"I know you're rejecting me for my own good. I understand that, so I've decided to leave."
Adam Smith's words continued to appear one line at a time on the screen, calm yet resolute.
"I don't have the ability to give you everything the way Victor Steele can, but give me five years. I'll become stronger than him. If he ever treats you badly, I'll come back and take you away."
At the end, he added softly, almost stubbornly, "Isabella, trust me, okay?"
Isabella stared at the screen for a long time, her vision blurring slightly.
Adam Smith had always been like this. Ever since she first met him in high school, he had been stubborn to the bone.
She still remembered that afternoon vividly. At the entrance of a narrow alley behind the school, Adam Smith had been cornered by a group of boys. Someone had dug up rumors about his mother and shouted them out loud, accusing her of cheating on his father, calling her shameless. Their voices were sharp and malicious, echoing off the walls.
