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Lachlan took a deep breath, revealing a secret that shook me to my core.
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“I feel like… I was partly responsible for your death.”
He told me that in our last life, the news of my death had shattered him. He’d been driving in a rainstorm, lost in his grief, and crashed the car. He never made it
out.
He then revealed another secret, one that unraveled everything I thought I knew.
“If I had been braver back then… if I had told you that it was Harrison who bribed your roommate to frame you for plagiarism… if I had told you that it was me who stayed up for three days straight to find the evidence that proved your innocence…”
His voice choked up. “Would you have seen him for who he was? But Harrison… he told me you were in love with him. He asked me if I really had the heart to destroy your happiness.”
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“I didn’t have the heart. I was also afraid you wouldn’t believe me, so I let him take the credit.”
My mind went blank.
The grand gesture that had made me fall for
Harrison… was something he had stolen from Lachlan.
How could I have been so blind?
I leaned over and hugged him, patting his back gently as his shoulders shook.
“Why were you so foolish?”
“Did you know,” I whispered, “if all of that hadn’t happened… perhaps I would have chosen you…
Lachlan froze. A moment later, he asked, his voice trembling, “Really?
Back then, you… you had feelings for me, too?”
I couldn’t help but break down in tears.
We unraveled the misunderstandings and heartaches of our past life, finally confirming what we had both been too afraid to admit.
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That night, we flew to Autlia together on the Kingsley family’s private jet.
The next day, the news back home was flooded with footage of my ‘suicide‘.
After my “death,” Harrison and Lorelei were, as I had predicted, caught in a downward spiral of mutual
torment.
He began going to church to pray, seeking redemption for my soul and forcing Lorelei to kneel beside him and repent for her sins.
During one struggle, Lorelei fell down a flight of stairs and miscarried. He then sent her to a remote, abusive institution disguised as a ‘mental wellness retreat‘.
Ultimately, Lorelei died there from complications and medical negligence.
Lorelei’s mother, driven mad by grief, eventually exposed everything to the media before orchestrating a fiery ‘accident‘ that killed both her own husband and
Harrison.
Two years later, on a tranquil night in Vermont, Tim
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and Lachlan were celebrating my birthday.
Tim proudly pointed to the massive LEGO castle he had built. “Auntie, happy birthday!”
Lachlan pretended to be annoyed. “You little rascal! We agreed I would be the first to wish her a happy birthday!”
Tim grinned triumphantly.
Lachlan let out a playful huff.
He walked over to me, then suddenly dropped to one knee, opening a small velvet box.
Inside was a diamond ring that shimmered with a soft, warm light.
He said, his voice thick with emotion, “Happy birthday, Evelyn. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”
I smiled and held out my hand.
The firelight from the hearth behind him reflected the glow in my eyes as I replied, “The honor is all mine.”
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