A Dark Revenge On My Cheating Husband Chapter 21
In early autumn, Houston’s sky was high and the clouds were light.
Today, the “Ryan Star Studio” in the southern part of the city was especially lively.
This was a special children’s art gallery, built with funding from the Ryan Foundation and open all children free of charge.
The name of the gallery came from Ryan’s favorite saying during his lifetime: “Every child is a star that has fallen to earth.”
At the opening ceremony, Madeleine, as the chairwoman of the Ryan Foundation, gave a speech.
She stood on the stage, more composed and poised than she had been five years ago.
Her off-white suit made her look capable, her gaze was gentle yet firm, and the scar at her temple had faded to the point of being almost invisible.
“Five years ago, I lost my brother.”
Her voice, carried through the speakers across the venue, was calm with a barely perceptible tenderness. “But his dream did not disappear. He hoped that every child could experience art, that every child could have a childhood illuminated by light. Today, that dream has come true.”
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.
Among the guests were government officials, entrepreneurs, artists, and many ordinary families who had brought their children.
Madeleine’s gaze swept over the crowd and paused in one corner.
Standing there were Alijah and their four-year-old daughter, Kelsie Scott.
The little girl wore a pink dress and had two small braids, excitedly pointing at the star-shaped decorations inside the gallery.
Her expression softened.
After the speech, Madeleine stepped off the stage, and Kelsie immediately ran over: “Mommy! That star can light up!”
Reporters, investors, and even curious strangers all wanted to get a first-hand response from him.
He turned off his phone, unplugged the landline, and only then did the world quiet down.
He sat in a small rented apartment-paid for with his last bit of cash, enough for just one month.
The room had only a bed, a chair, a simple wardrobe, and stains left on the wall by the previous tenant.
On the computer screen, the video played on a loop.
Every time he saw the scene of Daniela pushing down the lever, his stomach twisted.
Every time he heard the words “that idiot Xzavier,” he couldn’t stop himself from trembling.
So this was the truth-so naked and cruel.
So he really was a complete fool.
The sound of police sirens came from outside, growing closer.
Xzavier walked to the window and saw several police cars parked downstairs, with reporters crowding around, their cameras aimed at the entrance.
They had arrived.
He knew they would come.
Xzavier did not hide.
He put on a clean shirt and combed his hair meticulously-that was his last bit of dignity.
There was a knock at the door.
He took a deep breath and walked over to open it.
Outside stood two police officers and a crowd of reporters squeezed into the hallway.
“Mr. Kenward,” the leading officer showed his badge, “regarding the case of Daniela’s suspected intentional homicide and commercial fraud, we need your cooperation in the investigation. Please come with us.
Flashbulbs went off wildly, and questions surged like a tide: “Mr. Kenward! What is your response to the video’s content?”
“Did you already know Daniela’s true nature?”
“Lijah.”
Madeleine suddenly called him.
Alijah walked over. “What is it?”
“Thank you.” Madeleine looked at him, her gaze sincere. “Thank you for being with me all these years.”
Alijah smiled and took her hand. “Silly, we’re husband and wife.”
Kelsie looked up at her dad, then at her mom, and suddenly said, “Mommy, Daddy, can we always be together?”
Madeleine and Alijah exchanged a smile.
“Yes.” They answered at the same time.
After the ceremony, Madeleine saw her wife and daughter to the car.
“Take Kelsie home first. I need to go back to the office for a bit.”
She said to Alijah.
“Don’t be too late.” Alijah kissed her forehead. “Kelsie said she wants you to tell her a story tonight.”
“I promise.”
Watching the car drive away, Madeleine did not return to the office immediately.
She asked the driver to take her to the cemetery in the west of the city.
It had been five years, and she came here once every year.
On Ryan’s birthday.
Today was not any special day.
But she just wanted to come and take a look.
The cemetery was very quiet.
Beside Ryan’s tombstone, there was a new gravestone that had appeared at some point. It seemed
grass. to have been neglected for a long time, overgrown with wild
She turned and walked toward the revolving door side by side with Alijah.
Alijah looked back at Xzavier, his gaze filled with pity and assessment, but not a trace of hostility -for Xzavier was no threat at all.
The revolving door turned, and the two figures disappeared into the morning light of San Francisco.
Xzavier stood where he was, unmoving for a long time.
The receptionist asked cautiously, “Do you need any help, sir?”
Xzavier shook his head, dragging his suitcase, and walked step by step toward the exit.
When he stepped out of the hotel, the sunlight was blinding. He squinted, looking at the bustling crowd on the street, and suddenly remembered something Madeleine once said: “Zavy, no matter how far I go, I will always remember the way home.”
Back then, he laughed at her for being sentimental.
Now he finally understood that some roads, once taken, can never be retraced.
His phone vibrated-it was a long-distance call from his lawyer back home: “Mr. Kenward, the matter of your parents transferring assets has been clarified. They used your name as guarantor and took out loans totaling 16,000,000 from three banks. They have now left the country and their whereabouts are unknown. The banks require you to repay within a week, or they will apply to freeze all your remaining assets…”
Xzavier hung up the phone and looked up at the sky.
The sky over San Francisco was a piercing blue.
Suddenly, he began to laugh, tears streaming down his face.
His family was ruined, he was abandoned by all, and terminally ill.
Xzavier, oh Xzavier, this is the ending you brought upon yourself.
As she walked out of the cemetery, her phone rang. It was a photo from Alijah: Kelsie was dancing in the living room, smiling like a little sun.
The caption read: “Kelsie says she misses Mommy. Come home soon.
Madeleine smiled and replied, “I’ll be home soon.”
Sitting in the car, she took one last look in the direction of the cemetery.
The setting sun dyed the sky a warm orange-red.
All the past pains, the irreparable mistakes, the people she had loved and hated…
All were left behind in that twilight.
And she was going home.
Back to a home filled with light, laughter, and waiting.
The car started and drove toward the bustling city.
Night deepened, and snowflakes began to fall-the first snow of this long winter.
In the rearview mirror, the cemetery grew more distant, eventually disappearing from sight.
Just like those memories, which would, in the end, be gently buried by time.
The end.
