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Chapter 5

Author: Helen
Luca came every Friday.

He brought me food, walked with me in the garden, and sometimes worked in my room.

I was cold to him.

For every ten things he said, I answered one or two. When my legs hurt, I no longer let him touch me.

I had to make him get used to being without me.

But Victoria came more often than he did.

The first time, she brought photographs from a New York charity gala. In them, she and Luca walked the red carpet together.

The second time, she wore the emerald ring and said Luca had reached an agreement with her father.

The third time, she brought a brochure for a wedding venue and asked me what color Luca liked.

"Why do you keep coming to see me?" I asked.

"Because you're still in his heart." She said it bluntly. "As long as you're here, he'll never truly accept me."

"Then you haven't got what it takes."

She smiled a little.

"At least I can stand beside him. Can you?"

She suddenly yanked my wheelchair backward.

The glass in my hand fell to the floor, and I nearly tipped over.

"What are you doing?"

"Just reminding you. Without someone's help, you can't even sit steady."

I raised my hand to hit her. She caught my wrist.

"Last time I let you hit me because I wanted to see whether Luca would blame you. And he actually came to ask you first whether you'd been wronged."

The smile vanished from her face.

"I hate that. You can't do anything, and he still can't let you go."

I pressed the call button.

She released me and stepped back to the door.

"You can tell him. But the Vale family is handling the federal investigation for him. Do you think he'll turn on us for a woman who's about to die?"

By the time the nurse came in, she had put her gentle expression back on.

I didn't tell Luca about it.

Because I wanted to know the answer too.

On Friday, when Luca came, I asked him on purpose, "If Victoria and I clashed, whose side would you take?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Answer me."

He frowned. "Eve, she's helping me with something very important right now. Could the two of you not see each other for a while?"

I smiled.

"I see."

"See what?"

"Nothing. Go."

He sensed something was wrong but didn't know where the problem lay.

After he left, Dr. Grant examined me.

The tumor was spreading fast.

"Two months," he said. "Possibly less."

I nodded.

Two months was enough to drive Luca away.
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  • After I Died, My Fiancé Went Mad   Chapter 18

    Eve's letter arrived a month later.There was no forgiveness in it, and no blame.She wrote only a few small things.She said she always remembered me warming her dance shoes in winter.She said she had never regretted building the company with me.She also said we had once planned to go to Sicily. If I had the time, I should see the sea at Cefalù for her.The last line was: Luca, stop waiting for me.I took her ashes to Sicily.I rented an old house in Cefalù with a view of the sea. Every morning, I set out two breakfasts.One for me, one for her.At first, I knew she was dead.Later, I often forgot.I would see a figure in the street, think it was her, and chase it for blocks. I would hear her calling me in the middle of the night and run barefoot to the shore. I would talk to an empty chair all day.The doctors said I had severe post-traumatic stress, depression, and hallucinations, and needed to be hospitalized.I refused.I was afraid that if I went into a hospital, Eve wouldn't b

  • After I Died, My Fiancé Went Mad   Chapter 17

    After the interrogation, the police showed me Victoria's phone.It held every message she had sent Eve.Every day she had told Eve where she and I were and what we were doing. Most of it was true, and some of it was invented. She turned business dinners into dates, a night at the port into a night together in a hotel, and a photo of me choosing a ring for a client into wedding preparations.Eve rarely replied.The last time, she wrote only one line: You win. Please be good to him from now on.Victoria answered: The dead have no right to make requests.That message was dated two days before Eve died.I stared at the screen, my hands shaking too hard to hold the phone.So she had known all along that she would die.She bore the illness alone, and still worried about whether the Vale family would take revenge on me. She drove me away not because she didn't love me, but because she loved me too much.And what was I doing?I was tired because her words were harsh, angry because she refused

  • After I Died, My Fiancé Went Mad   Chapter 16

    The lawyer also gave me a box.Inside were the photographs Eve had left, her dance shoes, and our old ledgers. Every item was labeled with who it should go to. Before she died, she had arranged everything. The only thing she hadn't arranged was a grave for herself."Where is her body?""Donated to the research center, as she wished.""Who signed for it?""She did."I didn't even get the chance to hold a funeral for her.She didn't want me to see her after death, and she didn't want me keeping vigil at a grave. I knew she was protecting me, but that protection took away even my last goodbye.In the box was a photograph from when we were young.On the back, she had written: This was my happiest day.That day was only the company's opening. We had no money to celebrate, just one discount pizza. I had even spent the whole evening in a temper because a client was late.I didn't remember what I had said to her.She had kept that day as her happiest for ten years.I pressed the photograph to

  • After I Died, My Fiancé Went Mad   Chapter 15

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  • After I Died, My Fiancé Went Mad   Chapter 14

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  • After I Died, My Fiancé Went Mad   Chapter 13

    [Luca's Point of View]Halfway through setting up the wedding venue, I got a call from St. Alban's.The nurse said Eve had left the facility."Where did she go?""Ms. Hart asked that it be kept confidential. She has authorized her lawyer to handle all the paperwork."I rushed to the sanatorium at once.The room was already empty. The sheets had been changed, and the cabinet held nothing. The only thing she had left was the wedding plan I had sent.The first page had been torn out. Nothing else was touched.I thought she was still angry with me.I called her. The number had been disconnected. Her lawyer told me only that she had gone to another city and didn't want to see me again."How is her health?" I asked."That is private information.""I'm her family.""You two separated."I had no answer to that.Victoria was pleased when she heard."She's finally come to her senses," she said. "Luca, you should move on too.""Do you know where she went?""No."She answered too quickly.I though

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