Chapter 4
Jaxon stared for a second, then burst out laughing.[]
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? There’s no way she’s dead. You guys obviously screwed something up.”
But when he saw the pity in the nurse’s eyes, his chest tightened like someone was squeezing his heart in a vise.[]
“I need to see her. RIGHT NOW!”
The nurse flinched at his bloodshot eyes and handed him a slip of paper.]]
“If you don’t believe me, you can check with the crematorium yourself.”
“How much did she pay you to go along with this stupid prank? Tell Remi if she doesn’t come home soon, she shouldn’t bother coming back at all!“]
Scarlett appeared out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
“The hospital’s claiming Remi died and got cremated. Can you believe that bullshit?”
His sarcastic tone couldn’t quite hide the worry creeping in. Scarlett’s eyes flashed with pure venom, but her voice stayed sugar–sweet.[]
“I bet she’s just jealous that you saved me. She’s probably throwing a tantrum to get your attention.”
Jaxon looked at her uncertainly.[]
“You really think so?“]
“Of course! I barely even touched her during that whole thing. How could she possibly be dead?“]
“Don’t stress about it, Jax. She’s not even a Hartwell anymore–where else is she gonna go except back to you?“]
That thought calmed him down considerably.
Yeah, I loved him way too much to actually leave. I always had.[]
His mind drifted back to sophomore year, when that flu outbreak shut down half the campus. The entire dorm was under quarantine, and he’d been one of the unlucky ones who caught it bad.[]
He’d honestly thought he was going to die from the fever. But I’d snuck past the health officials, risking getting sick myself just to stay by his side.[]
“If you die, I’m dying with you.“]
Those fierce words, mixed with my hot tears, had hit him right in the chest.]
That’s when Jaxon decided he wanted to spend forever with me.[]
But now..
He remembered the look in my eyes when I was lying in that pool of blood, staring up at him. His chest tightened with sudden panic, and he pushed Scarlett away.[]
“You should rest up. I’m gonna head home and check on things.“[]
Scarlett tried to grab his sleeve, but he was already gone.[]
Jaxon sped home like a maniac, weaving through traffic and running yellow lights. But when he got there, it was just the housekeepers–no sign of me anywhere.[]
He ran upstairs to our bedroom and found all my stuff was gone.[]
His heart started racing for real]
“Where’s Remi’s stuff? What happened to all her things?”
The staff exchanged nervous glances. Finally, one of the maids spoke up hesitantly:]
“I think I saw Mrs. Cross burning something in the backyard a couple days ago. When I was cleaning up after, it looked like… photos maybe?“]
“A couple days agor
Jaxon’s eyes went wide. He grabbed our photo albums and flipped them open–completely empty.[]
Ifis hands were shaking, face going pale
Chapter 4
Every single one of those pictures had been taken by me. I treasured them so much that I never let anyone else handle them.]
བོ་དྷྭ་
And now I’d burned them all with my own hands.
Jaxon couldn’t figure out what he’d done to make me destroy every memory we had together.[]
Then it hit him. He frantically searched through our important documents and found our marriage license in the filing cabinet. It looked like it had been crumpled up and smoothed out again–definitely handled roughly.
It all clicked. I must have discovered something was off about our marriage. That’s why I burned everything and took off.[]
No big deal. He just needed to sweet–talk me a little, and I’d come running back.
Back when we were dating, whenever he pissed me off, all it took was some charm or a nice gift to get back in my good graces.]
Jaxon pulled out his phone and called his assistant:
“Buy out that new Cartier collection–all the gemstone necklaces. Have them delivered to the house, and make sure they’re wrapped nice.“[]
“Should I send them to Miss Hayes‘ place?“]]
He froze. Now that he thought about it, after we got married, he’d barely bought me anything. Meanwhile, Scarlett got a steady stream of presents.[]
No. Send them to Remi.“]
No.
After hanging up, his assistant’s question left him feeling guilty as hell.[]
Five years of marriage, and somehow we were less close than when we were just dating. Everyone thought we were the perfect couple, but he knew damn well most of his energy and affection had gone to Scarlett.[]
“I’ll make it up to her tonight.”
Jaxon had his assistant take Aria to his grandfather’s, then texted me:
“Stop being mad. I’ve got a surprise waiting for you tonight. Come home.“[]
The message immediately showed a red exclamation point and he was been blocked. His face went ashen.]
