Chapter 4

Rhea's Pov

In the distance, the Ferris wheel exploded into a shower of heart-shaped fireworks.

My breath caught.

It was her birthday.

Of course. Kevin must’ve arranged the show, another grand gesture. A pretty, sparkling display to celebrate the girl who had everything, even if it meant someone else had to bleed for it.

And that someone was me.

I felt cold. Not just on my skin, but deep, in my bones. I was going to die. I knew I had stab wounds all over my body, how I was still alive, I had no idea, but with how cold I was, I knew I was going to die.

“GET OFF HER!” A voice roared and my blurred vision flicked toward the sound. I could barely lift my head.

Then, everything happened at once.

The weight on my back vanished, yanked away by a blur of movement. A sickening crack echoed as someone tackled my attacker to the ground.

“Get him!” The same voice said again, panicked this time. I collapsed fully onto the ground, unable to move, pain pulsing through every nerve. A warm hand found my stomach, pressing down, firm, steady, desperate. Blood soaked into expensive fabric but it was no use, I was bleeding everywhere.

I blinked up. The face above me was familiar, handsome, sharp, polished in a way that screamed power.

It was him… Alaric Vale, the cold and ruthless CEO of Vale Group, the crippled who was supposed to be my husband.

“A… Alaric…” I muttered as blood filled my mouth. He was trembling too. His tie was gone, shirt already stained with blood as he tore the sleeve and pressed it against my wound.

But what stunned me the most, his left leg, it was moving, he wasn’t paralyzed. The rumors were a lie, Alaric's leg's were working perfectly.

“R… Rhea, stay with me, the ambulance is coming, okay?” Ethan said, his voice breaking. His palm cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing away tears and blood and dirt. He was crying too…

“W… Why…” Why was he crying? We barely knew each other, although I had seen him countless times when I had business with him, we didn't speak on anything apart from business not did he even act like we were engaged. But now he was crying? For me?

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Rhea, I'm so sorry.” He was full on sobbing now, “If I hadn't backed off because I saw how in love you were with that bastard, you wouldn't have been in this position, if I had fought to have you, you wouldn't be sad, you wouldn't be crying. Rhea please stay with me, don't close your eyes.”

I wanted to answer him, go say something but all I managed was the soft gurgle of blood bubbling in my throat, choking me from the inside.

“I'm sorry Rhea, please don't leave me. Please.”

I regretted it. I regretted everything. I shouldn't have pursued Kevin, I shouldn't have gone after him, I shouldn't have tried to accept Ginny as my sister. Why now? Why was it now that I was already slipping away that he showed this side of him to me, why now?!

I had waited three years for someone to cry for me like this. To beg me to stay. To say they chose me, no one ever did, not even my family. But this man, this stranger of a fiancé, was holding me like I mattered. Like I was the only thing in the world that did.

My lungs spasmed. My fingers twitched, trying to hold on to him, to anything. But it was cold, it was so cold.

I saw the sky where the drones still lingered. Funny. Even now, her name was in lights, and I was bleeding in the shadows. I tried to focus on Alaric’s face again. He was shouting something, but it was muffled now. Like I was underwater.

His hands were shaking. His mouth moved.

“Don’t you dare die on me! You’re not allowed to leave me too! No! Not like this… Rhea, please…”

It was too late, too late for everything. I just wanted to be loved, I didn't do anything wrong. My vision darkened bit by bit as medics gathered around me, panic on their faces, but as I said, it was already too late. Darkness overtook me, as my body fell limp.

I died. I expected nothingness, just silence as I sank deeper into the abyss, but when I opened my eyes, I was standing. Not lying in my own blood, not gasping for air. I was just standing, in the same place that I was. I frowned, confused, I died. I was sure of that? But why was I still here? Did someone same me and being me back here? Why didn't I have any recollection of it? I raised my head up, intending to move somewhere else when I saw it… My body, lying motionless.

Blood pooled around my body. The medics were trying, shouting orders, applying pressure, working frantically.

“Ha… So, I really am dead?” I muttered, numb and staring, watching as Alaric’s hand remained on mine, refusing to let go even as someone tried to push him aside.

He wasn’t shouting anymore. He wasn’t panicking. He just stared at me or at my body with this quiet devastation that tore something inside me.

One of the medics gently touched his shoulder, “Sir… I’m sorry. She's already dead.”

The words echoed in the air like a gavel slamming down.

Alaric didn’t speak. Didn’t move. He only reached out and brushed a blood-matted strand of hair from my face with the softest touch I had ever seen from him.

Was I imagining it? Was this what spirits saw before they moved on, visions of impossible tenderness? Of what could’ve been, if things were different?

“Don’t… don’t look at me like that.” I whispered, “I don’t deserve that look, not now.”

But he didn’t stop. He leaned down and pressed his forehead to mine. I flinched. Could he feel me? Could I feel him?

“I should’ve protected you, even if it was behind the shadows. I didn't even get to tell you how I felt about you. I love you, Rhea, I love you so much.” He said, voice raw, barely a whisper.

He... He loved me?!