After Losing My Legs I Learned My Fiancé Had a Fake Heart Chapter 05

After Losing My Legs I Learned My Fiancé Had a Fake Heart Chapter 05

During the ceremony, Simon couldn’t focus. Derek had to correct him when he called the bride by the wrong name.

His mind kept replaying the look in Vera’s eyes before he left—the pain, the despair.

Could he have been wrong? He glanced at the delicate, helpless woman beside him. No. Vera was a master at pulling that wounded look to manipulate him and bully Chloe. She deserved a hard lesson.

Still, unease gnawed at him. He stepped away and dialed the reporters. “Vera’s not in good shape. Show some decency. Don’t go terrorizing her.”

The voice on the other end sounded confused. “But didn’t you break up with her?”

He bristled. “No. Since when does print media just invent stories?”

The reporter tried to say something else, but Simon ended the call.

Yet when the moment came for the speeches, Vera still hadn’t shown up.

Agitation flaring, he called his driver. “We searched the whole estate. There’s no sign of Miss Channing.”

Right then, his phone buzzed. When he saw the image of that handwritten note, panic seized him.

Derek leaned over, snorted. “Acting up again?”

“She says she’s breaking up with you—where’s she gonna go? She’s probably holed up somewhere in the house crying, waiting for me to show up and take her side. We can’t keep indulging this. Today is about Chloe.”

Simon steadied himself. Right. He was marrying someone else, so she was throwing a fit. Once the wedding was done, he’d buy her flowers and soothe her temper.

After the reception, he went to a florist himself and picked out a bouquet.

Vera loved lisianthus, but Chloe was allergic. He hadn’t bought Vera flowers since Chloe came back.

Whatever. As long as Vera treated Chloe like a proper sister from now on, he could let her have a little happiness.

He pushed open the front door of The Ridges Estate. The silence was unnerving. Before, Vera was always watching for him from upstairs. The second his car pulled in, she’d fly into his arms.

Right. She was in the basement now, and her legs didn’t work. He made his way down, softening his footsteps deliberately. He opened the door. Empty.

Anger flashed through him. Had Vera gone to Chloe’s room again? He stormed up to the third-floor master suite. Empty too.

The first real thread of dread coiled in his gut. Her wheelchair was still here. Where could she go? He pulled out his phone and dialed Vera.

No answer. Again and again.

“Ms. Lee! Ms. Lee—where’s Vera?”

“Miss Channing was picked up by someone, sir.”

Simon exhaled. “So she went to that children’s home. The only place she even knows in Lakewood, other than those dirty kids she’s always fussing over.”

“Get this villa cleaned top to bottom immediately. Derek will lose it if he comes home to this.”

Vera, still the same old tricks. She actually expected him to abandon Chloe and make a huge production of fetching her back.

He kicked the trash can in frustration. “Tell Vera I am not coming to get her. She can bury that hope right now.”

“But sir, what dirty kids—it wasn’t—”

Simon was already gone.

Back home, he told the security desk: if any kids showed up, they were not to be let in. He was already dreading the parade of grubby kids Vera was going to send his way. Why couldn’t she be more considerate, like Chloe? But three days passed.

Nothing came.