Chapter 10
Meanwhile, across the city, Lucas stood at his office’s floor–to–ceiling windows, an empty whiskey glass in his hand.
“Lucas,” Madison slipped her arms around him from behind, voice honey–sweet, “stop waiting. She’s not coming.”
The crystal glass groaned under his grip.
Since the party night, he’d been waiting for Aria to appear. The woman who never disobeyed his orders had not only skipped his celebration but vanished completely for days.
His phone screen still showed Aria’s last message: [I’m not coming. I’m going to find the person I love.]
He kept reading those words, a stone settling in his chest.
The person she loved? Who else could it be but him?
Or was this another one of Aria’s manipulation games?
“Lucas…” Madison was annoyed by his distraction. She stood on her toes to kiss him, but he turned his head away.
“I need some air.”
wn his glass and headed for the balcony without looking back.
air carried the scent of rain. Lucas lit a cigarette but just held it, watching it burn.
Through the smoke, he thought of Aria falling into the lake that night–her eyes had been so calm, calm enough to terrify him.
He’d thought she was just acting then, but now, remembering that desperate emptiness, it seemed real.
His phone buzzed. A message from his assistant: [Mr. Sinclair, we’ve checked every hotel. No record of Miss Winters anywhere.]
Lucas frowned, typing back: [Keep looking.J
“Who are you texting?” Madison appeared behind him, reaching for his phone.
He reflexively locked the screen, surprising them both.
“Sorry, Madison.” He offered a stiff explanation. “Company confidential.”
Madison forced a smile, darkness flashing in her eyes. “Lucas, you completed the hundredth task and I agreed to be with you. Aren’t you happy?”
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My Husband’s Guide to Losing a Perfectly Good Wife in Five Easy Steps
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Chapter 10
“Of course.” He stubbed out the unsmoked cigarette. “Why wouldn’t I be happy?”
The words fell flat, creating an awkward silence between them.
His phone lit up again.
Whatever the message said made Lucas’s face change instantly. He ignored Madison completely and strode toward the door.
When Lucas reached the police station and saw that familiar phone, his heart dropped like a stone.
It was Aria’s–he recognized the crack on the case from when she’d dropped it deflecting a bottle thrown at him last
year.
‘Where did you find this?” His voice was hoarse.
The riverbank,” the officer pointed to a map. “Matches these coordinates. We pulled up surveillance footage that hows a woman jumping from the bridge, but downstream searches haven’t found…”
Lucas gripped the phone until his knuckles went white. He suddenly remembered Aria’s final message.
io… It hadn’t been manipulation after all. It had been… goodbye.
Lucas!” Madison burst in, paling when she saw the phone in his hands. She quickly composed herself. “What do the olice say?”
He was silent for so long she thought he hadn’t heard.
She might be…” he began with difficulty.
No way,” Madison grabbed his hand, voice soothing. “Aria’s such a strong person–she’d never do anything that rastic. Maybe she just lost her phone and is off somewhere cooling down.”
ucas didn’t respond, just stared at the lockscreen photo.
I showed Aria with some man in an intimate embrace–the man kissing her forehead, his profile bearing a
even–point resemblance to Lucas but with much gentler eyes.
He’d glimpsed it before and assumed it was his own teenage photo, but now, looking closer…
Lucas searched his memory but had never seen this picture, never made that expression.
“This is…” he frowned.
Madison glanced over and immediately said, “It’s obviously Photoshopped! She was so obsessed with you, she probably created a fake photo.”
Lucas pocketed the phone without answering and headed for the door. “I’m going to the river.”
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Chapter 10
“I’ll come with you.” Madison hurried after him, voice carrying subtle grievance. “Though we do have that charity auction tomorrow night…”
“Enough!” He suddenly exploded at her. “Aria’s life or death is unknown, and all you care about is some fucking
auction?”
Madison flinched, tears immediately welling up. “I didn’t mean… Lucas, I’m just worried about you…”
Lucas forced himself to calm down. “Sorry. I’m on edge. Go home and rest–I need to be alone for a while.”
He watched Madison leave, then drove to the riverbank alone.
Sunset painted the water blood–red. Standing where Aria might have fallen, he felt his chest constrict painfully.
For seven days, he’d replayed everything Aria had done for him–taking bullets, drinking poison, nearly freezing to death in that lake until she lost the ability to have children… risking her life to save him from the avalanche.
He’d thought her sacrifices were trivial, but now that the woman who’d silently protected him was gone, he felt
hollow inside.
‘Aria…” he whispered to the flowing water, but only wind answered back.
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