shivering from the cold, while the boy looked down at her with a low, cold laugh.
"Luana, I don't love you anymore, and I don't want any ties with you, so stop haunting me!" he declared.
"And remember, I am now the heir to the Coburn Group, not the Albion from the orphanage!"
"If you or Clarissa dare to expose my past or use it to threaten the Coburn family, I will make sure you both live in agony, unable to seek death!"
Luana had seen Cline's coldness and ruthlessness, but compared to Albion, Cline's indifference seemed insignificant.
Thus, even though Cline treated her as a substitute, she never resented him.
At least Cline had been honest from the start. If he didn't love her, he didn't pretend to.
But Albion?
He had professed his love for her, claiming he would give everything for her, yet the outcome was that he brutally severed their decades-long bond and discarded the sibling-like relationship with Clarissa as if it were trash.
If it weren't for his heartlessness and lack of loyalty, she wouldn't have signed the lover's agreement with Cline without hesitation when he forced her to.
She had intended to use this method to get back at Albion. Since he despised her for selling herself, she would sell herself to Cline.
However, she involuntarily lost her heart along the way.
Her physical reactions to Cline gradually made her forget the pain Albion had inflicted on her.
Being deeply hurt by someone and yet able to fall in love with another person again was something she found incredible about herself.
But she had to admit that it was Cline, the occasional warmth he inadvertently showed, that led her step by step out of the dark and painful shadows...
She speculated that this might have something to do with her being an orphan.
She craved love so much, was so lacking in it, that a little kindness from others would make her give away all her sincerity.
Although both men eventually abandoned her, she did not regret the love she had given.
She was a werewolf without a wolf, without a pack to belong to now.
She couldn't find her mate.
Perhaps she had no mate at all.
Her heart inevitably carried some regret. She had loved wholeheartedly, but in the end, no one truly loved her back.
She felt that her life would probably be like this, hoping that in the next life, the Moon Goddess, seeing her lonely and hardship-ridden life, would bestow a bit of sweetness and happiness upon her.
However, Luana immediately felt her thoughts were absurd. Once dead, where would there be a next life? In the end, it's just a handful of lifeless ashes.