NovelEnglishChapter 281
Astrid’s POV
Me, CEU
In these three days, James, Ethan and | completed Audrey’s funeral while dodging Blake’s search teams.
Following her wishes, we took her ashes to the coastal village where she grew up, to NYU, to Pinehaven Village
where she met Blake and Rachel, to the nursing hwhere she cared for William, even past Lunar Mansion.
Half a day's journey covered her entire twenty-something years of life. After our pilgrimage, we laid her to rest in
a cemetery overlooking the coast.
When Blake found me, | was burning Audrey’s journals in an empty lot.
He grabbed my arm hard. “Where is Audrey?”
I looked him over
unshaven, dark circles under bloodshot eyes, that perfect suit rumpled. Not so polished now.
| shook free and kept tossing notebooks into the flames.
What's the point of hating him now? Audrey’s gone. She made it clear she didn’t want his tears afterward.
He seized my arm again, fingers digging in. “Where is Audrey? Three days ago, | had Michael call you to check
on her. Where did you take her?”
| tried pulling away but couldn't break his grip. Instead, | grabbed the remaining journals and dumped them all
into the fire at once.
The flames leaped higher, lighting my face as | smiled coldly. “Who are you asking about?”
His grip tightened, desperation creeping into his voice. “Stop playing games. | need to see her. | have something
important to tell her.”
“You won't find her,” | laughed, the sound harsh even to my ears. “Whatever you wanted to say, save it. Audrey
won't hear you anymore.”
“How would you know?” he demanded. “Just tellwhere she is, I'll find her myself.”
“Where will you find her, in heaven?”
His grip went slack. “What do you mean?”
| stared directly into his eyes. “Audrey is dead.”
Thunder crashed somewhere in the distance.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtBlake stumbled back like I'd hit him. The color drained from his face.
“That's impossible,” he muttered. “Three days ago she was -
His shock transformed into rage. He lunged forward, grabbing my shoulders hard enough to bruise.
“You're lying! She was fine! This is just another trick because she doesn’t want to see me!”
He shook me. “What kind of joke is this? You're her best friend how could you even say that?”
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| smiled through the pain, thinking: Really? This performance now? Where was this concern when she was alive?
When he kept her locked up, refused her medicine, spent every day with Laurel?
“Tellwhere she really is,” he demanded, grip tightening.
“Stop!” Ethan appeared, pulling Blake's hands off me. He wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders. “Are
you okay?”
“Fine,” | said calmly.
| turned to Blake, pointing at the fire barrel. “You want to find Audrey? Jump in. You'll see her today.”
As he turned toward the flames, his face went ashen.
“Go ahead,” | taunted. “Why don’t you? You never cared when she was alive. Now you're putting on this show,
pretending you care. Who's it for?”
Blake's POV
| stopped hearing Astrid.
My focus narrowed to the burning pages. The elegant handwriting on one journal cover read: “There might not
be a future with Blake Parker.”
Audrey’s handwriting.
My head buzzed like static. I'd been so fixated on finding Audrey | hadn't noticed what Astrid was burning.
Without thinking, | plunged my hands into the flames. Fire scorched my skin, burned through my sleeve, but | felt
nothing as | pulled out journal after journal.
“Mr. Parker, stop!” Ethan tried to pullback, but | shoved him away.
| gathered every charred scrap, spreading them on the ground. Each page contained Audrey's thoughts about
me.
“He doesn’t remember me. Could Rachel be right that someone like him would never remember someone like
me?”
“I saw him again at the nursing home. Still can’t let go.”*
“He's a vegetative patient now. I'll marry him, care for him. Hope he won't hate me.”
“He hatesafter all. Should've let go long ago...”
Each word cut deeper than the burns on my hands.
Three years together. | knew she wrote in her study but never looked. If I'd bothered to read these, would | have
figured it out sooner? Hurt her less?
| looked up at Astrid, voice raw, “Where is she really?”
She can’t be dead. This has to be another way to avoid me.
Astrid’s cold smile never wavered. “I've said everything | need to. Believe it or don’t.”
She turned to Ethan. “Let's go.”
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Chapter 281
Ethan gavea worried look before helping Astrid to their car.
| stayed on the ground, piecing together burnt fragments of Audrey’s heart, reading until my face was wet with
tears.
Night fell. The lot emptied. | sat alone with the ashes of Audrey's love.
A taxi pulled up. Ethan stepped out.
“You wanted to see Audrey?” he asked quietly. “I'll take you to her.”
Wild joy surged through me. | staggered to my feet.
“She’ll see me?” My voice was unrecognizable. “I knew it... she’s fine... she can’t be dead...”
Ethan just stared at me, then helpedinto the taxi without a word.
| called Michael. “Get those burned notebooks from the lot. Every scrap.”
My throat felt raw. “Find someone who can restore them.”
| had to see what Audrey wrote aboutall these years. The pain, the disappointment. Everything.
Maybe then I'd understand how badly I'd failed her.
I'll fix this. Somehow. If she’ll just talk to me...
As we drove toward the coast and when the cemetery gates cinto view, something cold settled in my
stomach.
| stumbled getting out of the car. Why here?
Ethan grabbed my elbow. “Con.”:
“She’s waiting.”
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| let out a short, bitter laugh. “Fine.”
Ethan ledthrough the cemetery to a black headstone. When | saw Audrey's photo on it, my legs just gave
out,
Ethan didn’t try to help this time. He just arranged flowers at the base of the stone.
“Don’t be mad at Astrid,” he said. “Audrey made us promise not to tell anyone from your family. She didn’t want
you here.”
“But | always thought you two had skind of misunderstanding. That you actually loved each other.”
He straightened up. “So | brought you anyway. If you've got something to say to her, now’s your chance.”
| couldn’t take my eyes off her photo. “How did she die?”
She was fine when | left. How the hell did this happen?
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