Chapter 4The Billionaires Dead Fiancée Is Back

Was this a cruel prank? Or was she, the one I’d mourned for three years, truly back?

The possibility made my eyes burn.

The phone was snatched from my grasp.

Blair frowned as she looked at me. “Why are you crying?”

She glanced at the screen, but it had already gone dark. She tried to input a few common passcodes, failing each time.

Frustrated, she tossed the phone onto the table. “Did you hear what I said? Are you listening to me?”

My mind was a fog of shock and desperate hope. I couldn’t waste any more energy on this charade. I grabbed my phone and stood up.

“I think we both need some space to cool down.”

Seeing my retreating back, Blair looked utterly stunned.

It was the first time I had walked away first.

In every argument, she was the one who stormed off, and I was the one who chased after her, apologizing, begging her to return.

Maybe he’s just really upset this time, she thought. He’ll be over it in a few days.

After that night, I didn’t return home for nearly a week, nor did I text Blair.

She started to panic.

Her friends were quick to reassure her.

“Please, Blair, don’t worry. We all see how much he loves you.”

“He’s a man; let him cool off. He’ll come crawling back to his goddess, he always does.” They laughed.

Finn nodded, refilling her wine glass.

“Exactly, Blair. It’s nothing. Locke is just throwing a tantrum, waiting for you to come beg him.”

“Besides, his dad just died. You’re the closest thing he has left. He’s not going to risk losing you.”

Blair remembered seeing her own face as the wallpaper on my phone that night. The image was grainy, probably a stolen photo, but it was unmistakably her.

I know he’s obsessed with me. He wouldn’t just throw this away.

She finally relaxed. “You’re right. Lachlan takes over as CEO next week. I’ll show up at his succession party. He’ll fall back in line then.”

At the party, I was going through the motions, toasting with partners.

After that initial text, the number had gone silent again. I forced myself to be patient. If it was truly her, she would come to me when the time was right. I just had to wait.

I took a sip of champagne, then saw Blair walk into the ballroom with Finn.

My smile vanished.

Finn was wearing a perfectly tailored navy suit—the exact suit my mother had commissioned from a world-renowned designer for my twenty-first birthday. It had taken six months to make.

I strode toward them, my voice laced with fury.

“Take that off! Who gave you permission to wear that?”

Finn recoiled, intimidated by my gaze. But remembering Blair was nearby, he puffed out his chest. “What’s your problem?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I grabbed the fabric, pulling at his lapel.

Blair, incensed by my aggression, yanked me away.

Caught off balance, my lower back hit the edge of a long banquet table. The towering champagne pyramid on top shattered, crashing to the floor.

The enormous noise drew the attention of every guest.

My succession party had devolved into a public farce.

Blair stepped in front of Finn, shielding him. She looked at me with utter contempt.

“How long are you going to keep this act up, Lachlan? I came here, didn’t I?”

“That suit was never a good color on you. It looks much better on Finn—he’s young. You have dozens of suits. Why are you making a scene and humiliating him in public?”

She finally seemed to notice the champagne dripping from my clothes and the small shards of glass embedded in my leg. A fleeting look of something like pity crossed her face. She reached out to help me up.

“Stop throwing a tantrum. I’ll buy you a new one later, okay?”

But I barely registered the pain in my leg or the sound of her voice. My eyes were fixed on the person standing just behind her, a figure I knew impossibly well.

All the blood in my body seemed to freeze.

Blair followed my gaze and slowly turned around.

When she saw the woman’s face, her pupils dilated in pure, raw shock.