“Things. I was the one who walked away. Whatever was between Eric and me… it’s already over.”

“Hadley…” Ernest’s voice carried the weight of understanding as he sighed.

“Linda still haunts your thoughts.”

Hadley offered no denial.

“You’re right—this burden belongs to me. I’m small-minded and cannot bear even the faintest shadow of another woman stealing his attention.”

Her voice grew quieter as she continued, “And now, Eric’s heart no longer holds the same warmth for me that once lived there.”

A hollow laugh escaped her lips.

“Perhaps fate always intended this ending.”

After the call died, Hadley set her phone aside and pressed her palms against her eyes, seeking refuge in darkness.

Warm tears found their way through the spaces between her fingers, tracing silent paths down her cheeks.

Her mind drifted back to that fateful day at Velacca airport, when he had raced through the terminal to find her.

Standing beyond the security barrier that separated them forever, she had whispered the words that would haunt her forever now—”Go back, Eric.”

That moment had marked their final goodbye, though neither had known it then.

This Eric, stripped of all memories and stripped of their shared history, bore little resemblance to the man she had once loved.

Eric Flynn and Hadley Pearson would never meet again. Their story had reached its end, final and irreversible.

Meanwhile, the moment Eric emerged from Hadley’s house, Phillips emerged from the car.

“Mr. Scott.”

Eric’s expression remained frozen, his gaze fixed ahead as he strode purposefully toward the waiting car and ducked inside.

L€$? ￠t?€я? ?η ?@lи?νεl?.c?m

Phillips slipped in after him, studying his employer’s granite features but finding no clues about what had unfolded between Eric and Hadley.

The vehicle had barely pulled away from the curb when Eric’s phone shattered the silence with its insistent ringing.

Ernest’s name appeared on the screen, as Eric had expected.

“Ernest.”

“Yes.” Fresh from his conversation with Hadley, Ernest possessed a clear picture of the situation.

“You’ve learned the truth about you and Hadley?”

“Yes.” A bitter smile

A twisted smile touched Eric’s lips as he massaged his throbbing temples.

“It almost sounds like a cruel joke.”

He struggled to force the words past the tightness in his throat.

“Ernest, about that woman… What was her name again? Lydia? Did something really happen between us?”

Ernest paused. Eric had once showered Linda with such devoted attention, yet now he couldn’t even manage to recall her name correctly.

“It’s Linda, not Lydia,” he gently corrected him.

.

.

.