Chapter B
Chapter 8
MASON’S POV
The city lights blurred past my car window, but my mind was elsewhere.
Florence.
That look on her face at the hospital… that loneliness. It shouldn’t have affected me, but it did.
It reminded me of the first time I looked at her not as my childhood friend, not as Jade’s best friend–but as my wife.
And yet, it also reminded me why I married her in the first lace.
“Faster, please, Alex,” I murmured to my driver. The car sped up, taking us closer to Jade… who shouldn’t be alive. Her appearance changed so much for me. For my marriage.
I thought back to the accident… how I had spent years obsessing over it, questioning every tiny detail, hunting for every clue. I needed answers, but Florence always claimed to know nothing
“I don’t remember,” she had said again and again, her voice cracking under the weight of my interrogation. She would cry and scream anytime the police or her father asked her questions.
Pretty convenient, I used to think. How can a person forget just one specific event–the most traumatic, most important event of their life?
And I had believed, for a long time, that she was lying.
I hired a private investigator. I had the best men in the city digging into the past, into her and her family. But her family was always closely tied with mine, and Florence’s record was clean. She’d never gotten so much as a speeding ticket in her life.
“Maybe you should ask Florence herself,” the detective had finally told me, shrugging over a stack of useless reports. “She’s the only witness. Or the murderer, if you’re right.”
The words haunted me.
I had already lost Jade. And if Florence was guilty… then I would also lose the only friend I had left.
I started to keep my distance from her, afraid I might say the wrong thing and let my anger or bitterness slip. So when my father came to me one random morning and demanded I marry “the accountant’s daughter,” I was fuming.
“The Hart family’s name is tarnished, and Florence is vulnerable. Bringing her into our family will help us control. the narrative. It will help you, too.”
“Help me how?” I asked, trying to maintain a respectful and calm tone with my father.
“You’ll know one day. Right now, just do as I say, Clarke wouldn’t have asked me this many questions.”
He walked away as I clenched my jaw at the mention of my older brother. Clarke would jump into a well, swim with sharks, and steal from Fort Knox if my father asked. The thought of marrying the girl who might have killed the love of my life disgusted me.
But then, it hit me.
If Florence was guilty, being close to her–married to her was the only way I would ever get real answers.
So, I agreed.
Chapter 8
+25 BONUS
I walked down that aisle, stood at the altar, and married a woman I believed destroyed my chance at a happily ever
after.
Texpected coldness, distance, and a transactional existence But Florence….
She was the perfect wife.
No matter how late I came home, she was there waiting to have dinner together. No matter how distant I was, she reached for me. She would touch my arm at dinner, pack my bags when I traveled, and ask about my day when I barely looked at her.
She told me she loved me. She meant it.
And over time…
I started to believe in her innocence. I started to believe in her.
One night, years ago, I had walked into the living room to find her curled up on the couch, sound asleep, still wearing one of those ridiculous satin robes she loved.
She had been waiting for me.
Something inside me cracked that night.
I remember kneeling down, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. I remember kissing her forehead.
This is home.
The words scared even me.
I told myself the past no longer matters. I was happy… and it was time to move forward. Enjoy married life, tell everybody she was my wife and that I adored her.
I decided to be the husband she wanted. The husband she deserved.
I thought I would tell her after my birthday–wrap up my work and surprise her with a romantic trip to Paris. Tell her I would be a better man.
But then… Jade returned.
The charity gala was the last thing on my agenda before Parls. I was barely paying attention to the chit–chat around me, politely weaving through the hundreds of dressed–up billionaires, celebrities, and staff.
Until… I saw her name on the guest book.
Jade Thorne.
I laughed. At first, I thought it was a cruel joke. Some socialite borrowing the name of the girl who haunted me.
But then I turned, and I saw her.
Alive. Breathing. Flawless, like she had never been touched by death.
I had gone up to her, heart pounding, relieved. Because if she was alive, Florence was innocent.
As I approached her, I watched for some sign of recognition Acknowledgment.
She just blinked at me, polite but confused. “Sorry, do I know you?”
The words hit me like a freight train on my chest.
I
+25 BONUS
Chapter &
“It’s… nie. Mason.”
She shook her head, “I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone by that name!”
I was stunned. Did she lose her memory as well? What are the chances?
“D–do you remember your accident?”
“Oh!” she smiled. “I’m sorry… If I knew you before the accident, I have likely forgotten you. Were we close?”
Those words cut through me. Close? We were in love. I was going to marry her. How could she not remember me?
And damn it, maybe I
s still that kid from school–the one who always tried to be there for her despite her stringing me along. If she had really lost her memory, it meant she had no one but me and Florence from her past life to take care of her.
I felt guilty.
And even now, as my car sped toward her home, I told myself the same thing.
She had been through enough.
She was just scared.
I would help her.
I hung looked out the window at the city… Jade’s place was in one of the wealthiest districts in the city. Despite being “dead” for eight years, she had done well for herself.
I stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the penthouse. As it whisked upwards, I remembered the security measures I had to pass to enter the building. How did anybody get through those barriers?
Maybe Jade was exaggerating….
But as I stepped into her apartment, a cold wave of unease settled in my chest. The place was wrecked. Chairs overturned, glass shattered, drawers yanked open. Someone had been looking for something-
Jade stood in the middle of the chaos, arms wrapped around herself. As soon as she spotted me, she ran to me, crying.
“Mason.”
I caught her by the arms, scanning her face. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “No… I–I wasn’t here when it happened.”
“Did security see anything?
“No. They just got an alert when the alarm tripped, but whoever did this was gone by the time they arrived.”
I glanced around, taking in the destruction. Given how quickly they went through the place, it was definitely more than one person.
Jade put her head on my shoulder and trembled in my grip as she said, “Mason… do you think this has something to do with me coming back?”
