Chapter 2
I could notice if Stefan was so drunk at that moment, while Cathy was so sober and enjoyed stroking his hair while smiling happily.
After making sure that Stefan was asleep, she reached for his phone and deleted all of my unanswered calls.
“How dare she!”
Cathy’s reckless act would clearly make Stefan never know about my condition when he woke up tomorrow. After all, while he slept with Cathy, I called him repeatedly because someone killed me with the gun.
I muttered, “Stefan, if you knew this was the last time I would call you for help, would you regret missing my call and choosing to spend the night with that woman?”
But after I finished my sentence, he suddenly woke up, as if hearing my sound.
Stefan blinked his eyes and stared directly at my soul.
I was stunned and could not help wondering, “Can he see me?”
But before I could make sure of it, Cathy had blocked Stefan's view and said in a lovely tone, “You need a glass of wine again, sweety?”
Stefan shook his head and reached out, grabbing Cathy's neck.
"Stefan, I miss you so much. I regret every day during the years we were apart."
Stefan's Adam's apple moved. He appeared to want to embrace Cathy, but when he glanced at the engagement ring on his finger, he hesitated.
In the end, Stefan only answered, "Cathy, I'm already engaged and will be married tomorrow."
"Do you love Beatrice more than me?" Cathy asked in a sad tone.
"But we are engaged."
My heart ached, because his answer disappointed me.
He didn't answer whether he loved me or not, only because we were engaged and would marry tomorrow.
Perhaps, he did not even love me and only married me because I was available, the one who would accept him no matter what he would be.
At first, I thought Stefan should have realized that Cathy was the one who hurt him the most. Because since their breakup four years ago, Stefan always told me that Cathy was the person he hated the most because she cheated on him repeatedly.
As a result, Stefan was always possessive to me, he even deleted all male contacts on my phone.
When I was just chatting with my male campus friends, Stefan would immediately assume I was cheating on him.
He begged me to never leave him, to always depend on him no matter what, making me start distancing myself from some of my male friends and only making friends with females.
It was how deep the trauma he got because of Cathy, that was why I thought he would never trust her anymore.
However, I was totally wrong. He could not really hate her.
"Stefan, after Cathy is back, what am I to you actually?" I muttered in sadness.
As I was still buried in desperation, Cathy suddenly said in tears, "Stefan, if I hadn't left you for that rude man, we would be the happy ones now. I am sorry, I really regret it,”
Stefan soothed Cathy by hugging her and kissed her forehead. But then, it went down to the eyes, the nose, and the last part was her lips.
My mouth was opened wide, I could not believe my eyes at that moment.
The intimacy in front of me was shocking to my desperate soul.
I had never seen him so captivated by someone before, since he had always been an abstinent and self-restrained person.
But I was totally wrong, he even gently kissed Cathy from her shoulders to her chest, making every movement that I never imagined before.
I closed my eyes in pain and numbness, not wanting to see what was to come.
I might not have a heart anymore, but I still could feel the heartbreak.
It turned out that Stefan still had feelings for Cathy, even obsessed with her to that extent.
The marriage that we would do tomorrow was apparently nothing special for him, since he dared to use our bed with another woman first. The same woman that had hurt me since the beginning of our relationship.
"Stefan, you are disgusting!" I yelled.
Chapter 3
That night, I actually wanted to run away from the room, but I could not. There was a transparent wall that blocked me.
As a result, I closed my eyes and my ears desperately all night.
But when it was already morning, Stefan woke up first and directly reached out his phone. He seemed frustrated when noticing that his phone was empty, without a reply or call from me.
Stefan closed the phone and said in anger, "Is she angry because I can’t pick her up? But it is just a trivial thing!"
I could not help yelling furiously, “How dare you, Stefan! The trivial thing you think has already killed me. Besides, it is your lover who deleted all of my calls. Don’t blame me for this, okay?”
But it was useless since he could not hear me.
When I saw Stefan was about to call my phone number, Cathy woke up and asked, her voice a bit shaky, "Stefan, is it the time for you to go?"
Stefan nodded and touched her face in sweet ways before answering, “Yes, sweetheart. I should go before 8.”
After looking at the clock, which was shown at 7 o’clock, she said in a captivating tone, "I was thinking... you better go after showering, right? So, how about we take a bath together? You know, to relax before the wedding’s pressure."
Stefan paused, looking at her with a mix of surprise.
I was also speechless. Did they seriously want to torture me again in that early?
Cathy touched Stefan’s abs, her cheeks flush before flirting again. She said, "I know you want it too, right?"
After a moment's hesitation, Stefan nodded and replied excitedly, "Alright, why not? It sounds... nice."
Then, he directly carried her to the bathroom.
I thought that I would stay in the bedroom, but it turned out wherever Stefan moved I would move.
I could not help nagging, “Seriously? We really can't be more than a meter apart?”
However, my heart did not feel hurt anymore when seeing Cathy leaned back against Stefan.
Even when Stefan's hands began to move, tracing lazy patterns on her skin, I felt numb.
It seemed that my love for Stefan had already gone along with my life last night.
Suddenly, Cathy’s voice came to my ear again. She teased Stefan, “You seemed reluctant before, but now look at your naughty hands, Stefan.”
Stefan smirked as his fingers moved on Cathy’s sensitive spots. He deepened his kiss after responding, “You ask for it first, I just follow your pattern.”
"That was... incredible," she murmured.
"It was," he agreed, his voice filled with tenderness. “But I should really go now.”
I sneered, “Oh, you still remember your wedding, Mr. Murray?”
But then Cathy said sweetly, “Fine, but let me prepare some breakfast for you, okay?”
Stefan nodded and let Cathy go out first, while he was getting ready.
After cleaning up the mess he made in the bedroom, Stefan checked the phone again just to find that I still had not contacted him.
"What was he waiting for? Waiting for me to give in and call him like I usually do? But Stefan, where were you when I needed you the most?" I sneered again.
Suddenly, he threatened me as if answering my sneer, “Whatever you think, Beatrice. Just wait and see what I will do when we meet later!”
I just turned my face away indifferently.
When I looked back again, I found many dishes Stefan could not eat at the dining table.
I mocked, “What a festive breakfast.”
I stood beside the table and watched Stefan suddenly clench his fists. He should be confused how to refuse the meal Cathy carefully prepared.
Since then, he was picky about food and had a weak stomach. I even should take classes to learn how to cook so many dishes, so that I could find the one who suited him.
Not to mention, I asked someone to deliver lunch to his office every day. That was how much I loved him, but he did not appreciate it at all.
In a guilty tone, Stefan apologized, “Umm… Cathy, I think I will skip breakfast since the time is tight. Please clean up everything so that Beatrice will not find out. See you.”
Then, he kissed Cathy’s forehead before walking to the door and disappeared from Cathy’s sight.
Too bad! Since I followed Stefan, I couldn't see what that woman's disappointed expression looked like. It would have been very interesting, right?
Soon, Stefan came to his family residence. But when he just arrived, his mother suddenly hugged him while crying.
“Mom, what happened? Why are you crying?” Stefan asked in confusion.
“Stefan, I thought you and Beatrice are in trouble because we can’t get through to you. Tell me, where is Beatrice actually? Her family said that she did not come home last night.”
“What?!”
Chapter 4
Look at how shocked Stefan was after finding out the truth.
"See? Your depression this morning is useless, because Cathy has always been manipulating you from the start, Stefan," I sneered.
Since I didn't sleep all night, I could see all of Cathy's movements.
Starting from her deliberately hiding some of her belongings in our house. Then, Cathy also held Stefan's phone all night, so that every time a call came in, she would reject it and immediately delete the call.
I could clearly see that my parents, my older brother, and also Stefan's parents were busy calling him. I could even imagine how panicked they were because of the news of my disappearance.
But that slut sabotaged it without any guilt.
As a result, with mixed feelings, Stefan directly drove to my family house.
When my parents saw Stefan coming, they stormed him with a lot of questions.
“Stefan, what happened to Beatrice?”
“Do you know where she is?”
“She said she would come home last night, after the bridal shower party. But eventually, she did not come home.”
My heart ached. They likely were not aware that I had passed away.
Stefan was stunned. He did not expect that the scene would end up like that.
Then, my brother, Andrew Callahan, shook Stefan’s shoulders and asked angrily, “Hey, don’t tell me that you don’t know the answer. You are the one who is responsible to pick her up.”
“Have you called the police?” Stefan asked back and did not answer the questions, since I knew he did not want to be blamed.
Andrew responded, “Of course, since both of you did not answer the call, we asked the police to find out. But it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, there is not a single clue.”
“I… I will try my best. I will go to the police station right now,” Stefan stated and directly drove the car to the police station.
I understood very well that he was trying to avoid all accusations, because his cowardly attitude had not changed since before. That was why he decided to leave my house and went to the police station instead.
My case had already been collected, the police had searched all the clues, and Stefan also had told them everything, except his affair.
“Please contact me first when you get the clue, I am the one who is responsible for it,” Stefan said, trying his best to find me first before my family.
How cunning you were, Stefan!
Perhaps, he felt guilty because he could not pick me up that night.
However, my intuition was wrong again. It turned out Stefan did not believe me any single time.
When he came back to our house, Stefan tossed aside his suit, hesitated for a long time, and sent me a message.
[Stefan: Beatrice, stop messing around and come back soon. I know you are hiding because you are mad I couldn't pick you up, right? Tell me, where are you now?]
But there was no response.
Then, he called my number. "I'm sorry, the number you dialed…."
Stefan tried several more times, but no one answered.
Eventually, our wedding was canceled and everyone could only wait for my news.
But Stefan's anticipation shifted to anxiety, then impatience. He tried to call Alicia Hoffman, my best friend, but he was still blocked on her phone, so the call wouldn't go through.
Alicia, my college roommate, had seen all our arguments about Cathy. Even though she often chastised me for being so caught up in love, she always let me stay with her after a fight with Stefan.
I sniffled, thinking about how sad Alicia would be when she found out I was gone. Because that night, she was so happy and told me that she would give a long speech at my wedding.
Amid the sounds of the wall clock chiming, Stefan murmured, "Beatrice, you know if tomorrow is my birthday, right? How long are you going to keep this up?"
I was taken aback.
That was right, tomorrow was Stefan's birthday, since we decided to get married a day before his birthday. We even talked about how we would celebrate it every year in the past.
That was why he was convinced I would return that day, knowing I never forgot important dates like his birthday. But unfortunately, Stefan, you were going to be disappointed.