Everyone thought I was dead.
Dead on the very day my boyfriend married my stepsister behind my back.
For five long years, the red roses adorning my grave never stopped appearing, not even for a single day.
Five years later, I stood before my own tombstone, and there he was again – Caleb Vance, holding a bouquet of red roses, ostensibly to mourn me.
After a brief moment of shock and awkwardness, I still managed to greet him.
“Long time no see.”
He forced a smile, tucking the roses behind his back.
“Long time no see, Audrey. I thought… you were dead.”
I was back in the country to help relocate my mom’s memorial plot when I discovered a new grave beside hers, one that belonged to me.
It read: “Beloved Wife, Audrey Hayes.”
A bouquet of roses, a necklace, and my favorite chocolate cake sat before it.
The cemetery staff followed my gaze, a flicker of surprise in their eyes.
“Ms. Sterling,” one said, “don’t you think the photo on that headstone looks a lot like you? If I didn’t know you just returned from overseas, I’d swear we had a ghost!”
I smiled.
“It does, but it’s not me.”
My name is Skylar Sterling. I’m a top contributor for “MT” magazine in France, and the sole heiress of the Sterling Group. I just celebrated my third wedding anniversary with my husband, and our child is two years old.
I had it all. A truly blessed life.
The person on that tombstone was Audrey Hayes.
Five years ago, because my father’s illegitimate daughter, my stepsister Maya, was diagnosed with depression, my father and brother secretly arranged a wedding for her.
The groom? The man I’d been in love with for eight years, the boy I’d grown up with.
Audrey Hayes was a complete and utter failure.
She and I, we were no longer the same person.
I pulled my gaze away, turning to the staff to discuss my mom’s burial plot.
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed behind me.
“Audrey!”
I ignored it, continuing my conversation with the staff.
A strong hand suddenly clamped onto my arm.
Under the surprised gaze of the cemetery workers, I stumbled, turning to meet Caleb Vance’s eyes.
“Audrey, you… you’re not dead?”
A cold smile played on my lips, but my eyes were drawn to the red roses in his hand.
Five years.
Why were Caleb’s eyes as red as those roses?
I excused the staff and stood before my tombstone.
Caleb followed, tossing the red roses to the ground. His voice, laced with the fury of someone deceived, cut through the air.
“Audrey Hayes, you’re quite the actress, aren’t you? Living in guilt for five years must have been amusing for you, huh? Not even a single message.”
I answered nonchalantly.
“Didn’t you tell me yourself? To never bother you again.”
Five years ago, when I received the news that he was marrying Maya, I rushed to the wedding venue in a panic.
On the way, I got into a car accident. I was pinned by the airbag in the driver’s seat, nearly dying.
I called him, begging him to come and save me.
But he was busy putting the veil on Maya. My phone rang again and again.
He finally answered on the very last ring.
“Maya has lived a tough life as an illegitimate child. Can’t you even tolerate her having one wedding? Forget about a car accident, even if you were dead, don’t bother me. I *will* marry Maya!”
Caleb and I met when we were seven, fell in love at eighteen, and got engaged at twenty-three.
At twenty-six, he wished me dead just so he could marry my father’s illegitimate daughter.
In that moment, I swore I’d never bother him again.
Now, hearing my words, he gave a strained smile.
“It was just a joke, you took it too seriously.”
He straightened up, looking me up and down.
“How did you know I’d be at the cemetery today? And you’re wearing my favorite green coat…”
His eyes, devoid of any genuine warmth, narrowed at me.
“You’re not actually thinking that after playing dead for five years, if you just act dumb and play hard to get, I’ll fall back in love with you, are you? I’m telling you, Maya has been amazing to me these past few years. Unless you genuinely apologize and beg me, I’ll never—”
“You’re overthinking it.”
I cut him off, unable to stand it any longer.
“I came back to help my mom relocate her burial plot. Once it’s done, I’m leaving immediately.”
“And…”
I paused, then turned and walked towards the cemetery gate.
“Since you’re married, you should probably stop wearing our engagement ring.”
“It’s all faded.”
Caleb froze, then quickly strode after me.
“Tomorrow is your dad’s fiftieth birthday. He really misses you. Make sure you come early.”
I paused for a second, then quickened my pace.
I hadn’t had a father for five years.
Five years ago, at my mom’s funeral, Robert Hayes brought his illegitimate daughter home and brazenly acknowledged her identity in front of all our relatives.
“I just made a small mistake, one every man makes.”
“Maya was raised outside for over twenty years. I only brought her home after your mom died. I’ve done right by your mom.”
So, as compensation, he allowed Maya to take my room, my jewelry.
He let her play the “innocent little sister” while she meddled in my relationship with Caleb.
Even when I was in a car crash and rushed to the operating room, when the nurses called him to sign consent forms, he said:
“Today is my younger daughter’s wedding day, and a hospital is such a place with bad vibes, I can’t go. I know Audrey; she’s always been dramatic. Broken bones and massive bleeding? She’s making it up. You’re a hospital for saving lives, don’t play along with her. My daughter needs me; the wedding is about to start. Don’t call me again.”
Lying on the operating table, I could clearly feel the sympathetic, pitying glances of the doctors and nurses around me.
Perhaps they’d never seen anyone so utterly abandoned by their entire family before.
My thoughts snapped back to the present. I pulled down my sleeve to cover the scars on my arm and hailed a taxi back to my hotel.
That evening, I lay in my hotel bed, video calling my husband and son.
My husband, Jaxson, who grew up abroad, is incredibly sweet and clingy, just like our child. He can’t go a day without me.
“Wife, my dad says he misses home too. He’s packing his bags now and will be flying back with us tomorrow morning.”
My non-biological brother, Brandon Sterling, poked his head into the video frame.
“That’s right, Sis. Dad and I discussed it. Moving Aunt Carol’s plot is a big deal, we have to be there. Plus, Dad and I can inspect our domestic businesses. You’re alone in the country, so remember to eat well and stay warm. Your knee isn’t doing great.”
The car accident five years ago left permanent scars on my knee.
Brandon, who was my senior at university at the time, was the first to recognize my helplessness.
During those five years in France, he took me into his home, treated me as his sister, and helped me create a new identity. My godfather, David Sterling, spoiled me like his own daughter.
They were my real family.
I smiled and nodded, chatting a little longer before reluctantly hanging up.
The feeling of being cared for by family, it truly was wonderful.
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