Chapter 23
But each time, she never came.
Nina froze. Suddenly, her mind jolted back to the last conversation she’d had with Julian before she fully disappeared.
“Figures. You only ever show up when I’m dying,” he’d said, and the words hit her like a sledgehammer to the chest.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
The scars on his wrist.
The hospital records.
He hadn’t wanted to die.
He’d just wanted to see her one more time.
Nina couldn’t speak. It felt like a blade was twisting inside her, slow and merciless.
She curled her fingers into her palms, forcing the sharp sting to anchor her, to drown out the ache. Her voice, when it came, was low.
Distant.
“What’s that got to do with me?”
Samantha didn’t answer. Her eyes were red–rimmed, but she kept talking like she couldn’t stop.
“I tried everything,” she whispered. “I begged. I threatened. I used guilt. I told him my parents would want us married. I hoped it would spark something–anything. But even then, he stayed hollow.”
She paused, then gave a broken laugh.
“Until one day, I found a letter. At Nina Carter’s house. It was addressed to Julian.”
Nina stiffened.
Samantha continued, her voice quieter now. “In the letter, she asked him to finish her dreams. The ones she never got to live out. That’s when he came back to life. That’s why he started the company.”
She let out a shaky breath, but Nina just stared at her, stunned.
Because none of that made sense.
She’d never written a letter like that. Not to Julian. Not to anyone.
A farewell letter?
Then it hit her.
A flash of white.
Blood in the bathtub. Julian’s pale face. A desk. A ring. She was writing something–yes, she’d written something!
But the moment she tried to recall the words, pain exploded in her skull. She gripped the edge of the table to keep from collapsing.
Samantha kept talking.
“He’s still here, technically. Alive. But there are days I swear his soul is long gone. Until he saw you. Since then… there’s been something different. Some flicker of life.”
She looked at Nina with misty eyes.
“I don’t care if you’re just a stand–in or a ghost in his mind. Hayden… I’m begging you. Help me bring him back.”
Nina didn’t speak.
The pain in her head came and went like waves crashing against bone. She stood in silence for a long time before finally saying, quietly,
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
Chapter 23
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Later, in the stairwell, Nina leaned against the railing, phone pressed to her ear. Sunlight spilled through the window, casting golden streaks on the floor.
Lysander’s voice came through, flat and unreadable.
“Why did you refuse?”
Nina gazed out at the sunlit sky, her thoughts far away.
“I don’t know,” she murmured. “When I heard what Julian’s been through these past three years, I… I wanted to tell him everything. I really did.”
“But then it felt like someone whispered in my ear–Don’t say yes.”
“She said, ‘You got a second chance at life. Don’t waste it living for someone else. This time… live for you.“”
There was a pause on the other end.
Then Lysander let out a low chuckle, almost inaudible. “Guess you’re not as dumb as you used to be.”
Nina ignored his usual bite. “Still,” she said, “I remembered something today.“.
“I think… I wrote a letter once. At my desk. I put a ring inside the envelope. But I can’t remember the design. Or the words I wrote.” “What do you think it means?”
Lysander was silent for a beat. Then he said, “Maybe your wish… was to get married. Maybe that’ll help jog more memories.”
Nina frowned. “Married? To who?”
There was another long silence.
She thought the line had gone dead–until his voice came back, hoarse and quiet.
“To me.
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