Chapter 4

Later in the evening, I found a quiet spot on the terrace, away from the noise of the party. I just wanted the night to end. The air was cool, and it helped clear my head. From here, I could see into the brightly lit library.

And then I saw them. Olivia and Liam were in the library, alone. The door was slightly ajar. Liam reached out and gently brushed a stray strand of hair from Olivia' s face. She leaned into his touch, her eyes closing for a moment as if in bliss. He murmured something, and she laughed, a soft, intimate sound I had only read about in the journal. It was the laugh he had described, the one that was never for him. For me.

They looked so natural together, so right. A tiny, residual pang went through my chest. It wasn't love, not anymore. It was more like a phantom limb, the lingering ghost of a feeling that had once been all-consuming. It was the final echo of the old Ethan' s heartbreak. I acknowledged it, and then I let it go.

I turned to leave, but as I did, Liam' s voice, sharp and angry, cut through the air. He had come out onto the terrace and was striding towards me.

"What are you doing skulking out here?" he demanded.

Before I could answer, he noticed his wrist was bare. His eyes widened in panic.

"My watch! The family heirloom! It' s gone!" he exclaimed, his voice loud enough to draw attention from the nearby guests.

He rounded on me, his face a mask of accusation. "You! You were the only one near me. You took it, didn' t you? You were jealous!"

The accusation was so absurd, so sudden, that I was momentarily stunned. Guests started to drift out onto the terrace, drawn by the commotion.

"I didn't take your watch, Liam," I said, my voice even.

"Liar!" he shouted. "You' ve always been a thief! Stealing attention, stealing my family' s name, and now you' re stealing our legacy!"

Mr. and Mrs. Reed rushed out, their faces pale with alarm.

"What' s going on?" Mr. Reed demanded.

"He stole the watch, Dad!" Liam insisted, pointing a trembling finger at me. "The one you just gave me!"

My adoptive father' s face hardened. He didn' t ask for my side of the story. He didn' t hesitate for a second. He marched over to me and slapped me hard across the face.

The sound echoed in the sudden silence of the terrace. My head snapped back, a sharp, stinging pain spreading across my cheek.

"How dare you?" Mr. Reed roared, his face contorted with rage. "After everything we' ve done for you, you ungrateful brat! You bring nothing but shame to this family!"

Mrs. Reed grabbed my arm, her nails digging into my skin. "Give it back, Ethan! Give it back right now and we might not call the police!"

I was surrounded, judged, and condemned without a trial. Their hatred was a suffocating blanket. And then, Olivia appeared. She pushed her way through the small crowd, her silver dress rustling. She stopped in front of me, her beautiful face a mask of pure, unadulterated disgust.

She looked at my cheek, where the red mark of my father's hand was already forming. There was no sympathy in her eyes, only cold satisfaction.

"I always knew you were pathetic, Ethan," she said, her voice low and cutting. Each word was delivered with precision. "But I didn' t know you were a common thief as well."

She took a step closer, her voice dropping to a whisper that only I could hear. "Let me make this clear. Liam is the man I love. I was a fool to ever get tied to you. This marriage was the biggest mistake of my life. After this, we are finished. I never want to see your face again."

Her words should have been the final blow. For the man in the journal, they would have been a death sentence. He had lived for her, for the hope that she might one day look at him with a fraction of the love she gave Liam.

But I wasn't him.

I looked at her, at the beautiful face twisted by hate, and I felt the last lingering thread of connection to my past snap. The phantom pain in my chest vanished, replaced by an absolute, liberating emptiness.

I started to laugh. It wasn't a hysterical sound, but a quiet, genuine laugh of release.

Her eyes widened in confusion. The crowd murmured. They had expected tears, denials, begging. They didn't expect this.

I met her cold, shocked gaze and smiled, the stinging on my cheek completely forgotten.

"Don' t worry, Olivia," I said, my voice clear and calm. "You don't have to see me again."

I paused, letting the weight of my next words sink in.

"Because I don' t love you anymore."

A collective gasp went through the crowd. Olivia' s face went from shock to disbelief to fury. Liam looked stunned. My parents stared at me as if I had grown a second head.

In that moment, I had taken back the only thing they thought they had left to take from me: my desperate, pathetic love. And its absence had left them, for the first time, utterly speechless.