I Refuse to Be Your Second Choice novel Chapter 318

Arianna could only step back and keep following, helpless to do anything else.

By the time they were halfway up the stairs, almost three hours had dragged by. Natalie looked pale as a ghost, her face so white it was scary.

Arianna couldn’t take it anymore. She pleaded, voice trembling with tears, “Natalie, please, let’s stop. Alexander is just putting you through hell. You’re going to break down if you keep this up!”

Natalie didn’t say a word. She just kept going, crawling up the steps on her knees, one slow, painful inch at a time.

Her knees were raw and aching, sweat dripping from her forehead and running down her cheeks. Still, she refused to stop. In her heart, she prayed quietly, hoping that maybe, if she suffered enough, her lost child would find a better home in the next life.

Time kept ticking by. Natalie grew slower, her breath coming in harsh, shallow gasps. She was running on empty. The old injury on her left leg had started to swell again.

At last, she reached the top. Her clothes were drenched with sweat, her pants ripped at the knees, exposing skin that was red and swollen.

When she looked up, she saw the Cloud-Kissing Pagoda’s grand hall right in front of her, and Alexander was there too, standing at the entrance, his expression cold as ice.

Their eyes met for a single heartbeat before Alexander turned to Aaron Lee and said something quietly.

Aaron hurried over to Natalie, stopping in front of her. He looked uncomfortable, even a little guilty, but he still delivered the message. “Ms. Watson, Mr. Ramirez wants you to… keep kneeling… all the way up to the altar.”

There was still a stretch of ground between her and the hall, and the path was nothing but dirt and sharp stones.

Arianna finally lost it. “Alexander Ramirez is out of his mind!” she shouted. “He made her kneel up nine hundred ninety-nine steps and now wants her to keep going? Does he want her dead?”

She rushed to Natalie and tried to pull her up. “Natalie, forget it. We’re done. You’ve already done enough. Please stop hurting yourself.”

But this wasn’t just Alexander’s punishment. It was Natalie’s too. She couldn’t let go of the baby she’d lost. No matter what anyone said, she couldn’t forgive herself.

But then, suddenly, they were all gone.

Now she was wearing a wedding dress. Alexander stood in front of her, holding her hand, slipping a ring onto her finger.

Natalie shook her head. “No… I don’t want this… I can’t go through this again.”

But Alexander wouldn’t let go. He gripped her hand tighter, promising, “Natalie Watson, I’ll make you happy for the rest of your life.”

“No, no…”

Natalie’s eyes snapped open. The sharp scent of disinfectant hit her nose.

She turned her head and saw Alexander standing by the window, just a few steps away.