Chapter 3

In the afternoon, Ethan didn't return.

He sent a text message, saying he had an emergency company meeting and asked Briar to arrange a driver for me.

Briar didn't even call a driver.

She walked into my room wearing a luxurious fur coat, pinching her nose in disgust.

"Stop dawdling, grab your junk and get out! This air is already polluted by you!"

I fumbled for the old canvas bag I had already packed, which contained only a few changes of clothes and a family photo of us.

I picked up the cane leaning against the wall and walked out step by step.

"Wait."

Briar suddenly stuck out her foot and tripped me hard.

I stumbled and fell, my cane flying from my hand and sliding away.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you." She smiled insincerely, then walked over and stepped on my cane.

With a sharp crack, the cane that had accompanied me for years was forcibly snapped into two pieces by her.

"A useless person like you, what do you need a cane for anyway? You're just going to lie in a bed waiting to die in that kind of place."

Briar kicked the broken cane away, looking down at me from her superior height. "Elara, don't blame me for being heartless. Blame yourself for being blind, for being a burden. Your brother was tired of you a long time ago; he just couldn't bring himself to kick you out. I'm just doing him a favor."

I lay on the ground, fumbling to pick up the two broken pieces of my cane, hugging them tightly.

"Briar, I'm leaving. I wish you both... a long and happy life together."

I gritted my teeth, struggling to stand. Without the guidance of my cane, I was like a headless chicken, my hands groping wildly in the air, stumbling out the villa's front door.

Outside, a historic blizzard raged.

Gale-force winds whipped stinging ice shards, cutting at my face and body like blades.

I was only wearing a thin, old sweater, one Ethan had bought me three years ago, its cuffs already frayed.

Cold.

Bone-chilling cold.

The cold seeped up from my feet directly into my heart, as if my blood itself was about to freeze.

I didn't know where to go.

The care facility was miles away, on the outskirts of the city. I had no money, no phone, no cane.

I had been abandoned by the entire world.

I walked aimlessly through the snow, falling, getting up, falling again.

The wounds on my knees reopened, blood staining the snow, only to be quickly covered by ice.

I don't know how long I walked until the distant car horns faded, replaced by the howling wind and the sound of river water crashing against the banks.

I had reached the edge of the bridge that spanned the river.

My stomach was cramping in spasms, my energy completely depleted.

I leaned against the icy bridge railing, slowly sliding down to sit in the snow.

From a pocket close to my body, I pulled out a voice recorder.

This was the gift I had planned to give Ethan on his wedding day, containing my thoughts from the past month.

My frozen fingers fumbled to press the record button, and facing the howling wind and snow, I left my last message.

"Ethan, it's so cold out here."

"I can't find the way to the specialized care facility. Briar broke my cane."

"You used to say that if I ever got lost, if I just stayed put, you would always come find me. But this time, I know you won't."

"Ethan, getting the cornea transplant back then, it really hurt. But I didn't cry, because I wanted you to see this beautiful world."

"Now, I'm tired. Your world is too crowded, there's no room for me anymore."

"Keep these eyes. Use them to look at your new bride. I don't want them anymore. I don't want anything anymore."

I turned off the recorder, tucked it into my canvas bag, and then took off my worn sweater, covering the bag with it.

Wearing only my thin shirt, I leaned on the railing and slowly stood up.

The river wind was like a giant hand, pushing my swaying body.

"Ethan, if there's a next life, I never want to be your sister again."

I closed my eyes and jumped.

The moment the sensation of falling hit me, I thought I would plunge into the icy river, finally ending this miserable life.

However, just as my body dropped, a strong hand firmly gripped my wrist.

"If you're going to kill yourself, find somewhere that's not in my way!"

A cold, deep voice, tinged with a hint of violence, sounded above me.

Immediately after, I was violently pulled back by a powerful force, landing hard against a broad, warm chest.

The familiar scent of cedar and a faint hint of tobacco wafted towards me, but it wasn't Ethan's scent.

I was shivering from the cold, and my consciousness began to blur.

Before I completely fell into darkness, I only heard the man coldly ordering his bodyguard:

"Get her in the car. And throw her stuff into the river. Make it look like a suicide jump."

"Yes, Mr. Thorne."