Chapter 6 The Lost Wedding Ring
That night, a storm broke out.
Thunder rolled across the sky while lightning slashed.
Rain poured down, washing away all the stains and spots in Lasthelm.
The photos were gone.
Lenora had left.
She had taken everything in the house that proved her presence.
Zavier felt as if someone had stabbed his heart. The pain was so sharp that he clutched his heart and stumbled down the stairs.
It was his fault.
Only if he hadn’t spent Lenora’s birthday with her… He had broken his promise.
Lenora must still be waiting for him at Fantasyland. He had to find her.
Zavier jumped into his car, drenched in the downpour, but he didn’t care. He sped up to the maximum.
The car sped through the rain.
Fantasyland had already closed. The once–dreamlike rides now sat still on the rainy night. The place was deadly quiet.
Zavier pushed open the gate and dashed into the park, searching for Lenora like a madman.
Chapra | The Last Wedding Ring
Because of the sudden rainstorm, the crowds that had gathered for the fireworks show had long since left. The area was now empty and
deserted.
Rain blurred his vision. No matter where he looked, he just couldn’t find the person he wanted to see. At last, he spotted something familiar by a drainage grate, a wedding ring.
Lenora had taken off her ring and tossed it into the flower beds. The heavy rain had washed it away, and it now appeared in the grate.
Zavier had always been a neat freak. Yet at that moment, he didn’t hesitate to drop to his knees beside the filthy drain. He let the dirty water soak his pants as he picked up the ring and held it in his palm. His heart was wracked with pain.
Since the day they got married, Lenora had never once taken off her ring.
He, on the other hand, had removed it a few times while on dates with Melany, because she found it an eyesore.
Now Lenora had taken it off and thrown it away. She must be utterly disappointed in him.
Could she have found out about his relationship with Melany?
Regret surged through him.
A maintenance worker saw Zavier acting strangely, so he approached and asked, “Sir, is something wrong?”
“I’m looking for my wife…” Zavier pocketed the ring. His eyes hurt yet he wasn’t sure it was due to the rain or his tears.
“I promised I’d spend her birthday with her at the amusement park, but I broke that promise…”
The worker assumed it was a spat between a young couple and tried to comfort him. “Sir, all visitors have left the park. Your wife must have gone home. You should go find her there.”
“Home…” Zavier echoed bitterly, clenching his fists.
Without Lenora, how could that place be called a home?
Eventually, under the worker’s persuasion, Zavier returned to his car in a daze. He called his assistant and ordered him to pull every string possible
to find her.
Even if he had to turn Lasthelm upside down, he would find Lenora
Brandt.
Then he began calling all their mutual friends to ask where she might have gone.
“Nora? We haven’t talked in ages…”
“She turned down the last few invitations to go shopping…”
“Mr. Hart really is a good man. He’s so worried about his wife…”
By the time he made the final call, Zavier dropped his phone in despair. His once–clear and sharp eyes were now bloodshot with pain.
He had always believed he was the one who loved Lenora the most. But only now did he realize that she had cut off most of her social circle just to help him start his business.
She had given him everything. And he… had shamelessly betrayed her.
Zavier gripped the steering wheel tightly, memories of happy times rushing back like a flood.
11:50
The sweeter the memory, the lower his head sank. It finally rested on the steering wheel. He was in despair.
His phone then rang
Zavier instinctively reached for it, thinking it was news about Lenora. But it was a call from the ob–gyn hospital.
His face instantly turned stern. Without hesitation, he hung up.
If Melany hadn’t kept clinging to him, he wouldn’t have missed Nora’s. birthday. And she wouldn’t have left him!
But the phone rang again, relentlessly, like a death knell.
Over and over, until Zavier couldn’t take it anymore and finally picked up.
A nurse’s anxious voice came through the speaker.
“Mr. Velez, thank goodness you finally answered. Ms. Brandt is experiencing massive bleeding, and the hospital is running out of Rh- negative blood. She’s asking to bring your wife in to donate blood for her…”
When the nurse mentioned the word “wife,” her expression grew complicated.
Every time Zavier and Melany came for prenatal check–ups, it was always her who received them.
She had thought they were the perfect couple. He was a handsome man while she was a beautiful woman. But just now, she had learned that Zavier had cheated, and Melany was the sister of his legal wife.
This revelation made her feel a deep sympathy for his wife.
If it weren’t for her professional duty, she would never have made this.
call.
“If we keep delaying, both Ms. Brandt and the baby could be in danger…”
“Then let her die.” Zavier said coldly before hanging up, continuing to drown in his own pain.
He recalled their school days when all the other girls wore light and breezy clothes, yet Lenora always stayed wrapped up in an oversized winter uniform, refusing to expose even an inch of skin except for her
face.
Even when drenched in sweat, she would never take it off.
Once. by chance. he saw her rolled–up sleeve and realized that her slender arm was covered in bruises of all shapes and sizes. It was horrifying.
He later found out those injuries were punishments for not taking proper care of Melany.
He had forgotten it all….
Once he found Nora, he swore to sincerely apologize to her and never let her feel hurt again.
But what he didn’t know was that there wouldn’t be a “next time.”
The phone rang again.
It was Larry.
Larry rarely called him unless it was about work.
Zavier frowned, quickly finding an excuse for himself.
Now that Lenora was missing, he had to make sure everything at the company stayed in order, only then could he spare the time to be with her.
With that false justification, Zavier answered the call with an air of righteousness.
“Zavier!” Larry’s voice was no longer filled with his usual flattery, only rage and accusation
“You got my daughter pregnant. Now she’s bleeding out in the hospital, and you just leave her there. Are you even a man?
“She’s my only daughter. If anything happens to her, I swear you won’t get away with it!”
With that, he slammed the phone down, entirely forgetting he had an adopted daughter as well.
Faced with Larry’s threats, Zavier felt irritated.
But thinking that Larry did have some reason to be upset, he swallowed the anger.
He then ordered his assistant to keep searching for Lenora while he drove toward the hospital.
For the sake of future business cooperation, he couldn’t afford to let Melany die.
At that moment, Melany lay pale on the hospital bed. She looked lifeless.
She was never in good health.
As a child, she had envied Lenora for having a strong and healthy body, so she deliberately caused trouble to get their father to punish her.
Watching Lenora get beaten made her contented, casing the discomfort in her own body.
Thinking of Zavier leaving her for Lenora’s sake, she felt a fury.
