Chapter 4Three Years After I Disappeared, My Boyfriend Got Engaged to the Love of His Life—but My Brother’s Words Shattered Him

My Soul Drifted Aimlessly, Yet Somehow I Found Myself Back with Alex Pierce

It seemed Lila Hayes had rushed off to get her nose fixed, leaving the mansion unusually quiet.

Alex was in his study, sitting at his desk, but he wasn’t working. His eyes were glazed, staring blankly ahead, the only light in the room coming from his phone screen.

Curious, I floated closer.

He was drafting a text message—for me.

I watched as he typed and deleted, over and over again. At first, he wanted to ask if I was doing okay, then if I had finished school. But in the end, all he sent was a short, hesitant message:

“Are you back in the country?”

But I couldn’t reply.

I couldn’t return to him.

As time passed and the screen remained silent, his patience wore thin. I could see the anger rising in his expression. Convinced I was playing some sort of game with him, his frustration boiled over.

He grabbed his phone and hurled it onto the floor. The screen shattered into pieces as he muttered, “Emma Reed, you better never reply to me again. Don’t even bother.”

His voice grew louder, trembling with barely-contained rage.

“I can’t believe I even let myself consider the idea that you were dead! What a joke. You’re just a pathological liar, always have been!”

I sighed, regret washing over me. How had I ever fallen for someone like Alex Pierce? Someone so temperamental, who flew into a rage and smashed things whenever things didn’t go his way.

But he hadn’t always been this way.

There was a time when Alex was different—when he was kind, patient, and full of warmth.

Back then, he was the kind of person whose smile could light up an entire room. Though he was decisive and commanding when it came to business, he was soft-spoken and considerate when it came to people. He had a way of making everyone feel seen and valued, like sunlight breaking through the coldest winter.

It was during those years that my parents had been dealing with trouble at their company overseas, and my brother was busy with school. I was sent to live with my parents’ close friends—Alex’s family.

But his parents were constantly busy, and I hardly ever saw them. For all intents and purposes, Alex was the one who raised me.

I was only a child, and the kids at school weren’t kind. They teased me relentlessly, saying my parents had abandoned me, calling me an unwanted stray.

I didn’t understand how cruel words could be back then. All I knew was that I felt completely and utterly alone. I started to withdraw, believing their words, believing that no one wanted me.

But Alex was always there.

He’d pull out a lollipop and sit beside me, patiently coaxing me out of my sadness. “You’re not unwanted,” he’d say with a gentle smile. “If no one else wants you, I do.”

He became my safe harbor, my everything.

For years, my world revolved around Alex Pierce.

In my youth, he was my light, warm and steady, chasing away the shadows.

But these past three years, following Lila Hayes like a ghost, I saw a side of Alex that I barely recognized.

He had become volatile, cruel, and petty. His temper flared over the smallest of things, and he would lash out without hesitation. His words cut deep, dripping with venom, and every little inconvenience seemed to set him off.

This wasn’t the Alex I had known. This was someone bitter and broken, someone who reeked of anger and resentment—a stench that clung to his very soul.

As I watched, Alex swept everything off his desk in a fit of rage, sending papers, books, and pens crashing to the floor.

And yet, even in his fury, he couldn’t stop talking to me.

“Emma Reed, you’ve really grown bold, haven’t you? I gave you an out, and you wouldn’t take it!”

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you? Just wait—when the time comes, don’t come crawling back to me, begging for forgiveness!”

I stood in front of him, staring, my heart heavy with a sorrow I couldn’t express.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to reply.

It wasn’t that I was ignoring him.

It was because I was already dead.