A Wedding That Never Was Chapter 05
When Olivia opened her eyes, the familiar scent of disinfectant filled her nose. Her bones felt as though they had been crushed by a car, and even the slightest movement brought piercing pain.
The phone beside her pillow buzzed relentlessly. It was a call from the cemetery groundskeeper: “Ms. Bennett, your father’s grave has been dug up. Did you offend some powerful people?”
Olivia’s heart suddenly clenched: “What did you say?”
“A group of men came this morning, saying they had orders from above to give special attention. I thought Arthur was arranging a relocation, but those men just dug up your father’s remains and threw them into the woods to rot under the scorching sun for more than ten hours!”
The words struck like a heavy blow to the head, and Olivia’s mind instantly spiraled into chaos.
The hospital room door was suddenly shoved open with great force, and Alexander walked straight to the side of the bed.
She looked at him, sudden realization dawning on her, and a bitter smile touched her lips: “You did this, didn’t you?”
The only one capable of such cruel vengeance against her was Alexander, all the more so since he was convinced she had set Chloe up.
Alexander sat down by the bed expressionlessly, his eyes as cold as ice.
Olivia looked at this familiar yet strange man before her, trembling all over: “My father died saving the Sterling family, how could you do this to him! You’ll face divine retribution for this sooner or later!”
Alexander suddenly reached out and clamped his hand tightly around her neck: “He’s a benefactor to the Sterling family, yes, but what does that have to do with Chloe? If you’re angry, take it out on me. Why did you have to torment Chloe?”
His grip tightened, and Olivia’s face quickly flushed red from the lack of air. Tears rolled down uncontrollably, dropping onto Alexander’s arm. The warm touch actually made his heart inexplicably flinch.
Mustering her last ounce of strength, Olivia rasped: “I’ll say this one last time. I didn’t do it. I’ve never caused trouble for Chloe. You can check the security cameras, check the timelines…”
“No one else would bully her like this but you. Chloe is inherently gentle, and everyone likes her. Only you target her at every turn.”
No matter how Olivia explained, Alexander turned a deaf ear.
She finally gave up her futile protests, her tears falling even harder as she compromised in despair: “I admit fault, I admit to everything. Just let my father rest in peace, and I will never appear in front of Chloe again.”
She only wanted to protect her father. After all, she had promised him that she would take him to City C to start a new life together.
Seeing her bow her head and admit fault, Alexander raised his hand and gently stroked her hair, his movements like pacifying an obedient pet: “I didn’t want to touch William Bennett either, but Chloe was wronged, and I couldn’t just stand by. I promise she won’t bother you anymore, and you need to stop targeting her.”
Olivia nodded numbly, a ringing in her ears. She couldn’t hear a single word of what Alexander said next.
But even with such a humble compromise, she ultimately failed to protect her father.
When she received another call from the cemetery groundskeeper, her mind was in a complete daze. She knelt on the ground, her fingers trembling, not even daring to touch the scattered bones.
After staring blankly for a long time, she suddenly burst into heart-wrenching sobs: “Dad… didn’t you say you were going to come with me to Country M? …How could you just be gone… We were going to leave this place so soon, why… why…”
The cemetery groundskeeper stood to the side, his voice heavy with sympathy as he murmured, “It was the wild dogs from the woods. Their bodyguards blocked us; we couldn’t even get close enough to save him.”
That day, Olivia handled her father’s cremation all by herself. From gathering his mangled remains to sending them into the incinerator, she was entirely alone.
Before the cremation, she called Alexander dozens of times, but the receiver yielded nothing but the endless ringing of an unanswered line.
That was until she mindlessly opened Chloe’s Instagram feed. There, bathed in warm yellow light, Alexander was gazing tenderly at Chloe as she worked on a craft.
Olivia suddenly remembered a time long ago when she had eagerly asked Alexander to go with her to custom-make a pair of couple’s rings. He had merely thrown back a cold reply: “It’s a waste of time.”
Yet now, he was perfectly willing to waste an entire afternoon with Chloe, not even bothering to glance at his phone.
It felt as though her heart had been ripped wide open, the pain so agonizing she could barely catch her breath. Staring at the screen, she suddenly laughed, laughing until tears streamed down her face, utterly consumed by self-mockery.
As she walked out of the funeral home, she spotted a cremation pendant at the counter. She bought it and carefully scooped the last of her father’s ashes inside.
“Dad, I’m taking you away…”
