Chapter 10

The explosion was loud, but five miles away at the hospital, everything remained normal.

Only Julian, who was gently comforting Sienna, felt a momentary lapse in concentration as a sudden, inexplicable ache shot through his chest.

Noticing his sudden pause, Sienna asked curiously, "What is it, Julian?"

Julian seemed not to hear her. His gaze grew colder, and the air around him felt heavy with low pressure.

Sienna’s heart sank, thinking he had discovered something; she immediately increased the volume of her sobbing.

Julian finally snapped back on her third call, pulling her into a protective embrace.

"What’s wrong? Don't be afraid. As long as I'm here, no one will dare bully you again."

Seeing that he was simply daydreaming, Sienna breathed a sigh of relief and began to act spoiled as usual.

"You suddenly stopped talking. I thought... I thought you regretted saving me, that you saw me as a burden and didn't want to deal with me anymore..."

As Sienna spoke, she wept beautifully yet with suppressed sobs—a sight that would move anyone to pity.

But Julian was absent-minded this time, sensing nothing. Instead, her reminder sent his thoughts back to the past.

He had dazed out because he suddenly remembered that wedding six years ago.

The agonizing wedding where the bride was swapped and his beloved vanished.

Even now, remembering that day of hollow expectation when he felt like a walking corpse, he would still suffer from bouts of madness and palpitations.

During the three years Lydia was missing, that day became the nightmare of his midnight dreams.

However, since Lydia’s return, he had gradually become desensitized until he stopped thinking about it entirely.

He didn't know why, but today, without even a dream, that image had forced its way into his mind out of nowhere.

And the heartache was as vivid as if it had just happened.

Julian’s brow furrowed involuntarily as he wondered why, but suddenly his arms were empty.

He snapped back to reality and grabbed Sienna as she tried to get out of bed.

"Where are you going? Why are you unhappy again?"

The tears on Sienna’s face had already dried. She turned her head away, her gaze full of resentment and spite.

"Let go. Since Mr. Julian regrets saving me, I’ll stay far away. It’s better if I just die like I almost did just now, so I don't stay an eyesore for the CEO and his wife."

She struggled hard to wrench her hand away, but Julian pulled her back into his arms.

He feigned anger, but his tone was laced with unmistakable doting.

"Fine, stop being so temperamental. I only dazed out because I’m exhausted from worrying about you. Just lie down and stop causing trouble."

With that, he tucked Sienna back into bed, focusing solely on watching her fall asleep, thinking of nothing else.

But as soon as Sienna was asleep, he stepped out and dialed Lydia’s number.

The call went straight to a voicemail saying the phone was powered off. He tried several more times, but the result was the same.

Julian’s brow tightened, his heart rate skipping a beat. He immediately dialed his assistant.

The phone rang until it timed out with no answer—the same situation as Lydia.

Julian’s right eye suddenly twitched—a bad omen that made him anxious.

His pace quickened involuntarily as he headed toward Lydia’s ward.

But the hospital seemed unusually bustling today.

From the third floor to the ninth, whether in the elevators or the corridors, there was a cacophony of voices, as if everyone had endless news to share.

Julian had no interest in their gossip, but in the confined space of the elevator, he was forced to overhear fragments.

"Did you see the group chat? A car exploded over by New Street Road."

"I saw it. I even have the video. No bystanders were hit, but I heard the person in the car was blown to pieces—nothing left but an ID card."

Julian leaned against the back wall, a hint of impatience curling his lip.

He didn't understand why people didn't focus on living their own lives instead of gossiping about someone else’s death every day.

He had no desire to stay a moment longer. The second the elevator reached his floor, he pushed through the crowd without stopping.

"Excuse me, move aside."

But just as he stepped out, an excited woman’s voice rang out from behind the closing doors.

"Hey, is this the person? Even her ID photo is so beautiful. What a pity. Let me see, her name is... Lydia, right?"

Chapter 11

When that name was spoken, Julian froze in his tracks.

His mind went completely blank, the noise of the crowd vanished, and all that remained was a high-pitched ringing in his ears.

The woman’s voice replayed in his head over and over; the name 'Lydia' amplified like a curse until it was seared into his soul.

A few seconds later, he shook his head frantically. "Impossible, impossible!"

With unsteady steps, he turned back to the people in the elevator, his voice trembling violently.

"Who were you just talking about? What was her name? Which Lydia? How is it spelled?"

The person behind him was startled by his appearance and forgot how to speak.

Julian, panting heavily, was about to ask again when the elevator doors shut in his face.

He frantically reached out to press the button, but his hand stopped just before touching it.

His hovering fingertips were shaking; a moment later, he jerked his hand back.

Julian moved through the crowd with a hollow gait, muttering to himself that he must have misheard.

Lydia wasn't recovered yet; the doctor wouldn't have let her leave.

And he had ordered his assistant to take her back to the ward. If anything had happened, the assistant would have told him.

Moreover, she was someone who never turned her phone off. How could she possibly be unreachable the exact moment someone else met with an accident?

After a moment, Julian reached a conclusion.

There was only one reason Lydia would turn her phone off: she was angry. Angry that he had made her apologize.

The more he thought about it, the more certain he became. That must be why her phone was off.

Because she knew that his greatest fear was her disappearing again.

He was so afraid that he had installed a GPS tracker on her phone and checked her location every two hours.

So, instead of causing trouble for Sienna this time, she had changed her tactics to the "missing person" act.

She was waiting for the moment he went mad looking for her, and then she would reappear nonchalantly.

She would use this to manipulate him—if he made her unhappy again, she would simply vanish.

Julian’s eyes turned cold. He felt Lydia was being utterly unreasonable!

He had made her apologize because she had done something wrong.

He hadn't expected that not only would she refuse to admit her mistake, but she would also trample on his heart like it was filth.

At this thought, Julian stopped, his fists clenched tight.

For the first time, he felt he had loved the wrong person.

Lydia was no longer the cheerful, straightforward woman of years ago who loved with all her heart.

The woman now was not only jealous and petty, but she was also capable of using malicious means to harm others!

Thinking of everything that had happened recently, Julian lost all desire to see Lydia. He turned around to leave.

At this moment, he was absolutely convinced that he had misheard the voices in the elevator.

There were too many people in the world with the same name. It was nothing special if someone had a similar or identical name.

Julian’s panicked heart finally steadied, and the love he felt for Lydia faded a little more.

He returned to the elevator and pressed the button, only to see his assistant step out when the doors opened.

Julian’s brow furrowed. "Where have you been? Why are you coming up from below? Didn't I tell you to watch the wife?"

The assistant’s face turned deathly pale at the mention of her. He frantically pulled Julian to one side.

But he stammered, unable to get a single word out for a long time.

Julian was already in a foul mood, and now a nameless fire of rage ignited within him.

He was just about to tell the assistant to take his pay and get out when the man finally spoke.

"Mr. Julian... the wife is gone."

Julian didn't understand what he meant for a second. He was about to demand a clarification on what "gone" meant when his phone rang.

Julian answered irritably, but his brain exploded the moment he heard the voice on the other end.

"Hello, are we speaking with a family member of Lydia? Ms. Lydia passed away an hour ago in a vehicle explosion on New Street Road. When would you be available to come to the station for routine questioning and to process the cancellation of her registration?"