A Moment in Destiny
Chapter 327 Don’t Feel Like Using You

"Let's call a truce!" Vincent said after a long pause. After Leila's outburst, his voice was a bit hoarse even as he said this.

What!?

Leila was dumbfounded.

"Let's call a truce!" He repeated.

Leila was still frozen in her tracks. She didn't respond at all.

From his tone, he sounded very sincere yet indifferent. "I'm really tired!"

Leila's heart continued to tighten until it felt as though it was about to burst and jump out of her chest. This was the first time she ever heard him speak in such a tone, and she was beyond belief. "Cut it out already!" He said.

"You're the one making a ruckus, not me!" Leila said in a low voice, filled with a sense of being treated unfairly, "I just don't want to be a pawn in someone's game, I'm really tired too."

... Vincent opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Leila continued softly, "When I was young, I always imagined how wonderful marriage would be. Just like the songs, I always thought it'd be incredibly romantic, growing old with you together. Even when we're old and can't go anywhere, I'd like to think that you'd still treat me with love and respect. But this marriage is nothing like that. Keeping this marriage is pointless; we just keep hurting each other. Besides, even your mom said so, we're going to get divorced sooner or later. We might as well get it over with now, right?"

"Since the day I married you, my entire life was ruined; I won't ever get happiness in this life. I never naively believed in fairy tales like love lasting for a lifetime. I don't want to fight and bicker with you to no end. I don't want to argue with you or endure your verbal abuse. I always hoped that you'd be the same Mr. White as before, who could smile leisurely and isn't filled with hate. Just you being you? Even if we get divorced, I can still call you Mr. White!"

"But, I don't know how much longer we're going to continue hurting each other like this. I don't know if I will still have the strength to call you Mr. White! Now, you're standing before me, saying how tired you are. I just want to say, being someone filled with so much hate, how can you not be tired? Your heart is enduring pain and suffering every day, right? If I guessed correctly, you married me just to shame my family, right? So why do you have a face like that, as though you're suffering so much?"

Leila carefully observed Vincent and noted the pain in his eyes. She noted the bags under his eyes, as though he hadn't slept all night. Looking at the blood traces on his bandaged hands, she felt a hint of pain. She pulled his hand over and redid the bandage. The second their hands touched together, Vincent felt as though an electric shock ran through his body.

She continued to speak, "I don't want to continue like this, Mr. White, I'm really depressed, really!"

She looked at him with a worried expression; he could see the kindness on her face as well as the tears that were about to come out. She was about to let him go, when he suddenly grabbed her and held her tightly.

"Leila, what if you're not just a pawn?" His shoulders were shaking a bit, and there was a strange tone mixed with uncertainty.

Leila felt

though something was amiss; it felt as though he was a bit fragile. Did he ever had this side to him?

"Is it even possible? You and your mom clearly hate me. I don't know what happened for you to hate my father, but I know you won't quit. Even so, I can't change that. But I won't be a part of it either." His expression suddenly became stern.

Leila pushed him away, and reminded him, "I don't want to make your mom constantly unhappy, and I don't want to see how you're going to go after my father."

Vincent stood still, his eyebrows knit closely together. He was quiet for a long time. It was as though time froze at this moment. His entire being was deep in thought.

Suddenly, he rested a hand on Leila's shoulder, and the gently held her face with his other hand. Her face instantly became hot from his warm hand, and the warmth spread quickly to the rest of her body. But her better senses made her move her head to the side, and his hand slid to the side. His eyes had an unspeakable pain, "What if I don't want to get a divorce?"

What did he mean?

Suddenly, it felt as though no words could get through to him. Just what did she have to do to get through to him?

"But I don't want to continue like this; what can we do?" Leila shed all her pretense, and calmly said these words. "Leila!" He called out to her in a deep voice with such sadness in his eyes, which made her feel incredibly touched.

However-

He had always been such a prideful person; why did he suddenly behave so weak? It made her heart tighten. It was as though he was going to ask her, did he ever liked her?

But she quickly swallowed this question.

How could he possibly like her?

He had plenty of women around him all the time. She has even seen him change women plenty of times. If she were to ask, it'd only make her look bad.

"Haven't you always wondered why I hate your father?" His words made her blood freeze. "I'll tell you why!"

He looked towards the car window, with a pained expression, then spoke in a soft voice, "It's because he has something to do with my father's death. If it weren't for him, maybe my father would still be alive!" "What?" Leila was shocked, "Didn't your father commit suicide?"

"It was suicide!"

"If it was suicide, what's that got to do with my father?" Leila couldn't fathom.

"It was due to negligence!" Vincent's expression was incredibly upset. "He was a prideful man. At the age of 35, he became F City's mayor. Yet, due to his delay in issuing a document, 120 workers were trapped in a well due to a heavy storm in July, and their whereabouts became unknown."

Leila was stunned; she held her breath as she listened to him continue.

"At that time, 543 individuals were recorded to have gone down the well. After the incident, 423 were accounted for, 120 were missing. At that time, the province issued a document addressing safety issues. But that document was sitting on my father's desk. Your father wrote an anonymous letter to the province to report my father's negligence at work. My father was a man of perfection; he couldn't take this and committed suicide!"

"He committed suicide over this? And this is why you hate my father?" Leila was in shock, "But it was his responsibility, of course he had to issue the report! That concerned the lives of 120 miners. My father's not at fault!"

Vincent scoffed, "That's true on the surface!"

"What do you mean?"

"Afterwards, I did some investigating. Someone intentionally withheld notice of that document from my father, which caused that incident; he was framed."

"What do you mean?"

"The document was secretly withheld from my father, so that he didn't issue it, then came the accident. Afterwards, I found out someone set my father up! Because he always took care of everything in an airtight manner. The only thing that could get to him were accidents, and out of all the accidents, the well mining was the most severe. If something were to happen, the top brass would definitely get punished. This was the only way to get my father to resign!" Vincent lit a cigarette. "Tell me, should I hate the mastermind behind the plan?"

"Who withheld the document?" Leila felt a knot begin to form inside her.

"Three years after my father died, that man became the mayor of F City, to this day!"

"That's impossible!" Leila couldn't accept what she heard. "Are you saying my father's the mastermind? What proof do you have?"

Vincent snorted, "Before he died, a retired worker from that office sought me out to tell me about it! Your father had proof on that man accepting bribery, so that man was forced to obey your father. He purposefully withheld the document, and silently waited for an opportunity... Your father wanted to make my father resign, but he didn't expect my father to commit suicide..."

"Who's the retired worker?" Leila was still in denial.

"He's dead! Seth Jordan! He was from Southern Suburbs of F City!" Vincent shifted his eyes and locked his gaze onto Leila, then asked, "Shouldn't I seek your father for revenge?" "Revenge for what?"

"Make him resign!" Vincent straightforwardly said, "That's not too much to ask for, is it?"

Leila remained silent.

"By marrying you, I sought to humiliate you. If we get divorced, it'll look bad on your entire family. Are you sure you want that?"

"How can you be so sure that the one who setup your father was my father? Why should I believe the words of Seth? He's dead, there's no way to confirm now. Why should I believe you?"

"You think I'm bored out of my mind to find fault with the mayor? Don't forget, he's been the mayor for twenty years now. His power and influence run deep. Surely you know that?"

"But if my father wanted to get at your family, it'd be simple. With such a huge company as yours, surely there must be some flaws. If the tax office came to audit, there would definitely be issues. But he didn't do so. I always found it odd; I know you've always been trying to get revenge against him, but he married me off to you. Isn't he sending me to my doom? Why would my father do such a thing?"

"He used you to exchange some evidence I had against him!" Vincent said.

"What was it?"

"Seth's voice recording. The whole truth of this ordeal, my conversation with Seth, he used you to exchange for it!"

"Why did you give it to him?"

"Because what good was such a recording against a man of his stature and power? That's why I married you to humiliate you! That was my plan! Hurting the ones closest to him to make him suffer! Everything went through, I'm going to make him pay it back in folds!"

"What about now?" Leila looked at him with wide eyes, "If getting a divorce will further humiliate my family, why don't you divorce me?"

"Because I feel you're innocent!" A flash waved through Vincent's eyes as he looked at Leila. "I suddenly don't feel like using you anymore!"

Don't want to use her?! Leila's heart skipped a beat. There was too much information to process that she couldn't think clearly.

"I don't believe it; this whole thing is far-fetched. So you and your mother just decided to obediently believe the words of Seth?" Leila was still refusing to believe it all; she felt something was off. "So by getting with my sister, did you get close to her just to get revenge?"