She Used Me for a Dare… Now I Own Her Mother Chapter 430: Naked Truth

Sophia stood like a statue, utterly bare beneath the pale moonlight. Her lips parted slightly, her eyes wide with utter disbelief.

‘Get dressed and leave.’

The command echoed relentlessly in her mind, a cruel refrain. For a moment, her consciousness struggled to grasp its reality. She could only gaze at Alex’s receding silhouette, her thoughts a jumbled mess trying to make sense of the unfolding events.

‘He... he actually told me to go?’

The stark realization struck her with the force of a physical blow.

‘How could he...?’ Her mind raced. ‘Doesn’t he want me? After all he did... for her mother, her aunt, even Jennifer... wasn’t that all an elaborate scheme to draw my attention? To make me come to him?’

‘And now, after I’ve finally come to him willingly... after I’ve accepted him... he no longer desires me?’

She had pictured that when Alex saw her in his grand mansion... waiting for him until the stroke of midnight, having made the choice entirely on her own, finally picking him... he would rush to her.

Her expectation was that he would embrace her tightly, valuing her decision to finally come to him, to abandon everyone else and select him.

Yet, instead... he was simply walking away.

A potent mix of fury and deep humiliation ignited within her chest. Her hands instinctively clenched into tight fists at her sides.

‘Why? Why is he rejecting me so completely?’

She observed his departing figure, moving away from her as if she held no significance... as if he was utterly indifferent. It was as if the Alex she knew from mere months ago had vanished. The same Alex who would have readily sacrificed anything for her.

The truth finally settled in, a cold and harsh reality.

Alex wasn’t playing games anymore. He wasn’t trying to win her back. He genuinely no longer wanted her.

Sophia’s breaths grew shallow and ragged. She couldn't, and wouldn't, accept this outcome.

He had accepted her mother. He had accepted her aunt. He had even brought Jennifer, that insufferable woman, into his good graces. So why was she, Sophia, the only one being cast aside?

A profound ache settled in her heart, feeling as though it was being painfully compressed within her ribcage. The terrifying prospect of losing Alex sent a tidal wave of panic and anguish coursing through her entire being.

"No..." she whispered, her voice quivering uncontrollably. "No, no, no..."

Unable to restrain herself, Sophia began to run after him, still completely naked, her damp feet making soft slapping sounds against the polished marble floor.

"Alex! Wait!" she cried out, her voice cracking with emotion. "Please... wait!"

Alex did not falter. He continued his steady pace towards the mansion, not once looking back.

Sophia pursued him relentlessly, her heart hammering against her ribs. Tears welled in her eyes as she finally closed the distance between them near the expansive glass doors.

She reached out, her hand gripping his arm from behind, her voice laced with desperation and a profound tremor.

"You're still mad about that day... aren't you?" Sophia managed to say, her voice breaking as fresh tears streamed down her face. "I know you are. And I totally deserve it. I was awful... I acted so horribly towards you. I should never have done that to you. I should never have treated you the way I did."

She took a shaky breath, her voice faltering further.

"Please, Alex... I'm so sorry. I am truly, deeply sorry. Just... please don't push me away like this."

Alex paused, but his back remained turned towards her.

Sophia’s grasp on his arm tightened as a torrent of words tumbled out in a desperate rush.

"I even abandoned Marcus and the entire group... I discarded everyone because I finally grasped how wrong I had been. Because I truly wanted you."

Her voice fractured completely as she tilted her head up, her tear-filled eyes meeting his.

"I really like you, Alex... I truly do. Please... just give me one more chance. Please..."

Alex finally turned around.

His gaze locked with Sophia’s... she stood before him, completely unclothed, tears coursing down her cheeks, her hands still fastened to his arm as she pleaded for his forgiveness. Her damp hair clung to her shoulders, her body shaking visibly beneath the moonlight's glow.

For a significant pause, Alex simply observed her.

And he felt absolutely nothing.

All the affection he once harbored for her... had completely evaporated. There was no lingering anger, no residual pain, no trace of longing... only a profound void. The woman he had once cherished so dearly now felt like a complete stranger.

"You should leave now, Sophia," he stated, his voice utterly calm and chillingly cold. "This is not where you should be."

Sophia’s heart constricted painfully as his words pierced her like sharp shards of glass.

"I have already forgiven and forgotten you completely," Alex continued, his tone devoid of any emotion. "There is nothing left between us."

Before another syllable could escape his lips, Sophia seized both of his hands.

With fingers that trembled uncontrollably, she pressed his hands against her own cheeks and began striking herself with them, her voice dissolving into heart-wrenching sobs.

"Please... Hit me... Yell at me... But please, don't reject me like this... I beg you. I truly love you, Alex... I genuinely do."

Sophia’s tear-filled eyes scanned his face with desperate intensity, searching for even the faintest hint of softness, any minute sign of a crack in his impassive facade.

But Alex’s expression remained utterly unreadable, a mask of perfect indifference.

For months, the exact moment of this confrontation had been replayed endlessly in his mind. Every potential scenario, every precise look, every carefully chosen word designed to inflict the deepest wound had been meticulously planned.

’Why did you deceive me?’

’Why did you play with me like I was nothing?’

’Why did you make me believe you cared, only to crush me in front of everyone?’

These were the questions he had yearned to unleash, the festering wounds he had wished to rip open and force her to acknowledge. For months, these unasked questions had been a burning poison within his chest.

Yet, as he gazed upon her now—standing unclothed, tears streaming, clinging desperately to his arm—a surprising realization dawned upon him.

The urge to question had vanished.

Those inquiries no longer held any significance.

The inferno that once raged for her had long since reduced itself to cold ash.

Alex met her gaze, his eyes utterly devoid of emotion.

"Love?" he inquired softly. "Sophia, you do not love me. You never have."

"What you perceive as love is obsession. You convinced yourself you loved me, but in reality, you simply desired possession. A way to prove to your mother, your aunt, and everyone else that you remain supreme, capable of taking anything you desire."

His words struck her with chilling precision.

Sophia’s mouth parted, a desperate need to refute him rising—to declare her genuine love, to assert that her feelings had transcended mere attraction. The words hovered on the precipice of her tongue.

But silence was all that emerged.

Sophia remained frozen, tears silently cascading. His unnervingly calm words landed with a force far greater than any shout could achieve.

For the first time, the true depth of the damage she had inflicted became blindingly clear.

Without another utterance, Sophia slowly turned. Her shoulders trembled as she moved towards the bench where her clothes lay. With hands that shook uncontrollably, she gathered them, clutching them tightly to her chest.

Then, she began her departure, her legs moving with agonizing slowness, as if each step exacted the last reserves of her strength. Her body felt heavy, burdened by the immense weight of rejection.

Just as escape seemed imminent, she faltered.

She turned back one final time, her eyes swollen and crimson-rimmed, fixing on Alex.

"I have one question, Alex…" she managed, her voice a mere whisper. "Why Jennifer? Isn’t she also one of those people...?"

Alex regarded her for a beat, then responded with unvarnished truth.

"She appeared useful to me. Nothing more."

Sophia offered a slow nod, her expression vacant. There were no more tears, no arguments. She simply turned and vanished into the night, her receding footsteps swallowed by the encroaching darkness.

***

Emerging from the mansion entirely nude, her clothes clutched in one hand, Sophia stepped into the biting night air. It caressed her bare skin, yet registered little. Damp strands of hair clung to her shoulders as she traversed the lengthy driveway, each stride heavier than the last.

Reaching her car, concealed nearby, she quietly opened the door and slipped inside. For a prolonged moment, she sat in the darkness, her gaze fixed on an unseen point.

’Useful, huh?’

She already knew the unspoken answer to the question she hadn't voiced aloud.

’Why doesn’t he hate her as much as he hates me?’

A smile, both bitter and shattered, graced her lips.

’It’s because she wasn’t the one he trusted. She wasn’t the one he loved… that was me.’

This realization struck with devastating force, far surpassing any physical blow. She had been the sole individual who truly mattered to him, and she had irrevocably destroyed it. She had taken the purest offering he had ever given and shattered it under the gaze of countless witnesses.

Tears traced paths down her cheeks, unheeded.

’Perhaps I never deserved him,’ she murmured to herself, her voice barely audible within the car’s confines.

A few moments of silence passed, the crushing weight of her actions pressing down on her chest. Then, her fingers tightened their grip on the steering wheel.

’But I still want to be useful one final time…’

Her eyes, still red and swollen, hardened with a quiet, burgeoning resolve.

Sophia ignited the engine. It purred to life.

Without casting another look back at the mansion, she pressed down on the accelerator, and sped away into the night… naked, broken, and carrying a dangerous new purpose within her heart.