Chapter 17
+25 Bonus
Seth had returned to the city, but he couldn’t stop himself from keeping tabs on Bella. Each photo the detectives sent him–every single one—had Danny in it.
Ever since learning Bella was with Danny, it was as if something inside him had died.
His eyes lost their light. The man who once stood tall and proud was gone, replaced by a
hollow version of himself.
He moved through each day like a machine–eating three meals on time, attending to his work–but never smiling, never truly present.
His confidence had vanished.
He obsessively restored Bella’s old room, arranging every item exactly as it had been.
He built a replica of her presence, as though pretending she never left could soften the pain.
But the further he sank into this illusion, the more unstable he became.
He started sleeping in that room every night, whispering her name under his breath.
Again and again, he called her number, though it was always switched off. Still, he kept
dialing.
When he missed her most, he’d register new, anonymous numbers just to hear her voice
answer before falling silent and waiting for her to hang up.
That fleeting sound was enough to satisfy him–for a moment.
His parents, horrified by what he was becoming, began introducing him to every eligible
heiress in the city. Each woman was more elegant and beautiful than the last.
He didn’t glance twice. It was as though he no longer remembered how to feel interested at
all.
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+25 Bonus
Six months passed in a dull haze.
Then one day, at a friend’s insistence, he went in for a hospital check–up.
The diagnosis came quietly. He had severe depression.
The doctors urged him to take medication. Friends comforted him, encouraged him to cooperate with treatment.
But Seth refused. He knew no drug could cure what he had. He already knew where the antidote was. And it was something he would never get again.
Eventually, even the military asked him to step down, gently advising him to take time to
heal.
He withdrew from the world. Drew the curtains shut. Let no sunlight in. No matter how
bright the day was outside, his room remained dark.
One day, the memory of a cruel moment came back to him–The time he called her love
letters nonsense. The way he threw her carefully written words into the trash.
That memory broke something in him.
Over and over, he muttered, “I’m sorry.”
Then he picked up a pen.
Every day, he wrote her a love letter and placed it gently on her desk.
He knew she’d never read them. But he wrote them anyway. He kept writing until the desk
could hold no more.
And still, he didn’t stop.
One afternoon, while buying more stationery, Seth was stabbed.
The attacker was Faye.
After stabbing him, she immediately took her own life.
Has Pry Bar 2/3
Chapter 17
+26 Bonus
Her health had long since deteriorated. She’d crossed the border illegally for one purpose only: to kill Seth.
Now that she had done it, she believed she could finally rest.
But fate had other plans.
Seth survived. The knife wound wasn’t fatal. But it left him in a vegetative state.
His body became still and lifeless. He was bound to a bed for the rest of his life.
Lying there, unable to move, he had just one thought.
He could never write Bella another love letter again. This time, it was truly goodbye.
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