Chapter 205

Before I could finish, Jonathan suddenly yanked my arm and pulled me straight into his arms. He held me tightly while I knelt on the couch, knees apart.

The position felt a little dangerous, but Jonathan didn’t seem to have any other intentions. He just held me like he wanted to pull me into his very being.

“Don’t say that. You lost your memory, so I won’t hold it against you.”

His voice was low and hoarse. “Once you remember everything, then we’ll talk about this again.”

I thrashed in his arms, completely on the verge of breaking down. “Jonathan, will you ever stop? You don’t love me. You’ve never treated me right. Why should I stay with you?”

“So what if I lost my memory? I hated the version of me who kept chasing after you, who had no sense of self! I like who I am now. I don’t love you anymore, do you understand? I’ve wanted to leave you for a long time!”

The moment he realized I’d been wanting to leave him all this time, he only held me tighter.

“No,” he said. “This is just a fight. Elise, I already explained it to you. That day… It wasn’t intentional.”

He cupped my face. “I didn’t want to bring this up again because we know each other better than anyone. Even if I saved Alicia that day, you should have known it wasn’t what it seemed.”

Jonathan pressed his forehead to mine and let out a sigh. “Now that you’ve lost your memory and don’t remember me, I feel like I need to explain it properly. It’s not what you think between me and Alicia.”

“The Fords and the Zimmers have known each other for generations, and her grandfather once helped mine. When we were kids, there was talk of an engagement, but I’ve never had any romantic feelings for her. After I married you, Grandpa felt guilty toward her and asked me to look after her. That’s all it ever was.”

I scoffed. “You expect me to believe that? You valued her life more than mine.”

Jonathan gently pinched my cheek and sighed. “So, you’re still upset over that day. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d lost your memory. I should’ve explained everything right away.”

I had no interest in hearing his excuses, but Jonathan refused to stop.

He held my face still. I couldn’t move and had no choice but to listen.

“That day, when I heard someone had fallen into the water, my first instinct was to check on you. They told me it was Alicia, and I was relieved. But she’s someone Grandpa sees as a granddaughter, so I pulled her out. I didn’t know you were in the water too…”

Just like that, he swept all the blame off himself with a few smooth lines.

Seeing the disbelief written all over my face, Jonathan stayed quiet for a while before asking, “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Why should I?”

I looked at him coldly. “Everyone saw it. You ran straight to her without a second thought. You were trying to save her, not me. And after Frederick pulled me out of the water, you still treated me like I didn’t matter at all.”

“Jonathan, I’m not blind. I could feel how little I meant to you.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. Then he held me again, this time with a gentleness that was almost absurd, like he was afraid I’d break.

“Elise, I wasn’t being cold. You almost died that day. I was furious…”

Jonathan’s voice dropped. “If you hadn’t made it out alive, I think I would’ve killed someone that day.”

I shook my head. “Jonathan, if you really care about me, then let’s end this. Let me go. Let me finally be free.”