By admin A Romance In Passing Chapter 12
“Emmy?”
William flipped on the light, his voice echoing through the empty house,
Silence
His gaze swept the room, a knot of dread tightening in his chest. He made his way to the bedroom. The closet doors stood wide open. All of Emily’s clothes were
gone.
Her usual skincare bottles had vanished from the dresser, leaving behind only a fine layer of dust. And the photo frame that once held a picture of them together now sat empty. The photo itself had been ripped to shreds and tossed in the trash.
William slumped onto the bed. That was when he noticed a sticky note on the nightstand. In Emily’s delicate handwriting, it read, “We’re done.”
His hand trembled as he picked it up, the paper fluttering from his grasp a moment later. He looked around the room in a daze, only now beginning to grasp just how completely Emily had wiped every trace of herself from this place.
She was gone.
How could she just walk away without a word? No. She wouldn’t just throw away eight years of their life together. She couldn’t.
As a wave of grief crashed over William, his eyes landed on a silver USB drive resting on the nightstand.
He stared at it, puzzled. He had no idea what was on it, but something in his gut told him Emily had left it for a reason–something she wanted him to know.
A sudden jolt of urgency shot through him. He rushed to the study, fumbling as he shoved the drive into his computer.
This had to be a clue. Emily was just upset and wanted him to come after her. And when he finally found her? He’d swallow his pride, get down on his knees if he
had to, and do whatever it took to bring her back.
After a burst of static, a woman’s shrill voice crackled through the speakers.
“Let me spell it out for you. I knew Liam would come save me. That’s why I had someone sabotage the chandelier at your anniversary party!
“You got lucky surviving that crash, but don’t count on being lucky twice. If you keep clinging to him, I won’t stop coming for you!”
That was Aria’s voice.
At the anniversary party, he had rushed forward without a second thought to protect Aria. It had never crossed his mind that she might have staged the entire thing.
After the incident, Emily had spent a long time in recovery. Even then, the injuries left her with lasting damage.
A prickling sense of dread crawled over William’s scalp. The woman he had thought so pure and harmless had done something unspeakably cruel.
His blood ran cold. He stared at the screen, unblinking, as if sheer focus might sharpen the audio.
Then came the part where Aria tossed Emily’s beloved cat off the balcony. She’d taunted Emily afterward, asking who William would believe if she jumped, too.
A loud crash followed. Then came William’s voice through the audio. He’d refused to believe Emily. Instead, he’d blindly taken Aria’s side, flinging accusations at
Emily and calling her vicious and shameless.
“William, we’ve known each other for years. Is that really who you think I am?”
The moment those words hit him, it felt like a knife twisting in his chest. Only now did he hear the raw despair laced in Emily’s voice.
William remembered the day Aria had found him in that fishing village, claiming to be his girlfriend after he lost his memory. Looking back, it all felt too
convenient. Her act as his savior was probably just another lie.
His throat tightened, and his fist slammed hard against the desk.
Why? Why did he keep hurting Emily, the woman he’d loved for eight years, for Aria’s sake?
The sudden ring of his phone shattered the silence. The caller was none other than Aria, the very source of all this misery.
The moment William picked up, Aria’s saccharine voice bubbled through the receiver.
1
“Liam, where are you? I dropped by the office to bring you dinner, but Ms. Burkhart said you weren’t even working late today. Where’d you go? I made all your favorite dishes. When are you coming home?”
Her fake concern made his skin crawl. His grip on the phone tightened as he fought to keep his anger in check
“I’ve got some things to take care of. Just go to bed.”
“Are you with Ms. Caldwell? I know I shouldn’t ask, but didn’t you promise you’d stay with me? Are you going back to her? Are you going to leave me again?”
William’s jaw tightened at her words.
How dare Aria bring up Emily? Had she already forgotten that it was her manipulative games that hurt Emily? That it was because of her lies, he kept pushing Emily away, until Emily finally left without a word.
He let out a cold, humorless laugh. Forcing his voice to stay even, he said through clenched teeth, “No. I’m almost done here. And talk to you. Wait for me at home.”
I actually, I’ve been meaning to