Chapter 23
But she never appeared.
Scarlett’s gaze froze. She suddenly remembered her conversation with Nathaniel before she disappeared.
“So it’s true-you only appear when I’m near death.”
Her chest felt as if it had been struck by a hammer. No wonder his wrists bore so many scars. No wonder there were so many suicide records.
He wasn’t trying to die-he was trying to see her again.
Scarlett stood speechless, a sharp knife twisting in her heart.
She clenched her fist tightly, using the pain in her palm to push back the ache inside, forcing her voice to sound detached.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Riley’s eyes were red-rimmed. She didn’t answer Scarlett’s question, continuing instead: “I tried countless ways to help him recover. Eventually, with no other options. I used my parents’ deaths to make him feel guilty, to make him agree to marry me again.”
“I knew he didn’t love me, but I was truly desperate. Even that couldn’t keep him with me, until one day, I found a letter in Scarlett’s home addressed to
Nathaniel.”
Scarlett stiffened as Riley continued: “The letter expressed her wish for Nathaniel to fulfill her unrealized dreams. Only then did he come back to life and start this company.”
Riley sighed softly, but Scarlett found the whole situation bizarre.
Starting an exhibition was indeed her lifelong dream, but she had never left Nathaniel any kind of letter.
A letter…
A white flash sparked in Scarlett’s mind, and a scene suddenly appeared in her memory.
A bathtub filled with blood… Nathaniel’s pale face… a desk, a ring, she seemed to have written something…
But when she tried to recall what she’d written, her head suddenly exploded with pain. She gripped the edge of the desk to keep from collapsing.
She pressed her lips together as Riley continued: “Though he’s physically in this world, there are many times when I feel he’s already left me. But since meeting you, there seems to be a new spark of life in him.”
Whether it’s because you’re a replacement or just his imagination, Willow, I’m begging you-please help him truly live again.”
Scarlett looked at Riley’s tear-filled eyes, her head pulsing with needle-like pain. After a long silence, she said quietly.
‘I’m sorry, I can’t.”
In the stairwell later, Damian’s cold voice came through Scarlett’s phone: “Why did you refuse?”
Scarlett leaned against the railing, watching the golden sunlight outside the window, feeling disoriented. “I don’t know. When I learned what Nathaniel went hrough these three years, I… wanted to tell him everything. But it’s like someone was whispering in my ear to reject her.”
‘She said, ‘Reject her. In this second life, don’t live for others-live for yourself.””
After a moment of silence, Damian gave a very soft laugh. “You’re not completely stupid after all.”
Scarlett was used to his cutting remarks and responded flatly, “I did remember something today.”
She struggled to recall: “I seem to remember writing a letter at a desk, and there was a ring in the envelope. But I can’t remember the ring’s design or what the
letter said.”
“What do you think it means?”
Damian replied, “Perhaps your wish was to get married. Maybe getting married would help you remember more?”
Scarlett frowned. “Marry who?”
Dantan fell silent. Scarlett frowned, thinking the call had dropped, when suddenly she heard his slightly hoarse voice:
“Mr.”
