A Wedding That Never Was Chapter 10
On the way back, Alexander called his assistant, telling him to track down Olivia’s whereabouts and her father’s ashes.
Upon arriving home, the house was dead silent; he turned on the lights, but it only made the rooms feel even emptier.
He went upstairs and pushed open the bedroom door, where Olivia’s half-packed suitcase still sat in its original spot.
Yet her belongings were nearly entirely cleared out, leaving behind only the things he had given her; she intended to completely eradicate everything related to him from her life.
His chest felt like it was being repeatedly sawed by a dull blade, the pain making his entire body tremble.
His phone suddenly rang, and he hurriedly answered: “Did you find her?”
The assistant’s voice sounded troubled: “Mr. Sterling, Ms. Bennett’s identity records have been canceled, and her father’s remains… are gone.”
Alexander gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white: “What did you say? Say that again!”
He knew her father meant everything to her, and he didn’t dare imagine how agonizing and helpless she must have endured upon discovering her father’s grave had been dug up; just the mere thought of it brought him an unbearable, crushing heartache.
He stayed awake all night, until his assistant’s phone rang once more.
“Mr. Sterling, we found out that the remains were dug up on August 7th and left exposed under the scorching sun for a full twelve hours. In the end… only a few bones were left.”
“August 7th…” Alexander murmured in repetition, his memories igniting like a blazing fire.
At that time, he had seen the countless calls Olivia made to him, but what did he do? He simply turned off his phone and blocked her, all just to accompany Chloe in making crafts.
He stumbled backward, his back hitting the cold wall as his vision went dark in waves.
So while he was idling away the hours with someone else, the remains of Olivia’s father were being tossed out under the blazing sun, stripped of even the slightest shred of peace.
A wave of breakdown and remorse instantly drowned him; he clutched his chest, every breath bringing a tearing pain.
The assistant sent the address of the funeral home, and he rushed over in the rain, the freezing drops smashing against his face, exactly like the weather on that fateful day.
He walked up to the front desk, his voice hoarse: “Help me look up someone’s ashes.”
The receptionist looked up and met his fierce, piercing gaze, taking a long moment before whispering back: “This person’s ashes were taken by the family; they are not stored with us.”
He wanted to press further, but from the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of an object hanging behind the counter.
He raised a finger, pointing at the cute little charm, his voice trembling: “What is that…”
“This is our custom-made ash pendant, designed to hold a loved one’s ashes so they can stay by your side.”
All surrounding sounds vanished in an instant; he staggered backward, nearly collapsing to the floor.
That charm was identical to the one Olivia always wore, yet back then he had been so careless, watching with his own eyes as it plummeted into a bottomless abyss.
He was instantly engulfed by an overwhelming tide of despair, feeling Olivia slipping further and further away from him.
And all of this was entirely his own doing.
Alexander returned home like a walking corpse, collapsing onto the floor right in the entryway, his entire being swallowed by the darkness.
The little girl who, in his memory, would cry whenever she felt wronged, had suffered endless torment at his hands, yet she hadn’t uttered a single word.
Over the past month, they had searched every corner of LA, but couldn’t even find a trace of Olivia. A person whose identity had been erased—if she didn’t want to show herself, she might never be found in this lifetime.
Alexander drank himself into a stupor every day. That day, for some inexplicable reason, he suddenly remembered the potted succulent Olivia had once given him.
He kept it in his hospital office.
As his buzz began to wear off, he caught a cab to the hospital.
Just as he reached his office door, he caught the faint silhouette of someone inside.
It took him a long moment to remember that he had previously allowed Chloe to rest in his office.
The thought of Olivia made him realize he could no longer indulge Chloe.
He was just about to push the door open when he heard her smug voice, a stark contrast to the sweet, whiny tone she always used with him.
“That drug you gave me really did the trick. I finally lured Alexander into bed.”
A man’s voice came through the phone: “That was a huge risk, though. Weren’t you afraid he’d find out?”
Chloe couldn’t care less: “So what? You know all I had to do was wave that fake video around and shed a few tears to pin the whole thing on Olivia. I almost got Olivia killed back then.”
The man burst into laughter: “You’re amazing, Chloe!”
Alexander’s head throbbed violently, unable to process what he was hearing.
Chloe continued her smug bragging: “And that surgery—all it took was a little pouting, and he handed it right over to me. I ruined her leg without breaking a sweat.”
The man sounded concerned: “But Alexander hasn’t been back to the hospital in over half a month, and he hasn’t reached out to you. Aren’t you worried he’s losing interest?”
She sneered: “That old geezer from the Sterling family treats Olivia like his own granddaughter. He’s probably just teaching him a lesson for a few days. But don’t worry, I’m the only one in his heart. Once I marry into the Sterling family, there will be plenty in it for you.”
Alexander’s grip on the doorknob tightened drastically, his nails digging deep into his palm. His chest heaved with absolute shock and a crushing wave of remorse toward Olivia.
While Chloe was still lost in her pipe dreams, he shoved the door open and stormed in.
Startled by the noise, Chloe whipped around, so terrified she began to stutter.
“Alex, listen to me… I didn’t…”
“Chloe, I’m going to kill you!”
His voice was cold and utterly ruthless.
This was the first time Alexander had ever lost his temper with her, and she instinctively tried to pout her way out of it.
The moment she reached for Alexander’s arm, he violently shook her off and kicked her to the ground.
Alexander grabbed her and dragged her to the basement of his private villa.
He then found several men infected with severe, highly contagious diseases and threw them in with her.
For three full days and nights, the woman’s agonizing screams never ceased, yet Alexander still felt it wasn’t enough to satisfy his rage.
He took a knife and personally severed the nerves in Chloe’s legs, without any anesthesia.
The blinding pain caused her to pass out over and over again, only to be jolted awake by buckets of ice water.
Alexander glared at her, his eyes brimming with venom: “Didn’t you say you’d kill yourself if that video got out? Well, your little assault session was live-streamed to the world. Why aren’t you dead yet?”
Chloe’s elbows were scraped bloody as she crawled backward, trying to beg for mercy, but before she could get far, Alexander grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the concrete floor again and again.
Just as she lay on the brink of death, nearly tortured to her last breath, Arthur suddenly appeared at the basement door.
“Alexander! Stop! Are you trying to cover your hands with blood?”
The moment he heard that, he dropped the knife, muttering frantically: “No, no, Olivia will be afraid of me.”
He finally ceased his torture of Chloe and launched another exhaustive search for Olivia.
Finally, after half a month, he discovered Olivia’s whereabouts.
