- 5.
In the video, the familiar red Maserati was
slowly being pulled out of the water by a
salvage crew.
Jake’s heart felt like it was being squeezed
tighter and tighter by some invisible force.
When the whole car finally surfaced, and they
saw there wasn’t a body in the driver’s seat,
Jake breathed a sigh of relief.
He ran to the car as quickly as he could. Lily,
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eager to confirm that I was really dead,
followed him.
Inside the car, Jake dialed my number over
and over, his face as dark as a thundercloud.
“Honey, don’t worry. They haven’t found the
body yet. Maybe later…”
“Shut up!”
Lily’s attempt at comfort touched on Jake’s
deepest fears.
He slammed the gas pedal, not caring about
the pleading look on Lily’s pale face in the
passenger seat.
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The Golden Gate Bridge was swarming with
reporters and media. Jake’s car was stuck
three miles away.
Jake honked his horn impatiently. The person
in front of him was about to give him the
finger, but they shut up when they saw who it
was.
A week ago, Jake had booked every digital
billboard in the city, announcing our “wedding
of the century.”
Even someone who never leaves the house
would recognize Jake from the pictures.
But now, seeing him with a woman in the
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passenger seat who looked eerily like me,
everyone was guessing and suspicious.
The paparazzi who missed the actual crash
site were like sharks smelling blood. They all
swarmed around him.
“Mr. Jacob, isn’t today your wedding? Why
are you here with this young lady?”
“Mr. Jacob, can you explain your relationship
with her? Does your fiancée know she
exists?”
“Mr. Jacob, are you involved in today’s
accident? Ms. Brittany was driving a car you
gave her. Is there something fishy going on?”
<
With more and more reporters surrounding
him, asking increasingly pointed questions,
Jake completely lost his temper.
“Get out of my way! If you block me again,
you’ll all disappear from this city tomorrow!”
The veteran reporters pulled their eager
colleagues back.
They knew how ruthless Jake could be when
dealing with his competitors.
They also knew how important I was to him.
Even if they suspected something, they didn’t
dare say it out loud.
L
Jake angrily opened the car door and ran
towards the scene, to everyone’s surprise.
Lily in the car pretended to be innocent,
deliberately making the relationship between
the two of them vague in front of the
reporters.
That day, the hashtags
“#Jacob’sFiancéeCarAccident” and
“#Jacob’sAffair” dominated the headlines.
Everyone witnessed how the epic wedding
turned into an epic funeral.
At the crash site, several ambulances and
police cars were parked by the bridge. A
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group of people were gathered by the water’s
edge, as if they’d pulled something out of the
sea.
His breath caught in his throat. He
subconsciously looked away.
But the blood–stained lace hem of a dress
kept flashing in his mind.
He remembered that the wedding dress I had
finally chosen was exactly that one.
The medical examiner said sadly, “According
to DNA analysis, the blood on the wedding
dress belongs to Ms. Brittany.”
<
“But the body…”
The medical examiner glanced at the ocean in
the distance, not finishing the sentence.
A loud bang went off in Jake’s head.
He didn’t hear a word after that.
He stared at the wedding dress in front of
him, feeling dazed.
That day, I had twirled around in front of him
in the wedding dress, satisfied, and asked
him if it looked good.
But the wedding dress in front of him was
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tattered, obviously torn.
Even though he seemed to have a bad feeling
in his heart, he instinctively chose not to
believe it.
The man’s eyes were crazy, and he roared in
pain.
“No! I don’t believe Brittany’s dead! I don’t
believe it!”
“Go find her! Everyone, as long as you bring
her back, I’ll give you ten million dollars
each!”
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