Chapter 9
“Didn’t they remove it?”
“We tried,” the surgeon said, shaking his head. “But it was lodged too deep. Forcing it out would’ve killed her. We had to opt for conservative treatment. Didn’t Dr. White explain this tc you?”
Alaric’s eyes widened in disbelief.
He turned around abruptly to rush back to the manor-
Just then, his phone vibrated.
A call came in from one of his men.
‘Mr. Langford! Something’s wrong… your wife is… she’s dead!”
After sending her back to the hospital, Alaric was frantic.
He tried to call Dr. White again. No answer. The number had
Finally, when he did reach him, Dr. White sounded confused.
gone dark.
‘I’ve been conducting experiments overseas. I haven’t been in Texas at all. What’s going on?”
Alaric froze.
The phone slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a dull thud.
After a long moment, he clenched his fists and gave a cold command:
‘Keep an eye on Arianne. Don’t alert her–but don’t let her out of your sight.”
When the surgeon stepped out of the operating room again, Alaric looked up in desperation.
The surgeon met his gaze, then slowly shook his head.
“…We were too late.”
Alaric nearly collapsed.
Then the surgeon pulled something out: a transparent, sealed medical pouch.
“We removed the foreign object from her heart,” he said. “According to her instructions.”
“She said it was important. That it belonged to you.”
Inside the bag was a small, jagged piece of metal-
Half a razor blade.
Alaric’s voice trembled. “How… how do you know what she wanted?”
The surgeon looked solemn. “She sewed a note inside her shirt. A suicide letter.”
He handed it over–still stained with blood.
The first few lines read:
[Hey, hey. To whoever finds this–I have something very important in my heart. Please remove it.]
[It matters to Mr. Langford. And also to my friend, Seraphine.]
3:40 pm
[I probably won’t get the chance to speak again. But that night… this is what really happened…]
The evidence was all there.
The police matched the razor blade to the broken weapon found at the scene. Following the details in Elysia’s letter, they re–investigated and uncovered more physical proof.
Caleb was arrested at the airport.
Arianne, still unaware, remained under surveillance by Alaric’s men. She had no clue her lies were unraveling.
At the police station, Alaric sat numbly on a bench. People passed by, voices faded into static. A doctor’s voice rang in his ears:
“She knew the risk. Removing the blade meant death. Keeping it meant gambling with every breath.”
“She chose the former. For you.”
Now everything made sense.
Her sudden change in personality. Her desperation. The choices he never understood… until too late.
He had the truth. The full chain of evidence. The suicide note. The forensic match.
But no joy. No peace.
Only silence.
That night, he drove to the villa he had once prepared for Arianne.
She hadn’t noticed anything strange.
She didn’t even realize Alaric was already inside, using her brother’s phone.
When Caleb refused to speak to her, she sent him a voice message.
Her tone was light, casual–unaware of the trap tightening around her.
‘Hope you’re settling in abroad. Everything’s calm here now.”
“That stupid act nearly failed, but luckily I turned things around. Alaric nearly went mad.”
‘Elysia’s dead for real this time. Don’t worry, no one will link it to us.”
“Once I’ve squeezed enough money from Alaric, I’ll come find you.”
Alaric’s fingers trembled as he held the phone.
The truth hit him like a blade to the chest.
The miscarriage–was fake.
Arianne and Caleb–were siblings.
And the woman he’d destroyed in the name of love…
Chapter 9
2/3 66.7
3:40 pm
Was never the one connected to Caleb.
Arianne was.
Not his wife.
3:40 pm
What the hell was he doing?
