Chapter 22
The night was deep, and everything was silent.
“Allison!” Shane woke up from a nightmare, calling my name. He pressed his right hand to his chest while gasping for air.
I saw sweat covering his forehead. His chest rose and fell erratically. In a panic, he reached for his phone on the nightstand. He dialed my number again, but it was still turned off.
He opened our chat history and stopped at the last message–his threatening voice message to
- me.
Only then did Shane realize I might truly be angry. After all, I had never disappeared for more
than three days without a word.
He muttered under his breath, “Women are such trouble.”
He then called Devon. “Go to the jewelry store first thing tomorrow and buy the Heart of the Sea, and get a bouquet of yellow roses too.”
Yellow roses symbolized an apology.
In his mind, my disappearance was just another tantrum. All he had to do was smooth things over with a few sweet gestures, and I would come back.
He turned on his side but still couldn’t fall asleep. As he closed his eyes, his face twisted in pain. He instinctively called out, “Allison, bring me my stomach medicine.”
There was no response from the empty room. I looked up to see Shane clutching his stomach. His face was filled with anguish.
His stomach had always been a problem. I’d spent years adjusting his diet and always kept medicine on hand in case he needed it.
Since my miscarriage, I hadn’t been as attentive to him. Coupled with Amber’s deliberate efforts, he had spent most of the last three months with her. Without my care, his stomach problems had resurfaced.
Shane writhed in pain, curled up on the bed.
Meanwhile, I stood by, watching coldly. “Shane, no one will be there to bring you medicine anymore,” I thought.
He shakily opened the drawer.
I had always placed his medicine in the easiest spot to reach, so he could grab it quickly even in the middle of the night.
But as he opened the drawer, he found it filled with small trinkets, all from Amber. The bottle
of stomach medicine was buried at the very bottom.
Shane dropped to his knees, frantically searching. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally found the medicine, only to realize it had expired a month ago.
That was when he realized that even during the time before our wedding, our relationship had been hanging by a thread. Even though we were supposed to marry, he had spent at least 80% of his time with Amber instead of me.
At the height of his pain, I wasn’t sure if he was remembering my care for him, but his eyes seemed to glisten with tears.
“A–Allison…”
Suddenly, his gaze locked onto me, as if he had finally noticed my presence.
He gritted his teeth against the pain and stumbled toward me. Despite his pale face, a smile of joy appeared at the corner of his lips.
“You’re finally back.”
With a thud, Shane collapsed at my feet. The pain had caused him to faint. Had this been before, I would’ve panicked. But now, I only looked at him coldly.
I was dead, so what could I do? I felt no sympathy anymore. Instead, I stood by the window, watching the snowflakes dance under the streetlights.
I couldn’t even protect my own corpse now. What could I possibly protect now? Besides, event if Shane were to die, he deserved it.
By morning, when Devon couldn’t reach Shane, he rushed to the Lundberg residence to find Shane lying on the floor.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Lundberg?” Devon tried to wake him.
“Ally!”
Chapter 23
