CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO : HE STOPPED
CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO : HE STOPPED
Day Fifty-Two
It was exactly a day before I married Killian.
Tomorrow was our wedding and to say I was anxious or nervous was a big understatement.
In fact, I could not explain this nagging feeling in my chest.
But I knew it burned painfully.
My grandmother would probably kill me if she knew I was coming in to work a day before the wedding.
But for some reason, I could not stop myself.
I opened my office door expecting to see a single rose with a single note as usual.
But no, my desk was packed this time.
A frown curved on my face at the sight.
I turned to my assistant in confusion.
One would think that after over a month of working with me she would loosen her shyness.
But I have grown to understand that it was just part of her nature.
“Why are there so many today?” I asked her with a frown.
Taking in all the singles roses with a note attached to each.
“I don't know ma’am.
The florist who had delivered them said that Mr Blackwood wanted them all delivered now because he won’t be around to send the rest later,” she said meekly.
And my head snapped to her in shock and confusion wondering what Ethan meant by that.
“How many are they?” I asked, rolling my eyes knowing I was just thinking too much about everything.
“Ninety-eight ma’am,” she replied.
“Ninety-eight!” I repeated in shock.
That was before I regained myself, watching as my assistant practically ran out the moment I told she could go.
They were arranged orderly, with a marking before each just like the past fifty-one I had received.
At first, I was confused when Ethan put a marking of ‘Day one,’ on the first letter.
But now, I understood that it was to identify how many times he had hurt me.
Because each day he had apologized for a different pain he had caused me.
Not able to shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong, I picked the first note.
“I saw you in your wedding dress yesterday, during your final fitting.
Don’t ask me how.
I’m very sure you already know my answer.
And I have to say you looked ethereal.
But, that just made me realize something.
That you never had a gown fitting for our wedding.
Our marriage was really fucked up wasn’t it?
Well, I have no one to blame but myself so I’ll live with the guilt even in death.”
“My dearest Leah,
I’m so sorry for saying you do not deserve to be my wife that day.
In reality, I never deserved to be your husband.
You are everything a man like me should not have, yet I still hungered for you.
You are perfect Leah.
And I’m so sorry.”
A whirl wind of emotions shot through my chest, as I kept the note in my locker where the past ones he had sent laid.
But still, that nagging feeling that something bad never left me.
I tried to shake it off and focus on my work, telling myself that reading one letter was enough for today.
But that feeling.
It felt like it held me stiff.
Pressing in my throat with enough pressure to leave me gasping for air.
The pain was unbearable as I shut down my laptop.
And then, I finally had the courage to pick up the last rose.
The note attached to the rose labeled. “Day 150.”
Unwrapping it, I unfolded it gently.
And the moment my eyes landed on the words, I froze.
All the air left my lungs, and I found myself unable to breathe.
“Hi Leah,
If you are reading this now, then I’m probably dead.”