---- Chapter 4 Ethan froze. Then, he grabbed Thomas by the collar, his voice breaking. "What did you just say?" Thomas trembled. "Mr. Fuller, M-Mrs. Fuller disappeared at the mountaintop. The last person who saw her said she was standing near the cliff. The rescue team found her watch right at the edge..." "Impossible! She would never kill herself!" Ethan cut him off, sounding like his throat had been torn open. "Why didn't anyone tell me that she insisted on going up alone?" he demanded. Thomas stammered, terrified. "Mr. Fuller, I called you all night.

Your phone was turned off the whole time..." Ethan yanked out his phone. The screen was dead. No matter how he pressed it, it wouldn't turn on. He turned to Vivian, his eyes sharp as blades. "Did you turn off my phone?" Vivian flinched, then quickly shook her head. "Ethan, why would I ever do that? Perhaps you accidentally pressed something, or the battery ran out. You can't ---- blame me!" She tried to look innocent, like she truly had no idea what was happening. Ethan ignored her and stormed out of the hospital. He sped all the way up the mountain, panic twisting in his chest.

He kept replaying the image of my calm expression when I said, "I'll wait for you at the top." There had been a stillness in my eyes he hadn't recognized. At the base of the mountain, a makeshift rescue command center had been set up. The air was heavy, and sirens and shouts filled the night. Thomas handed Ethan a document. It was a divorce agreement. Ihad already signed my name. "Why..." Ethan gripped the papers so tightly that they nearly tore. Then his phone chimed. There was a new email. His hands shook as he opened it. I was the sender. ---- The subject was - "Five years is enough.

Time to wake up." The message began, "Ethan, this is the truth you never bothered to see." There were three attachments. He opened the first one. It was a photo of the hospital order he personally signed-"Prioritize treatment for Vivian." His chest tightened. The chaos of that night came rushing back. Then, he opened the second attachment. It was a medical report from that same night. "Miscarriage Diagnosis." The words exploded in his mind. He looked at the name and date on the medical report in disbelief. I had been pregnant. That night, I wasn't just in an accident.

I had been carrying our child. We had a baby, but because of his order and delayed surgery, the baby died. ---- He could barely breathe. Clinging to a desperate, irrational hope, he opened the third file. It was a phone recording. Vivian's delicate yet triumphant voice came through the speaker clearly. "I tripped but told him I was hit by acar. In less than ten minutes, Ethan called every specialist in the hospital to me! "Even the surgeon who was supposed to perform an emergency operation had to come check my foot first.

Do you think you could ever compare to me?" Her delighted little laugh was like a knife twisting into his heart. It had been a joke? Vivian claimed she had been hit by acar that night, but it had all been nothing more than acruel joke. Because of that ridiculous lie, he ended up trading away our unborn child. Just then, a rescuer ran over, breathless. "Mr. Fuller! We found Mrs. Fuller's phone!" Ethan snatched it. After trying several passwords, it was unlocked with his own birthday. ---- In the phone's trash folder, the most recently deleted file was a video.

Init, I was seated at my worktable, the wall behind me covered with sketches and inspiration notes. I looked into the camera, my eyes filled with the familiar affection he once took for granted. I said, "Ethan, this charity auction is the fifth anniversary gift I prepared for us. Most of the pieces were inspired by moments from our time together. I wanted to pave one last path for your career and show that I'm someone who can stand beside you." The video froze on my hopeful smile. The words in my email cut through him like glass.

I wrote, "Ethan, if this marriage was never real to you, I'll let you go and free myself too." The phone slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground. His eyes burned red as he stared at the broken screen and my smiling face frozen in place. "Find her! Use every connection and every resource. Bring her back to me, no matter what! If you can't ---- find her, you're all fired!" he bellowed.