I Faked My Death, But He Never Let Go

Chapter 3

Calista froze, stunned and utterly disbelieving.

Girlfriend. Aunt. Those two words might as well have dropped from outer space for how alien they sounded to her.

How could this be happening?

Didn't Emrys like her?

She remembered it as clear as day. In her past life, he'd stood right in front of Gideon and admitted, "I truly care for Calista."

The memory coiled around her chest so tight she could barely breathe.

Desperate, like a drowning person grabbing for a life raft, she babbled explanations over and over, praying he'd stop being mad, stop saying he didn't have feelings for her!

"Uncle Emrys, I already broke up with Finlo, and I'm going to terminate my contract with him too," she said.

A flicker of obvious surprise crossed Emrys's face.

But all he said was, "He's no good. You're making the right call, leaving him."

Then he turned and walked into his room, leaving Calista standing there alone.

Her chest felt hollow, heavy and empty, like she'd swung as hard as she could only to punch a pile of cotton.

Ever since she'd been reborn, Emrys had brushed her off again and again. This hurt worse than when they'd fallen apart and cut off all contact in her past life. It was torture, pure and simple.

Calista tossed and turned all night, not getting a single wink of sleep.

The next morning, the second she heard the front door click shut, she scrambled out of bed and rushed to the window. Just in time to see Emrys's back as he climbed into his car.

Sunlight flashed off the black Bentley's licence plate, the glare almost blinding.

Six or seven years prior, he'd bought that plate at auction for thirteen million dollars. As his status in Haleysford rose over the years, that license plate had become his signature, a calling card everyone in Haleysford recognized instantly.

When Calista was little, she'd ridden in that car more times than she could count.

But looking at it now, a weird, hollow feeling settled over her. It felt like the distance between her and Emrys was stretching wider and wider by the second...

Her fingers clenched so tight her knuckles turned white. It took her a long minute to shove the messy emotions down and head to the bathroom to wash up.

Now that she was reborn, besides being with Emrys, she had another far more urgent task to handle. Rainier Entertainment.

Finlo stared at Calista, who'd shown up again to demand a contract termination, and the suited man standing behind her. His face darkened like a storm cloud.

"What, you're never gonna stop throwing this tantrum?" Finlo asked.

Calista's voice was ice-cold. "I'm not throwing a tantrum. I'm terminating this contract, no matter what," she said.

Finlo scoffed, slamming a copy of the Entertainment Morning Post down hard on the desk in front of her with a thwack.

"With your reputation right now, you think anyone's gonna sign you once you break this contract?" he demanded.

Calista glanced down at the paper. Her heart dropped. Someone had snapped a photo of her throwing herself into Emrys's arms at the charity gala, and the report had been sensationalized and exaggerated out of all recognition.

She tamped down the flicker of anxiety in her chest, keeping her tone steady. "I'll issue a clarification," she replied.

Finlo let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Clarification? Elara is the nation's sweetheart actress. Her fans could drown you in spit if they all decided to come for you!"

Calista knew he was telling the truth, but that didn't change her mind. She was still ending this contract.

"That's my business, not yours. All I want is to terminate the contract," Calista said.

Finlo's temper flared. He leaned back in his chair with a sneer, crossing his arms. "Fine. Terminate it all you want. Pay the penalty fee, and you can walk out that door right now," he shot back.

Thanks to her past life, Calista knew exactly why he was acting so cocky. He'd swapped out the original contract ages ago. The one million Haleysford dollars penalty fee written in the original had been changed to fifty million Haleysford dollars, a ridiculous, impossible sum she could never pay, no matter what.

"You know damn well whether this contract is even legally binding," Calista shot back.

She dropped the words sharply, "My lawyer will handle everything from here. Don't push me to burn this whole thing down just to take you with me. I have zero problem calling the cops."

With that, she spun on her heel and walked out.

Finlo's enraged yelling boomed from the office behind her, but Calista was in an unusually bright mood, like the heavy, gloomy cloud hanging over her had finally lifted.

Now that this mess was sorted, there was only Emrys left to deal with.

Thinking back to their awkward conversation the night before, she picked up a takeout order from his favorite restaurant and headed straight to Calder Group.

But when she got there, the secretary told her, "Mr. Calder isn't in the office right now. He's gone to the Reverie Atelier."

'Atelier?'

Emrys was a total workaholic who never cared about this kind of fancy art stuff. Why on earth would he head to an atelier in the middle of a workday?

A weird, uneasy feeling twisted in her gut. She hurried over to the gallery, only to find the entire space draped in roses.

Emrys was standing right in the middle of that sea of bright red roses next to his friend, the owner of the Reverie Atelier.

Calista walked over on instinct.

And she heard the gallery owner say, "Emrys, you're clearly totally head over heels for Elara. You're putting so much thought into this proposal setup."