Before everything

CHAPTER FOUR

Sara

Three Years Earlier

“You know…” My best friend, Izzy leaned against my bedroom door with her arms folded across her chest, watching me struggle with the zipper of my dress. “…if you keep changing your outfit every five minutes, we’re never going to leave.”

I laughed, giving up on the zipper altogether.

“I’ve only changed twice.”

She pushed herself away from the door before walking over to help. “There.”

I looked down at the pale blue dress. “I think it makes me look…”

She sighed dramatically. “Sara.”

“What?” I asked.

“Don’t. You look beautiful.”

I looked away sheepishly.

She reached out and tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. Her voice softened. “You care too much about what people think.”

“I don’t.”

She laughed. “You apologised to a chair yesterday after walking into it.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “It surprised me.”

“The chair?”

“No…”

I burst into laughter. “The corner.”

She laughed with me until tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “You are impossible.”

“And you love me.”

“I do.”

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders, squeezing gently. “Even if you’re the biggest overthinker in the world.”

Before I could defend myself, Dad’s voice echoed from downstairs. “Sara?”

I glanced toward the bedroom door. “I’m coming!”

I nudged Izzy’s shoulder.

The smell of fresh coffee greeted me before I even reached the dining room. Dad was already seated at the table with the morning newspaper folded neatly beside him.

He smiled the moment he saw me. “There she is.”

I walked over and kissed his cheek. “Morning, Daddy.”

“Morning, sweetheart.”

He poured me a cup of coffee before motioning toward the chair opposite him. I sat down slowly.

“Is everything alright?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he stirred his coffee absentmindedly before finally looking at me. “Our company isn’t doing well.”

“I know business has been slow.”

“It’s more than slow.” He sighed quietly.

“We’ve lost two major contracts and the bank refused another extension. So unless something changes, we’re going to lose everything.”

“I stared down at my untouched coffee. “There has to be another way. What about that company you’ve been talking about, Blackwood Industries?”

Dad smiled sadly. “They’ve been interested for months.”

“So why not let them invest?”

His expression changed. “They didn’t offer to invest.”

I frowned. “They offered to buy us.”

“What?”

“I refused.”

He looked away for a long moment.

“But yesterday… The CEO came back.”

Something in his voice made my heartbeat slow.

“What did he want?”

He folded his hands together. “He wasn’t interested in the company.”

“Then what?” Confusion crossed my face.

His eyes met mine. “He asked for your hand in marriage.”

Everything around me seemed to stop. “He wants to marry you.”

“Dad… I’ve never even met him.” A nervous laugh escaped me.

“So what would a billionaire want with me?” He sighed.

“I asked him the same question.”

I shook my head. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

He reached across the table and gently took my hand. “Sara…”

“If you say no…I will tell him no. Without hesitation.”

I looked into his tired eyes. He meant it.

Even if it meant losing everything… He would still choose me. That made the decision infinitely harder.

I looked out the window. Marriage. I should have said no. Maybe… Everything that came after could have been avoided.

The memory dissolved as I blinked back to the present. I looked out the window and realized the car had stopped at my destination.

“Thank you Albert.” I said to the driver.

I stepped out of the car getting closer to the cemetery. I had imagined coming here openly so many times over the years.

I traced my father's name over the gravestone and knelt.

Edward Hart.

Father. Brother. Friend.

I wiped a tear from my eye and said quietly. “I’m sorry it took me three years to come back daddy.”

“I'm sorry you had to die believing I was gone.”

“I saw him again today, I needed to remind myself of the anger.” I sniffed.

I was about to place the flowers I brought, when I noticed fresh flowers there. White lilies. I looked around. Nobody was here. Who could have left these here? I asked myself.

On the ride home, my phone vibrated against my lap. Adrian. A smile tugged faintly at my lips before I answered. “I was wondering how long you’d wait before calling.”

“You’ve been gone for almost two hours.” His voice was calm, but I could hear the concern beneath it. “I gave you forty-five minutes. And then another thirty because I assumed traffic.”

“And then I started imagining all the stupid decisions you were probably making.”

I laughed softly. “I’m still alive.”

“I wasn’t worried about that.”

His reply came immediately.

“So…” he said quietly. “How did it go?”

I stared at my reflection in the glass. “I thought seeing him again would make me feel…”

I searched for the word. “Victorious but it was…Confusing.”

I shook my head.”It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters if it’s bothering you.”

I sighed.

The driver slowed for a red light. Outside, pedestrians hurried across the street. “I haven’t forgotten waking up in that hospital. I haven’t forgotten what they took from me.”

“I just-“

“You just saw the man you once planned to spend the rest of your life with.” Adrian said. “You don’t erase that in three years.”

Tears threatened to sting my eyes. I blinked them away before they could fall. “The woman I pulled out of that wreckage fought harder than anyone I’ve ever met.”

His voice softened. “She’s still there. You just buried her beneath the anger.”

I didn’t answer. Because I wasn’t sure he was wrong.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Dinner?”

“Unless you’ve suddenly become a better cook than me.”

I smiled. “That’s a low bar.”

“Drive safely.”

“You too.” I hung up the call.

I was finally home, I unlocked the apartment door and immediately frowned. “Atlas?” Tiny paws thundered across the wooden floor. A fluffy grey cat came sprinting around the corner before launching himself against my legs.

I laughed. “There you are.”

I bent down, scratching beneath his chin as he purred loudly.

“Did you miss me or are you just hungry again?”

Atlas answered by meowing dramatically.

“I thought so.”

Dropping Atlas, I walked to my fridge looking for what to eat. The fridge was almost empty. I needed to go grocery shopping. But first, I needed a shower.

I pushed open the bedroom door and stopped. Something is wrong here. My bedside lamp…is on. I remembered turning it off that morning.

Getting closer to my bed, I noticed a folded piece of black paper resting on the pillow. I slowly picked it up and read:

Some ghosts should stay buried.