Chapter 5

"Liam, please don't be mad at me."

Amber Reed's voice, laced with tears, came through the phone, sounding especially pitiful.

"When I saw that picture, it reminded me of how Chloe used to treat me... I couldn't control myself for a moment... I know I shouldn't have, it's your memory, but I was just so upset..."

Her words precisely pierced Liam Miller's most vulnerable nerve at that moment.

That photo was taken on the day our company went public.

I wore a simple white blouse, and he wore a suit. Behind us was the enormous red logo of the stock exchange.

We smiled so brightly in the picture, our eyes full of hope for the future.

And now, it was shattered.

Shattered by the woman he had placed on a pedestal.

I watched Liam Miller's face on the surveillance screen; his muscles twitched, his jawline clenched tight.

I thought he would explode, would yell at Amber.

But he didn't.

He merely stared silently at the wreckage on the screen, his eyes slowly dimming, eventually settling into a dead calm.

"I understand."

After a long moment, he uttered these few words, then immediately hung up the video call.

No comfort, no accusation.

It was a kind of calm more terrifying than anger.

He slowly squatted down, placing the cheap MP3 back into the velvet box.

Then, he looked up, turning his gaze back to my tombstone.

This time, his eyes held no hatred, no resentment, only an endless void and regret.

He finally seemed to understand that she hadn't just shattered a picture frame.

She had shattered everything he and I had ever shared.

"Chloe... I'm sorry."

A single tear, without warning, rolled from his bloodshot eyes, hitting the dusty ground and leaving a dark mark.

Then came a second, a third...

He no longer suppressed it, no longer pretended. He broke down, weeping uncontrollably before my cold tombstone.

His cries were heartbreaking, filled with endless remorse and pain.

【Live Stream】

"Holy crap! He's crying! He's actually crying!"

"His cries, they break my heart... doesn't sound like an act."

"Sincerity score! Look at the sincerity score!"

I shifted my gaze to a corner of the live stream.

The sincerity score, which had consistently displayed negative numbers or zero, was now skyrocketing like crazy.

10%... 30%... 50%...

Finally, it stopped at 61%.

Passed.

Liam Miller, congratulations, you've finally shed your first sincere tear.

But this is far from enough.

What I want isn't just your tears.

I want you to spend the next ninety-plus days reliving, over and over, how you personally buried the love you once prided yourself on.

As I coldly observed his breakdown, the doorbell of the villa suddenly rang.

My personal assistant, Ms. Lee, came in and said, "Ms. Davis, a Mr. Price, who claims to be an old acquaintance of yours, wishes to see you."

Mr. Price?

I paused, then realized.

Daniel Price.

The son of my father's old friend, and my nominal "fiancé."

He was one of the few who knew about this fake death scheme.

"Let him in."

Soon, a tall, well-built man in a black trench coat entered.

He was handsome and had a composed demeanor.

Seeing me safe and sound on the couch, his tense expression finally relaxed.

"You really scared me to death," he said, walking over to me with a helpless sigh. "Have you had enough? Come home with me."

"Not yet." I shook my head, pointing at Liam Miller, who was crying his heart out on the screen. "The show has just begun."

Following my finger, his eyes instantly turned cold.

"You put yourself through all this for *that*?"

"No," I corrected him. "It's for myself. I need to reclaim what's mine, like my dignity."

Daniel Price was silent for a moment, then stopped trying to persuade me.

He simply took off his trench coat, draped it over me, and said softly, "Don't watch anymore, it's bad for your eyes. I'll take you somewhere."

He took my hand and led me out of that suffocating surveillance room.

Meanwhile, at the cemetery.

Liam Miller's cries gradually subsided.

He seemed to have been drained of all his strength, slumping to the ground.

Just then, a black Rolls-Royce slowly pulled up at the cemetery entrance.

The car door opened, and a man in a perfectly tailored black suit stepped out, holding a black umbrella.

He walked with steady steps, heading straight for my tombstone.

His appearance immediately drew everyone's attention in the live stream.

"Who's that guy? What an aura!"

"Look at that car, those clothes, he must be rich and powerful!"

"Is he here to mourn too? But... why does he look at Liam Miller like he's a piece of trash?"

The man ignored Liam Miller, who was still kneeling on the ground, and simply placed a bouquet of white calla lilies gently before my tombstone.

His long fingers brushed over my name on the cold stone, a tender gesture.

"Chloe." He spoke, his voice deep and magnetic, filled with intense sorrow.

"I'm too late."

0

This man was Blake Vance.

My college senior, and my former admirer.

A genius who, after I chose Liam Miller, moved far away, founded his own tech company, and is now a rising star in the industry.