---- Chapter 16 Hardin POV: The news of PixelVixen's return was everywhere. It dominated the headlines for three days straight, a wildfire of excitement and speculation. Even the nurses in my hospital wing were gossiping about it. | paid it little mind. I' d heard the name, of course. A reclusive genius, a master of the craft. But it had nothing to do with me. The only thing that mattered was finding Athena. The day | was finally discharged, Carina was waiting for me in my room. She had the audacity to look concerned, to fuss over my pillows as if the last week hadn't happened. "Get out of my sight," | said, my voice flat and dead. "Hardin, you're not well," she pleaded, tears welling in her eyes. "You're not yourself. You don't remember us." She reached for my arm, and | flinched away as if her touch were acid. | walked past her without another word, leaving her standing alone in the sterile white room. As | left, | heard her on the phone, her voice a venomous whisper. "Find her. | don't care what it takes. | want her gone. For good." ---- Back at the mansion, the silence was a physical weight, pressing in on me. The place felt hollow, empty. Her ghost was in every room. | went straight to the study and picked up the silver-framed photo from my desk. It was of the two of us, taken last summer. Her head was thrown back in laughter, her eyes sparkling. A pain, sharp and visceral, lanced through my chest. "| will find you," | whispered to the smiling face in the photo, my voice a raw, desperate promise. | called Arthur. "Any news?" "Her trail goes cold after she landed, sir," he said, his voice hesitant. "Her identity, her financials... it's like she's been wiped clean. Someone powerful is protecting her." A cold dread trickled down my spine. Someone was actively working against me. But who? And why? | slammed the phone down in frustration. | didn't know anything about her. In three years, | had never once bothered to ask about her family, her friends, her life before me. The force of the impact knocked something off the desk. A small, black object. A digital voice recorder. My fingers trembled as | picked it up and pressed play. Carina' s voice filled the room, dripping with venom. "..those men in the alley? That was my idea... I'm just so disappointed ---- Hardin got there before they could really... finish the job." The recorder fell from my numb fingers. My body went rigid. The air was stolen from my lungs. My teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. Carina. | called Arthur again. "Where is she?" "Ms. Sparks is on her way to the mansion now, sir." | hung up and walked to Athena's bedroom. It was exactly as she'd left it. | stood in the doorway, greedily drinking in the sight of her things, the faint scent of her perfume still lingering in the air. My heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. A wave of dizziness washed over me, and | leaned against the doorframe, my head pounding. My gaze fell on the trash can by her desk. Inside, | saw the glittering fragments of the silver frame from my study. And beneath them, a confetti of shredded paper. My heart stopped. With shaking hands, | tipped the contents of the can onto the floor and began to piece the photo back together. The jagged tear ran right between us, a prophecy of our broken future. A choked sob escaped my lips. Beneath the photo fragments was a small, leather-bound notebook. Her diary. Page after page of her beautiful, looping ---- script, documenting every lie | had ever told her. He promised to take me to see the cherry blossoms in Japan. He promised our wedding would be on a beach at sunset. Every word was a dagger in my chest. The book slipped from my grasp, the pages fluttering to the floor around me. | collapsed to my knees, a raw, animalistic howl of grief tearing from my throat. My face was wet with tears | didn't know | was crying. My heart felt like it was being torn to shreds in my chest. | clawed at my own hair, my head throbbing, the pain a welcome distraction. Flashes of memory, sharp and brutal, assaulted me. My own voice, cold and cruel: "You need to be taught a lesson." My hands, forcing her into an icy shower. My words, calling her a liar, a saboteur. The dam in my mind broke. The last three years came rushing back, not as a hazy dream, but in vivid, horrifying detail. My faked amnesia. My meticulous manipulation. Everything | had done to her, for Carina. | remembered it all. A hysterical, broken laugh escaped me. | had done this. | had destroyed the only person who had ever shown me an ounce ---- of genuine kindness. | had broken my own heart. From the hallway, | heard the front door open. "Hardin?" Carina called out, her voice bright and cheerful. 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