Then She Was Gone Series Novels & Stories

she spat, her words like poison. "Dead, huh?" York chimed in, his voice dripping with malice. "Buried where, exactly? Or is this all just some sick game? Are you waiting for her to break down when she finds out he's gone? You've always known how to pull her strings. You know that she likes to act tough but is actually soft inside."

Spent and pressured to assemble an output, Akira lowered her defenses and just didn’t give a damn anymore. “Get out,” She ordered firmly, pointing at the direction of the door. “I’m working.” It was a woman in her late fifties, clad in a silk nightgown that showed her fair skin and huge chest rather provocatively. Her body absorbed the light from the monitor and ceiling instead of bouncing off, making her appear see-through… almost glassy. “He’s cute.” Her filler-injected lips formed into a pout that pointed on the screen. “Give me a copy.”

“I went tо hеr hotel аnd noticed she wаѕ gеttіng іntо a cab wіth thіѕ tіght lіttlе dress оn. I wаѕ ѕо mаd, thіnkіng ѕhе’ѕ оff оn a date. Sо I followed hеr. I knоw I sound like a ѕtаlkеr, but I’m glad I dіd." "Shе wеnt tо Nеw Jеrѕеу аnd walked rіght uр tо a соrnеr whеrе thіѕ wоmаn she іnѕіѕtѕ is Aрrіl Lee, the mіѕѕіng girl, is ѕtаndіng thеrе, in her own ѕееdу getup."

] Blood surged up from his chest, and he coughed it up violently. The woman he loved most was gone. This time, she was truly gone. Even if Noah refused to believe it, he had no choice but to accept the truth. He wiped the blood from his lips with shaking hands, jumped into his car, and sped to the hospital. Jill was still there, hospitalized due to a ruptured corpus luteum. Once Noah arrived, she came to hug him. Before she could finish her act, he kicked her hard, sending her sprawling to the floor.

Perhaps I could regain some of my pathetic dignity by voluntarily walking away from everything. … The next morning, I took the divorce paperwork, which now had both our signatures, to the courthouse. Once it was approved, the divorce was filed. Right after that, I went to the embassy and completed more paperwork to confirm my migration to Ressonia. I kept myself busy by completing all of the necessary procedures, giving myself no time to pause and dwell on the situation. When I went to the hospital to complete the health check I needed before I could move, I caught a familiar scent in the hospital corridor—Sonia's distinctive perfume.

The girl who'd hidden to be loved was gone. Elena Sterling was back. And this time, she wasn’t leaving.

Christian sat slumped against the floor, his eyes welling up. Despite covering his face, he couldn’t stop the tears from escaping through his fingers. Outside the airport terminal, Tabitha hailed a cab in haste and gave the address of a hospital. Koben asked with concern, “What happened? Is it your mom or your dad?” Still reeling in from the shock, Tabitha paused for a bit before uttering stiffly, “No, it’s my nan. She collapsed…” Melissa had told her over the phone that her nan, Cassidy Bray, had lost consciousness in her bedroom. After being rushed to the hospital, she was diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

"Until…' Then she was gone." Not gone the way people disappear into crowds — shoulder-turned, heads-down, absorbed by motion. Gone the way a flame goes out. Between one blink and the next, she simply was not there. The space where she had stood held nothing but platform grime and a discarded ticket stub and the fading warmth of afternoon light. Kai's hand stayed raised for several seconds more, fingers spread, reaching for something the world had already taken back. * * *

And as for the fire that ruined me back then, I was going to uncover the truth myself and slap every single person who slandered me with the evidence. Scrolling through the notes on my phone, I found information about the maid who had disappeared after the fire years ago. The future me had once wanted to clear her own name too, but after marrying Liam, she gradually lost contact with all her old friends. Later, depression consumed her, leaving her without the energy to travel around searching for people or the truth. But I was different. At eighteen, the one thing I had in abundance was energy. I contacted a few friends, and before long we tracked down the maid's whereabouts.

That means whatever this is, he probably didn't need to see it. I step fully into the room, letting the door close behind me, my eyes moving between both of them. Neither of them speaks first, which tells me everything I need to know. “Where is she?” I ask. No one pretends not to understand. Malachi looks at me for a second before answering, like he’s deciding how to say whatever is in his mind. “She’s gone.” For a moment, I didn't react. Not because I didn’t hear him, but because I did and my brain is already trying to process how that even happened. Rebecca was right here. We had her. Answers were right in front of us and now, she was just gone?!