---- Chapter 14 Days bled into weeks, and the weeks into a month. There was no sign of Sarah. It was as if she had vanished from the face of the earth. Ethan's frustration grew into a constant, simmering rage. He snapped at his employees, threw his phone across the room, and drank himself into a stupor most nights. Olivia tried to crawl back into his life, sending apologetic texts and leaving tearful voicemails. He ignored them. She was a ghost from a life he no longer cared about. He ate little, slept less. His world had shrunk to a single, obsessive focus: finding Sarah. Every time the police called about an unidentified female body, a cold dread would seize him. He would rush to the morgue, his heart pounding in his chest, and a wave of dizzying relief would wash over him when the face under the sheet was not hers. At night, he would sit in the dark, staring at the photo he had taken from the vet's office, the one of her with Lily and her grandmother. "Why did you leave me?" he would whisper to the smiling image. "| gave you everything." He couldn't understand it. He had provided a life of unimaginable luxury. He had protected her. He had loved her, ---- in his own way. Why wasn't that enough? One day, his new assistant, a timid young man who was terrified of him, reminded him of the anniversary of Grandma Rose's death. An idea sparked in Ethan's mind. A new strategy. He arranged an elaborate memorial service at the cemetery. He hired monks to chant and bought enough white roses to cover the entire plot. He knew Sarah wouldn't come-it was too risky-but he hoped that somehow, his message would reach her. He stood before the grave, the photo in his hand, and he spoke to her as if she were there. "| know why you're angry, Sarah," he said, his voice low and earnest. "| know you think | hurt your grandmother. But | didn't. It was an accident. | was trying to protect you, to protect our life. And Olivia... Olivia was a mistake. A foolish distraction. I've sent her away. She's gone." He was weaving a new narrative, a new set of lies designed to lure her back. "I'll make it up to you," he promised the empty air. "We can start over. We can have another child. A boy this time, if you like. We can be a family again." He waited at the cemetery from dawn until dusk. She never came. Defeated, he returned to the house, the cold, empty mansion ---- by the sea. He went to her old room, a place he hadn't entered since she left. It was exactly as she had left it, pristine and impersonal. He searched for some trace of her, some forgotten letter, some hidden diary. He found a small, locked box at the back of her closet. He broke it open. Inside, there was a single object: a cheap, plastic trophy from a high school spelling bee. Her only award. A symbol of the simple, unpretentious life she had come from. A life he had tried so hard to erase He sank to the floor, the plastic trophy clutched in his hand, and a wave of desolation washed over him. He had taken everything from her, and she had left him with this small, sad reminder of the girl she used to be. He would find her. He swore it on his family's name. He would hunt her to the ends of the earth. And he would never, ever let her go again.