Chapter 6
“Mr. Hurlow, we didn’t find any suspicious devices or clues at the scene.”
“We pulled the surveillance footage, sir. Ms…. Ms. Kirwell, after you grabbed her wrist, her body really did….. it really started dissolving into points of light from where you touched her, and then… she vanished. There’s no sign of any editing.
“We checked all the hotel’s exterior exits–she never left.
“Every guest has been interviewed, and their stories all match.”
The assistant’s voice echoed through the cold, empty top–floor office, thick with disbelief.
Jared stood with his back to the massive floor–to–ceiling windows.
He remained shrouded in shadow, his figure more solitary than ever.
Three days had passed. He’d barely slept Dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes, stubble shadowed his jaw, and exhaustion clung to every line of his body.
“Understood.
He rasped, his voice raw.
Nobody. No sign of her leaving. Only that impossible footage and the testimony of a hundred witnesses.
Science couldn’t explain it.
All that remained was her airy “I’m going home,” echoing in his mind like a curse, over and over.
Chapter 6
About Ms. Lisburn…” the assistant began hesitantly.
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“Tell her to keep quiet,” Jared replied, his tone flat and cold. “If she keeps making trouble, make sure she’s quiet for good.”
He meant Siena.
Her engagement party ruined, Siena had become the laughingstock of the city For days, she’d been calling and texting nonstop–crying, cursing Amelia, demanding Jared give her answers, even trying to manipulate public opinion.
“Answers?” he thought bitterly.
A twisted, joyless smile tugged at Jared’s lips.
He didn’t even know where the woman who vanished had gone.
The assistant fell silent, too afraid to say another word.
The office plunged back into dead quiet.
Jared moved to his enormous desk. An open velvet box sat there, holding the Van Cleef & Arpels diamond necklace he’d tossed at me.
I hadn’t taken it.
Beside it was a dusty old wooden box.
His hand trembled as he opened it.
Inside wasn’t jewelry, but a cheap silver chain, tarnished black with age.
Beneath the chain was a faded scrap of paper. “Amelia, happy birthday! Someday, when I’m rich, I’ll buy you real diamonds!
“From, Jared.”
Chapter 6
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Years ago, he’d bought that chain with what little money he could save from meals in the basement–a birthday gift from a street vendor for just a couple of bucks.
Back then, her eyes sparkled like stars, her smile was pure as sunlight.
She’d drape her only coat over him when he fell asleep from exhaustion. When debt collectors came pounding, she’d stand in front of him, shaking with fear, but refusing to move.
They’d loved each other so deeply.
When did he change?
Was it when his wealth and power grew?
When Siena’s name kept coming up, stirring up obsessions and comparisons he shouldn’t have felt?
When he started resenting Amelia for not being as gentle and
accommodating as before, for questioning him out of jealousy and insecurity?
When, time after time, he put out the light in her eyes with coldness and neglect?
Jared suddenly clenched that tarnished chain in his fist, the cold metal biting into his palm.
A tidal wave of regret and panic crashed over him, but it was too late.
“Home… Amy… where is the home you went back to?!”
He let out a cry of anguish, slamming his fist into the solid mahogany desk. His knuckles split open, blood welling up.
He didn’t even feel it. He slid to the floor, slumped against the desk in defeat
Chapter 6
The office, for all its luxury, felt as empty as a tomb.
Without her, even the air was icy and sharp.
For the first time, Jared truly realized he’d lost her.
In a way he would never understand, never undo.
The woman who had pulled him out of hell and back to life–he had pushed her right back to wherever she’d come from.
And he had no idea where that place even was.
Despair wrapped cold fingers around his heart, squeezing tighter and tighter.
