When we were most in love, Ethan promised his friends that if his bride wasn't me, they should boycott his wedding. Years later, Ethan got married. The bride wasn't me. True to his word, his friends didn't show up. After the reception, Ethan confronted them. The one guy who had always seemed to hate me punched Ethan squarely in the face, his eyes bloodshot. "Ethan, the person who betrays true love deserves to die the most." "So why is Maya the one who's dead?" 01 The day I died, Ethan officially announced his wedding date with Chloe. Except for Ethan's three best friends, everyone else rushed to offer their congratulations. The banquet hall was packed with guests. Romantic red roses carpeted the floor, stretching from the entrance all the way to the stage backdrop. It was even more extravagant than my own engagement party with Ethan years ago. Chloe clung to Ethan's arm, looking slightly wronged. "Ethan, where are your friends?" "Do they not like me? They didn't even show up on such an important day." Ethan glanced at his watch and started dialing numbers one by one. None of the calls went through, but a barrage of spam calls flooded in instead. Frowning, Ethan blocked the spam numbers one by one. Chloe's fake smile began to falter. Ever since she appeared by Ethan's side, his three best friends had treated her with nothing but cold indifference. She had assumed they would at least make an appearance on a day like this. After all, they had been Ethan's brothers for over a decade. I floated behind Ethan, my gaze sweeping over Chloe without restraint. How stupid was I to have missed all the red flags she exhibited from the very beginning? Chloe bit her lip, her hand hidden behind her back tightly gripping her phone. The screen was stuck on her chat history with me. [Maya, so what if it's been ten years?] [My wedding with Ethan is in seven days. Do you have the guts to show up?] I lowered my eyes, my soul passing right through her physical body. I really wanted to reply: I have the guts to come, but do you have the guts to see me? But I was dead. 02 The banquet ended. Surprisingly, Ethan didn't take Chloe back to his place. Instead, he drove her to her own apartment. In the car, Chloe grabbed Ethan's collar, offering her lips to his. "Chloe, I've been drinking." "Be a good girl. Don't you hate the smell of alcohol?" Ethan pushed her away, showing no intention of following her upstairs. Chloe clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car. Just before closing the door, her eyes suddenly went red. "Ethan, the wedding in seven days... it's still happening, right?" Men are probably the creatures most susceptible to a show of vulnerability. Ethan eventually followed Chloe up to her apartment. I sat on the roof of the car, watching their ambiguous tug-of-war. The summer night breeze couldn't warm my freezing soul. Playing the victim. Acting coquettish. These were the exact things Ethan used to despise the most. My gaze fell on their tightly clasped hands as I was forced to follow Ethan into the elevator, all the way to Chloe's apartment. Upon entering, Ethan casually tossed his suit jacket onto the sofa. Chloe eagerly wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. "Ethan, I'm so scared." Scared? I looked at Chloe in surprise. Since the day I met her, I had never once heard her admit to being scared of anything. Ethan turned around. His unbuttoned collar revealed a wide expanse of his chest. Chloe stood on her tiptoes and kissed it. "Scared of what?" Ethan stroked her hair, letting her hands roam freely. "Scared Maya will change her mind." "Scared you'll suddenly abandon me." "Scared I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve you." Ethan chuckled softly, his voice full of indulgence. "Don't be silly. Maya won't change her mind." 03 Ethan's absolute certainty sent me into a daze. Back when we were most in love, Ethan was just as certain. He said, "Don't worry. I, Ethan Sterling, will never betray Maya in this lifetime." That day, I thought I would be happy forever. Ethan and I went from middle school desk mates to high school classmates, from college sweethearts to business partners. Sixteen years. We got engaged when our tech startup finally found its footing. If everything had gone according to plan, we would have been married this year. But in our sixteenth year of knowing each other, our tenth year of being in love, Ethan changed. When did it start? Probably when he stopped sending me texts checking in on me. Probably when he sat across from me, staring at his phone with an unsuppressible smile. Probably when he started sending Chloe "good morning" and "good night" messages every day. True love, it seems, can vanish in an instant. So when we broke up, he took all the blame onto himself, shielding Chloe perfectly. I granted his wish and didn't expose the evidence of Chloe's provocations. Honestly, when Chloe first appeared, I didn't overthink it. She was the pampered daughter of a business partner, wanting to gain some experience at our company. To secure that partnership, Ethan came to ask for my opinion. He suggested assigning Chloe to the administrative pool, saying it wouldn't be appropriate for her to handle core business operations. I believed him. I never expected Ethan to make Chloe his personal assistant, keeping her by his side for a whole year. And I never expected Ethan to do everything in his power to convince me to go to Europe to expand our overseas market, keeping me away for a whole year. By the time I returned, Chloe was already known by everyone as the future Mrs. Sterling. And I had become Ethan's ex-girlfriend. Before I could even confront him, Ethan came to me. He pushed a resignation letter across the table, along with a share transfer agreement. "Maya, we used to say that if either of us ever met someone who made our heart skip a beat, we'd break up amicably." "You remember, right?" 04 When Ethan and Chloe stumbled into the bedroom, I hid in the living room. Thank God. I could still maintain a small distance from Ethan. I didn't have to watch those disgusting scenes with my own eyes. Even though Chloe had already sent me videos and photos of them. Ethan's phone lay on the living room table, buzzing incessantly. I leaned closer. The number on the screen was mine. It felt like a bomb went off in my head. I stood frozen in shock. My fingertips trembled imperceptibly as the moments before my death played out frame by frame in front of my eyes. Terror. Helplessness. I remembered, my death was far from dignified. After agreeing to Ethan's breakup terms, I left the company. Chloe found me, saying she wanted to talk. What was there to talk about? I looked at her, and she sneered. "Aren't you curious why I chose Ethan?" "Why?" I played along and asked. Chloe took me to a coffee shop near the office. "I just wanted to see how deep Ethan's feelings for you really were. Turns out, not that deep." I didn't want to engage with her. But the moment I walked out the door, several men grabbed me and shoved me into a rundown van. The van bumped along, from the city to the outskirts, from daylight into the dead of night. Until the mountain wind howled, and jagged branches scratched my exposed calves and arms. "Did Chloe send you?" I forced myself to ask calmly. The four men in front of me were gaunt, their eyes sunken, reeking of a distinct, foul odor. Addicts. They didn't speak. They just swarmed me, pinning me down in the darkness to vent their urges, from night until dawn. Because I fought back so fiercely, they smashed my head open. Blood poured out, soaking the ground. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing behind Ethan, watching him hold Chloe's hand and announce their wedding date. Calculating the days, his wedding day would be exactly seven days after my death. 05 At 1:00 AM, Ethan walked out of the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He picked up his phone from the sofa. When he saw the missed calls, his pupils constricted. I curled up on the sofa, my spectral body trembling as the memories of my death consumed my mind. Chloe's voice drifted from the bedroom. "Ethan, what's wrong?" Ethan suppressed his emotions, deleted the call log, and walked back to Chloe, pulling her into his arms. The smooth, practiced way he deleted the log looked exactly like how he acted the year I was abroad and we rarely saw each other. When I first left for Europe, Ethan would video call me all the time. He would complain about how much work there was at the company, acting like a whiny kid, saying how much he wished I was there with him. I would respond while processing documents. "You hate it when I whine, so why are you whining now?" "Why are you acting like a big baby?" I thought I was just teasing him, but I never expected his face to instantly go pale. I only realized later. When two people are together for a long time, their ways of speaking unconsciously become more and more alike. The next morning, Ethan left Chloe's apartment. Before leaving, he dropped a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Sleep a little longer. You don't have to go to the office today." I found it almost funny. In the past, Ethan was obsessed with punctuality. Rain or shine, he would drag me out of bed, terrified of delaying the day's work. Even on dates, he refused to wait for me for even a single minute. For sixteen years, I got used to the habits he forced upon me. But it turns out, all his rules could be broken. The only exception was reserved for a specific person. 06 I followed Ethan to the company. My assistant, who had been with me for three years, was pacing anxiously outside Ethan's office, clutching a contract. Seeing Ethan, she spoke hurriedly. "Mr. Sterling, there's a problem with the contract Ms. Vance negotiated a few days ago." "The client insists on seeing Ms. Vance in person before they'll sign." Ethan glanced at the assistant, seemingly unconcerned, and said matter-of-factly, "Then call Maya. She'll go." The assistant looked at Ethan awkwardly as the phone on speaker rang endlessly without an answer. Perhaps because it had gone unanswered too many times, Ethan's frown deepened, and he slammed the contract he was reviewing onto the desk. "How long have you been calling?" "Since this morning. I haven't been able to get through." Ethan's gaze swept over the small assistant, impatience written all over his face. The assistant shrank back. "Yes, Mr. Sterling." Standing by the desk, I was a bit surprised why my phone wouldn't connect. Just last night, my phone had called Ethan's number. Ethan probably thought I was ignoring him on purpose. I pursed my lips into a self-deprecating smile, boredly scanning the contracts scattered across the desk. Many clauses in the contract had been altered. They were completely different from the terms I had originally negotiated. Chloe's handiwork. After all, she had taken over my position. Ethan didn't speak for a long time, his eyes glued to his phone screen. The screen showed his chat with me. Two minutes ago, he had sent me a message: [Call me back immediately.] Ethan's jaw was clenched tight, anger brewing, ready to explode. Until his best friend, Liam, called him. "Ethan, Maya is..." "Maya isn't at the office." "I'm looking for her too." "If you get in touch with her, tell her to come to the company ASAP." 07 Ethan cut Liam off. Without waiting for a response, Ethan hurriedly hung up and walked into the conference room. I was pulled along by Ethan's rapid pace, but a dull, phantom ache spread across my chest. Ethan hung up too fast. I desperately wanted to know what Liam was going to say, but I had no way of knowing. The conference room was dead silent. I had spent nearly half a month negotiating that deal. Right as it was being finalized, Ethan broke up with me. Many people said Ethan used me until I was no longer needed, then threw me away. Now, the gears had ground to a halt. When Liam rushed into the company, Ethan was in the middle of a furious tirade. "Can this company not function without Maya Vance?!" "A whole room of executives, and you can't match one Maya?!" Liam's hand froze mid-knock. He hesitated at the door for a good ten seconds before bursting in. The person following closely behind him was Chloe. "Ethan, what's wrong?" Chloe spoke before Liam could. Ethan turned his head. His gaze passed right through me and landed on Chloe, completely ignoring Liam standing nearby. "Look at this contract. What happened?" "The Horizon Group suddenly backed out. They said they won't sign unless they see Maya." A fleeting, hard-to-catch emotion flashed through Chloe's eyes. She took the contract from Ethan and flipped through it. "Is Maya behind this? After all..." Chloe intentionally left her sentence unfinished, but everyone in the room seemed to adopt a look of sudden realization, as if they all understood her implication perfectly. Only Liam clenched his fists tight. Ethan silently agreed with Chloe's insinuation. He said "Meeting adjourned," leaving Chloe alone in the conference room. Once everyone was gone, Liam charged forward and grabbed Ethan by the collar. "Ethan, you are a piece of trash!" "Maya is dead! DEAD! And you won't even go collect her body?!" "She built this company with her own two hands!" "You kicked her out, let people drag her name through the mud... Ethan, are you even human?!" 08 Liam grabbed Ethan by the collar and hurled him to the ground. He arrived with a heavy heart, and left in a towering rage. I wanted to chase after him, to stop him and ask how he knew I was dead. I also wanted to ask him: he always hated me the most, so why did he come looking for Ethan? Ethan's head slammed against the corner of the table, making Chloe scream in panic. When Liam stated the fact of my death, Chloe looked genuinely shocked. She seemed to truly not know. Ethan clearly didn't believe it. I understood why. After all, Ethan knew how much I valued my life. During our junior year of college, my parents died in a car crash. My grandmother, already hospitalized, suffered a fatal heart attack upon hearing the news. Overnight, I lost all my closest family. I became fragile, helpless. It was Ethan who pulled me out of the abyss of grief. He said I still had him. So I needed to take good care of myself. After that, I became exceptionally careful with my life. After quickly bandaging the cut on his head, Ethan buried himself in work. It was as if the news of my death was just a bad joke to him. Even though it came from the mouth of his best friend, he didn't take it seriously. Ethan took over the Horizon deal himself, personally negotiating with their representatives. I followed him back into the Horizon Group's office building. Chloe, who usually stuck to Ethan like glue, surprisingly didn't tag along. This time, Ethan was received by Horizon's VP, Mr. Davis. His gaze swept thoughtfully behind Ethan. "Ms. Vance didn't come?" The smile faded from Ethan's face, his voice turning slightly distant. "Mr. Davis, I am the CEO of Sterling Tech." The title "CEO of Sterling Tech" hit me like a splash of cold water, waking me up. The time Ethan sent me to Europe to expand the business, he said, "Maya, I really don't want you to work so hard." "Sterling Tech will be fine with just me. Once this expansion is done, you should take a good, long break." His final words, "I'll take care of you," were drowned out by the surging crowds at the airport that night.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "391432", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel