I financially supported the person I’d secretly been in love with for years. But her heart belonged to someone else—a man who had been dead for years. When she was happy, she went to his grave. When she was sad, she went to his grave. No matter how big or small the occasion, if I couldn’t find her, I knew she was at the cemetery. I tolerated it all because she said yes to my proposal. But on the day of our engagement party, she ran. I found her again at the cemetery, crying her heart out in front of his grave. “I’m sorry, Alex,” she sobbed. “He forced me to say yes. Whether you’re alive or dead, I’ll always love you and only you.” I stood there, empty and defeated. My hand loosened, and the engagement ring slipped from my grasp, disappearing into the grass. When she returned to the villa that evening, her things were already packed and waiting by the door. The butler greeted her coldly, his expression devoid of sympathy. “Mr. Hayes said you should leave by tonight.” The engagement party began, but one of the main characters was conspicuously absent. A bodyguard hurried over to my side and leaned in to whisper, “Sir, Miss White is at the Bayside Cemetery again.” Five years ago, the White family went bankrupt, and I stepped in to clean up the mess. The once-untouchable socialite, Sophia White, became my kept lover. She hated me for it. She hated me for ruining her pride. Hated me for tarnishing her purity. Hated me for tearing her apart from the man she called her “one true love,” even though he had been gone for years. In the years we’d been together, I’d lost count of how many times I had found her at that cemetery. And there she was again, drunk and sprawled over Alex’s tombstone. “I’m sorry, Alex… I’m so sorry. I don’t want to get married…” “But what can I do? My parents begged me, forced me. They made me say yes to him. I’m sorry, Alex. I love you. I’ve only ever loved you. I’ve never felt anything for him. Please don’t hate me.” I walked up behind her, my footsteps quiet on the damp grass. “Not even a little?” I asked softly, my voice almost drowned out by the wind. Sophia froze. Slowly, she turned to face me, her tear-streaked face twisting with anger. “This is all your fault!” she yelled. “It’s your fault I betrayed him!” She threw herself at me, pounding her fists against my chest in a weak, drunken rage. I grunted, grabbing her wrists tightly as my vision blurred with emotion. “Tell me you don’t mean it,” I demanded, my voice hoarse. “Five years together—day and night. Not once? Not even for a moment?” She looked up at me, her eyes sharp and defiant, her voice unwavering. “I hate you. Every time you touch me, I feel disgusted.” “I’ve never loved you—not even for a second.”
Her words were like a blade, slicing through the fantasies I’d built over five long years. I thought it didn’t matter that she had her ghost. After all, he was dead. I thought that time would change things. That if I treated her well enough, if I gave her everything she wanted, she’d eventually fall for me. Over the years, I gave her everything. When she wanted to break into the entertainment industry, I handed her the best resources. When she offended a powerful director, I personally smoothed things over. When the White family fell from grace and she was mocked at parties, I stood by her side and promised her no one would ever hurt her again. But none of it mattered. All my love, my devotion—it had earned me nothing but her hatred and contempt. I stared at her face, twisted in anger, and finally realized how pathetic I was. My so-called love was a joke. I let out a soft, bitter laugh as the engagement ring slipped from my fingers, vanishing into the grass. The party went on without her, and by the time she returned to the scene, the bride had already been replaced. That night, Sophia called me. “Darling, I drank too much at the club,” she said sweetly, her voice soft and sugary. “Come pick me up, okay?” She spoke as though nothing had happened, as though she hadn’t just escaped from our engagement party. As though she hadn’t cried over another man that same morning. I paused, the phone cold against my ear. For the first time, I didn’t immediately agree. “I’ll send a driver,” I said flatly. “I don’t want a driver!” she snapped, her voice suddenly sharp. Then, after a beat of silence, she chuckled softly, her tone shifting back to a playful purr. “Please, darling? I don’t want anyone else. If you don’t come, I won’t leave.” “Come on,” she whispered, her voice dripping with drunken seduction. “Please?” I stayed silent for a long moment before finally relenting. When I arrived at the club, the scene was all too familiar. Sophia was draped across the lap of some fresh-faced boy, her arms looped around his neck like a scarf. When she saw me, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, her eyes locking onto mine with a smirk. Her gaze seemed to say, What are you going to do about it? In the past, I might’ve dragged her out of there, warned her not to pull a stunt like that again. But tonight, I simply looked at her, my expression calm. “Are you coming or not?” I asked. Sophia blinked, momentarily caught off guard by my lack of reaction. Then she laughed and stumbled to her feet, her movements unsteady in her high heels. “Of course I’m coming,” she said, her words slurring slightly. “My husband came all this way to get me.” She took two steps before tripping, and I caught her easily, steadying her against my chest. She wrapped her arms around my neck, nuzzling against me like a cat finally returning to its owner. “You caught me,” she murmured. “You still love me.” She laughed softly, her voice light and carefree, as though she hadn’t just torn my heart to pieces.
Sophia White had lived a life of luxury—until her family went bankrupt. She’d never experienced hardship before, which is probably why she couldn’t understand or care about anyone else’s struggles. After a drunken night out, I brought her back to the apartment I’d put under her name. In the elevator, she leaned her entire body against me, her balance gone. I steadied her with a firm grip on her waist. “Stand up straight,” I told her. But she didn’t move, her warm fingers tracing the line of my jaw as she leaned in closer. The elevator doors slid open, and in that split second, I made a decision. I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her off the ground, carrying her out with hurried steps. She laughed softly, her breath warm against my neck. She knew. She always knew. I could never resist her. Sophia had mastered the art of manipulation—push me away with one hand, then pull me back with the other. She wielded it like a weapon, and I fell for it every time. Later that night, I woke up to find her lying peacefully beside me. I didn’t wake her. Instead, I quietly got dressed and left the bedroom. This apartment was the first gift I’d ever given her. After her family sold off everything they owned to pay off debts, this was the first property under her name. She loved it. She’d personally hired the designer and overseen every detail of the renovation, refusing to let anyone else interfere. There were four rooms in total: a bedroom, a study, a dance studio, and one last room across from the master bedroom. That door had always been off-limits. Out of respect, I’d never tried to enter it. But tonight, standing in front of that door, something inside me snapped. I placed my hand on the doorknob, turned it, and pushed it open. The room was filled with photos. Everywhere I looked, there were pictures of Sophia and Alex—her “true love.” Memories of their time together, pieces of a life they’d shared, remnants of a man who had been dead for years. I stared at it all, and then I laughed. How foolish I had been to think I could ever replace Alex in her heart. Sophia had always been cruel in the way only the privileged could be. Raised in comfort, she took everyone’s kindness for granted, as if it were her birthright. She never cared about the sacrifices I made for her. But here, in this room, she had preserved every tiny thing Alex had ever done for her—every memory, no matter how small. Even the time he’d picked up her pencil in high school had been enshrined in her mind. She remembered everything about him. But everything I had done? None of it mattered. Because I wasn’t Alex. Sophia wasn’t the biggest name in the entertainment industry, but after years of me backing her, she had carved out a place for herself. When I walked into my office the next morning, the head of PR handed me a draft of an article that hadn’t yet gone viral. It was gossip about a rising star who had been publicly dumped at her engagement party. The piece didn’t name names, but anyone with a brain could tell it was about Sophia. The article twisted the truth, making it seem like she had been humiliated when, in reality, she was the one who ran away. The head of PR hesitated. “Sir, should we issue a warning to the press?” Before I could answer, my phone buzzed with a message from Sophia. “Why did you leave without saying anything?” “Are you still mad at me?” “I’m sorry, okay? I know I was too impulsive this time.” “I’m heading out of town for a shoot. I’ll make it up to you when I get back.” I turned off my phone and looked at the PR director. “Leave it,” I said coldly. “Don’t bother with her anymore.” That night, I returned to the villa. The butler greeted me at the door. When I started heading upstairs, a thought struck me, and I turned back. “Pack up all of Miss White’s belongings and move them out,” I said. The butler hesitated. “Did you two have another argument?” Sophia and I fought often enough that it wasn’t unusual. Sometimes it was over her drinking, other times because I’d caught her sneaking off to the cemetery again. Whenever we fought, she’d storm off to the apartment I’d given her, only to come back a few days later once she’d cooled down. But this time was different. I didn’t look back as I climbed the stairs. “Don’t let her into the villa again,” I said. For the next four or five days, Sophia bombarded me with messages. This had never happened before. In the past, I was always the one to apologize first. Always the one to give in, because I loved her and couldn’t bear to lose her. But this time, she must have sensed something had changed. She called me several times, but I didn’t pick up. On the eighth day after Sophia left, a typhoon hit the region, bringing heavy rain and chaos. That afternoon, I received a call from Sophia’s assistant. “Mr. Hayes,” she said, her voice trembling. “Miss White went into the mountains with the crew to film, but there was a landslide. Her car got separated from the others, and we haven’t been able to contact her.” “When did this happen?” I demanded. “They entered the mountains yesterday, and now…” The assistant’s voice broke into sobs. I hung up and immediately called my aide, asking him to book me a flight. I knew Sophia had been filming in a nearby city, closer to the coast. My hands shook as I gripped my phone, dread pooling in my chest. “Sir,” my aide said, returning with bad news. “All flights have been grounded because of the typhoon.” I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. “Contact the local rescue team,” I said. “We’ll drive there.” After four hours on the road, we arrived in the middle of the night. With no time to rest, I joined the rescue team immediately. The rain was relentless, turning the mountain roads into dangerous pits of mud. At one point, our vehicle got stuck, and I climbed out, drenched in rain, to help push it free. By the time we reached the landslide site, it was nearly impossible to see anything. The rain and darkness made the search almost futile. We searched until dawn, but there was no sign of Sophia. At 8 a.m., the rain finally stopped. Exhausted, I sat on a boulder overlooking the mud-covered slope. The thought of Sophia buried beneath all that debris was like a knife to my chest. As rescue crews prepared to bring in excavation equipment, a man approached me and tapped my shoulder. “Someone has been trying to call you,” he said. “Your phone’s been off.” My phone had died the night before. I borrowed his and called my aide immediately. “Sir,” my aide said, his voice urgent, “Miss White has been found!” “The crew canceled the shoot after checking the weather forecast. She’s been at the hotel with her assistant the whole time.” I hung up, my grip tightening on the phone. The mountain was silent except for the distant sound of digging. And I stood there, drenched and exhausted, feeling like the biggest fool in the world. 5 I spent two days in the hospital after coming down from the mountain. During that time, Sophia White lingered outside my room, demanding to see me. My aide, Jack, made sure she didn’t get in. But on the day of my discharge, she slipped past him and barged in. Jack glanced at me with a helpless expression, unsure of what to do. “It’s fine,” I said. “Leave us.” Sophia smugly tilted her chin at him as if she’d won some great victory. The door closed behind him, and the second we were alone, her demeanor changed completely. She threw herself into my lap, her voice soft and pleading. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to lie to you.” “I just missed you so much,” she continued, looking up at me with wide, tearful eyes. “You wouldn’t answer my calls or texts, and I didn’t know what else to do. That’s why I lied. I was desperate.” She reached out to touch my face, her voice trembling. “Please forgive me this once, okay? I promise I’ll never lie to you again. I’ll listen to everything you say from now on. Don’t stay mad at me, okay?” I sighed and pressed my fingers to my temple, the exhaustion weighing heavily on me. “Are you done?” I asked flatly. Sophia froze, her big, beautiful eyes suddenly filled with panic. “Go back,” I said, looking away from her. “Don’t you have a shoot today?” “But you—” She reached out, her hand trembling as she tried to touch my face again. Smack. Her pale hand turned red where I’d slapped it away. Sophia stared at me in shock, her eyes immediately welling up with tears. She’d never been treated like this before. “You still haven’t forgiven me!” she cried, her voice breaking. I leaned back against the couch, my energy completely drained. “Does it even matter?” I asked, my voice hollow. “Does my forgiveness mean anything to you?” “You only care about Alex,” I continued bitterly. “Nothing else matters. Nothing I do matters. So what difference does it make if I forgive you or not?” Her expression shifted from confusion to disbelief, as though she were looking at a stranger. After a long silence, she suddenly stood up, a bitter smile curling her lips. “Of course nothing else matters,” she said, her tone sharp and cold. “You think I’d be with you if Alex were still alive?” she spat, her eyes blazing with fury. “No one in this world can compare to him. Not you, not anyone. You’re not even worthy of saying his name!” Her face twisted with rage, her eyes bloodshot. This was the real Sophia—the one who emerged every time Alex was mentioned. The sweet, playful Sophia who called me “husband” and acted coy was just a mask. But when it came to Alex, she’d rip herself apart, exposing the raw, ugly truth beneath. I couldn’t take it anymore. “Get out,” I said, my voice rising. She flinched, startled by the force of my tone. “I said get out! Right now!” I’d never yelled at her like that before. Never once raised my voice, no matter what she did. For a moment, she seemed too stunned to react. Then, as the reality of my words sank in, tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, hugging herself as she sank to the floor. “I didn’t mean to say those things. I couldn’t help it. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” She looked up at me, her face streaked with tears, and crawled forward on her knees. “Please,” she begged, grabbing my hand with trembling fingers. “I’ll change. I promise I’ll change. Just give me one more chance.” I slowly pulled my hand away, closing my eyes as a wave of bitterness washed over me. “It’s over,” I said softly. She froze, her sobs cutting off mid-breath. I opened my eyes and repeated, “We’re done. I don’t want you anymore.”
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “295488”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #重生Reborn #励志Inspiring #魔幻Magic #校园School #惊悚Thriller
Leave a Reply