Chapter 2

Audrey's POV

I found my old bedroom and stepped inside, only to be greeted by rows of neatly arranged bookshelves.

Everything that had once belonged to me was gone.

A hanging chair sat on the large balcony. It was different from the one I'd had before, beautifully crafted and clearly new.

Ethan must have made it.

"This room gets the best natural light, and Mia loves to read, so…"

I turned around. Ethan stood behind me, his eyes filled with guilt.

Suppressing the ache in my chest, I asked, "When exactly did you two get together?"

Ethan pressed his lips together and took hold of my hand. "Audrey, let me explain. What happened was an accident. Mia was a victim too. Don't blame her."

He was still defending Mia. "Your health was already poor, and you've always been sensitive. Then Mia got pregnant. She was terrified and cried constantly, and eventually fell into depression. I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to either of you.

"So I had no choice but to fake my death."

When forced to choose between us, he had ultimately decided that I was the one who could be hurt and sacrificed.

"Did you know what I did after I thought you were dead?"

The question caught him off guard. He looked at me in alarm before quietly averting his eyes. "Yes."

I lowered my gaze.

He knew, and he'd still gone through with it. He hadn't even bothered to come up with another lie.

Suddenly, all those scars on my wrist felt painfully pointless.

He seemed to know what I was thinking and sighed. "I chose her partly because I wanted to make amends for what you did."

I fell silent, then coughed twice from the chill.

Ethan led me to another room. "We've always kept a room ready for you."

But when he opened the door, we found it cluttered with boxes and other odds and ends, with a layer of dust covering everything.

He gave me an awkward smile. "The housekeeper must've gotten careless and forgotten to clean it."

I nodded and quickly understood.

They probably never thought I'd actually come back.

Ethan started to say something else, but I cut him off.

My heart had begun beating erratically, making it difficult to breathe.

I found the guest room and lay down to rest.

When I woke up, I had no idea how long Mom and Dad had been sitting beside the bed, watching me.

Three years ago, when they'd lost everything and seemed to age overnight, they'd looked at me the same way.

The pain in their eyes had been unbearable to watch. That was why I'd made the decision to have myself committed to a place cut off from the outside world.

When Mom saw that I was awake, she quickly poured me a glass of warm water. "Here. It'll help your throat."

She looked at me with heartache in her eyes. "You've lost weight."

"We never meant to lie to you," Dad suddenly said.

"You've always been the one we doted on. You were born with a heart condition, and your mother and I spent your whole childhood terrified something might happen to you. Your sister never got that kind of attention. Then she was kidnapped as a child…

"Your mother and I have always felt guilty about that. But Mia was so understanding. She never fought you for anything or asked us for anything. This was the only time something unexpected happened…"

Mom covered my hand with hers, her voice catching. "Just this once, I'm begging you. Let Ethan go and give Mia a chance to be happy. They're legally married, and they have a child together. Even if you tried to get him back now, everyone would only see you as the other woman."

I listened quietly, my hands curling into fists. Ethan and I had been together for more than a decade. We'd been just one step away from getting married.

But deep down, I knew I owed Mia too.

What happened to her when we were children had largely been because of me.

I'd suffered a sudden heart attack while we were out, and my parents had rushed me to the hospital, losing track of her in the chaos. By the time they remembered, she was gone.

They searched for her for years and spent most of the family's savings, but found nothing.

When Mia finally tracked us down after growing up, she'd simply smiled and told us she'd been passed from one family to another. But my parents and I knew she'd had a difficult childhood.

And during the worst days of my illness, she'd always been there to comfort me and take care of me.

Even so, I couldn't bring myself to accept a relationship built on lies.

I said nothing.

And somehow, my silence was enough to make them angry.

"Whether you accept it or not, this is how things are going to be!

"Or would you rather go back to the psychiatric hospital?"

With that threat, my parents stormed out and slammed the door behind them.

I sank back onto the bed, numb and hollow. Just then, a message popped up on my phone. "Ms. Bennett, your previous examination showed that your heart function is gradually declining. If you experience any discomfort, please seek medical attention immediately."

Tears spilled from my eyes.

That was exactly why I'd left the hospital without caring about the consequences.

I remembered the day Ethan and I had buried a bottle of wine together. He'd been grinning from ear to ear. "We'll dig this up on our wedding day and toast to our marriage with it!"

I'd planned to take that wine to his grave and drink it there with him. In my heart, it would have been our wedding toast. I could have pretended that we'd finally gotten married.

Instead, I'd discovered the cruel truth.

I'd thought I could simply wait for the end and follow him when the time came.

But suddenly, I didn't want to die anymore. I didn't want the wine either.

I scrolled through my contacts, found the person I was looking for, and sent a message.

As for this family that had shut me out, I didn't want it anymore.