Chapter 70
James ordered someone to unwrap the wedding candies and toss them into the sewer.
“Happiness? Sweetness?!” he shouted.”
“Are you really that happy now that you’ve left me?!”
The guests had already fled the ruined venue, but no one dared speak a word about the chaos they had witnessed.
Only Jacqueline crept closer, voice trembling.”
“James… aren’t you happy that my sister got married?“}
James stood among the wreckage and turned slowly. “Jacqueline,” he said coldly, “tell your brother, did you lie about what happened at the hospital yesterday?“}]
Jacqueline nearly answered on instinct. “Of course not! I would never lie to you.”
James nodded. “I see.“>
Without another word, he turned and walked into the study.
The wedding night, once so highly anticipated, had lost all meaning. Late into the night, he opened the door, intending to take a walk in the garden.”
But just as he passed the living room, he spotted a suspicious figure creeping near his wine glass.
Before the man could act, a bodyguard tackled him to the floor. James pressed a foot to the man’s head.”
“What were you doing?“!
“What
The man trembled so hard he wet himself.”
“M–Mr. James! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
“Someone gave me five million dollars to spike your drink. It was supposed to go in the wedding drinks, but since the ceremony got ruined…”
He trailed off, but James already understood.”
So that was it.”
In his previous life, he had been drunk, too drunk. So drunk he hadn’t answered Jacqueline Smith’s emergency call. Now he understood why. He had beer: drugged. And in this life, the same thing had almost happened again.”
James’s voice turned glacial. “Who sent you?“}]
The man shook his head violently. “I–I can’t say! If I talk, I’ll die!”
James laughed bitterly. “And what makes you think I’ll let you live if you don’t talk?“}
He gave a signal and the bodyguards began beating the man without mercy. Within minutes, he was bloodied and half–conscious.
“I’ll tell you…” he choked out. “Come closer.”
James leaned in.
“It was… Mrs. Lane. She said… she hoped it would make your wedding night more harmonious…“}
Those words shattered everything.”
So, it wasn’t fate. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was premeditated.
In his past life, it had been Mrs. Lane, his stepmother, who had drugged him on his wedding night. Because of that drug, he hadn’t answered Jacqueline’s call. And she died.
Why?
Why would she do that?”
And now, she has tried it again.”
James gestured. The bodyguards dragged the man away to be “dealt with.“}]
He turned to the rest of his men. “Investigate everything. Especially what happened at the hospital that day.“”
He didn’t rush to find me. He was afraid, afraid he had wronged me.
Still, he sent someone to the hospital to check on my father.
They returned with grim news. “Mr. Grey was cremated yesterday.“}}
James froze.”
“That’s not possible. A vegetative patient, can’t they survive without a ventilator?”
The doctor wiped sweat from his brow.”
“Mr. Grey’s condition was unique. He required constant oxygen. Even one minute without the ventilator would’ve meant irreversible damage. Resuscitation wouldn’t have worked.“}
James’s heart pounded.”
Suddenly, he remembered something from his previous life. Just before Jacqueline died, she had claimed to run a “scientific experiment.” She had cut off the power to several private hospital wards. Vegetative patients lost their ventilators for ten minutes.}
She cried afterward, saying the experiment had failed.
Among the list of patients who died that day… Was my father one of them?”
5:50 AM
James stood frozen, drowning in regret.”
He called me again and again. But the number had already been disconnected.}
Jacqueline didn’t go to the dinner she had invited him to that night. She simply sat in my room, staring at an old photo of us from ten years ago.
Her fingers brushed lightly over the image of my face.}
“Why didn’t you ask me to take another one?” she whispered.}]
