Chapter 86

John's eyes were brimming with grief, so heavy it was hard for him to catch his breath.

"I know I'm being selfish, but I can't stand the thought of losing you.Lately, I've been dreaming about ourpast every single night. I wish we could go back to our college days."

He watched Emily closely, hoping to see some sign of nostalgia or happiness,but there was nothing. His heart sank.

The weight of it all made his eyes well up with tears.

With a humble tone, he asked, "Emmy,is there really no way we can go back to how things were?"

Emily twisted the dry bloodstain in her hand, which smelled faintly of rust.

Without a second thought, she said, "John, we need to move on. For the sake of our families, I don't want to cut ties completely, but we can't be together anymore."

John couldn't hold back his emotions any longer and almost cried, "Is it because of James? You've only been with him for a month. How can that compare to our ten years together?" What hurt John the most was losing to James.

They'd only been dating for a month! Why did Emily suddenly choose him?

Then Emily dropped a bombshell, "John, James and I have been together for three years."John's body shook. He was completely stunned.

"To be exact, after you left for Veda in the midst of our wedding,I was with James that night."

"Sometimes I think it's all just karma. When you and I ended, he andI started. Whatever happens between James and me, I'll accept it."

She didn't want to invest too much emotion and get hurt again.

John was in a daze for a long time before he finally reacted. "You two have really been together that long?"

Three years was enough to erase him from her heart.

Emily spoke calmly, "I have no reason to lie to you."

With a bitter smile, John almost collapsed onto the sofa. He slowly covered his face with his hands, unable to say a word.

"John, take care of yourself. I won't bother you anymore."

With that, Emily turned to leave.

In a moment of panic, John felt that if he didn't stop her now, he'd never get another chance.

He rushed forward like a madman, but Emily was already gone, her figure disappearing down the corridor. followed the jewelers to inspect the site, partly to avoid James.

Her mind was a mess, and she'd been having the same nightmare every night for the past few days.

In the dream, she was a little girl, maybe five or six, pinned down by Lucas.

She was too small, and Lucas held her hands down forcefully. She cried out, "Daddy, I'm your daughter.Please let me go!"

Her body trembled. She had seen Lucas dragging a little girl into the field.She knew what he was going to do, so she ran to the village for help with all her might.

The little girl was saved, but when Lucas returned, he beat Emily and locked her in a room for three days without food or water. At that time,Emily felt like she was going to die in there.

It wasn't until the fourth day that a drunken Lucas stumbled in, leering as he entered the room.

"I didn't want to touch you originally, but since you had someone save that little girl, it's your turn to satisfyme."

"No,you're my daddy!"

"Nonsense, I'm not your dad."

She always woke up from the dream at this point. All the painful memories Emily had buried from her childhood seemed to be slowly resurfacing. Lucas must have always known she wasn't his biological daughter. But it was Isolde who had switched the children, and she claimed to have kept it a secret from everyone, hadn't she?

Emily hadn't been sleeping well these days.

The next day, she led her team to the construction site.

There were already design drawings, but only the foundation had been laid so far.

When Emily saw the design drawings for the first time, she was deeply moved.

The appearance of all the buildings was very similar to her jewelry designs.

And this project was led by the Golden Birch Group. The design drawings were also from the Golden Birch Group.

Emily clenched her fists slightly.

A jeweler surrounding the design drawings said, "The buildings look great,but it's not sure if they will turn out as expected."

There werealso nighttime lighting design drawings on the plans,like another heartfelt declaration of love.

This place could even become the iconic building of Emerald City in the future.

Suddenly, Emily felt some regret coming here. She asked the person in charge to take the jewelers' team around while she waited in the tent. Since the nearest village was half an hour away, the workers stayed at the site during the day, only returning home at night.

"Emmy? What are you doing here?"

John had been at the construction site for several days and was surprised to see Emily.

He instinctively walked towards her and asked in a low voice, "Are you here to find me?"

Emily frowned. "Why are you here?"

Wearing a hard hat, John seemed a bit casual today, with a light layer of dust on him.

John said, "Let me take you around the surrounding area. Except for the construction site, the scenery nearby.is quite beautiful."

With many people watching, John's voice almost pleaded. "Please. You said we're still friends,right?"

Emily furrowed her brows but agreed. There was no harm in taking a look.

As they walked, John did most of the talking while Emily barely replied.

Glancing at Emily beside him, John asked,"How long do you plan to stay here?"

Emily replied softly, "I'll be leaving soon."

John fell silent. He slowed his pace, seemingly thinking about how to make Emily stay. Just as he was about to speak, his eyes suddenly widened.

He rushed to Emily and embraced her tightly. Emily was about to struggle,but she felt a huge impact on her back. Then she heard the sound of something falling behind her, followed by a cloud of dust.

John suddenly coughed heavily. There was a taste of blood in the air.

Emily slowly raised her head and saw a crane operating above them.Due to a worker's carelessness, a heavy wooden plank had slipped from a relatively low height.

Even so, being hit directly like that would still be quite painful.

And that wooden plank was originally meant to fal on her.