Liam's expression went completely blank; his pupils didn't even dilate.
I held my breath.
Liam finally knew the truth. What would he say? Would he care?
His reaction was colder than the grave. Snapping out of his daze, he let out a harsh, grating laugh.
"Dead? Wow. Talk about perfect timing. Good for her."
I stood frozen. A single tear slid down my cheek.
How could I have ever thought he would mourn for me?
He hated me. He was cheering for my death—exactly what I should have expected.
But it still hurt so much. His smile was like a serrated blade, viciously sawing through my non-existent heart.
Sebastian clearly hadn't anticipated this reaction from Liam, either.
His manic smile vanished. Suddenly, he lunged forward, grabbing Liam by the collar, his eyes wild.
"I said she's dead! Didn't you hear me?!"
"I'm not deaf," Liam retorted, effortlessly shoving him away.
Compared to Liam's icy indifference, Sebastian's fury was baffling.
He was the one who had pushed me into the abyss, yet now he was acting like the devoted, heartbroken lover.
But his rage was genuine; he looked like a wild beast cornered and backed against a wall.
"Why?!" Sebastian roared. "Why are you so numb?! The woman who loved you most in the world is dead, and you don't even shed a single tear!"
Liam sneered. "She loved money! She betrayed me! Her death has absolutely nothing to do with me."
"She was a gold digger, a traitor," he spat. "She got what she deserved."
That answer obliterated the last of Sebastian's sanity. With a vicious right hook to the jaw, Sebastian sent Liam crashing to the floor.
"You bastard! She died because of you! If she hadn't tried to save you—"
"What?" Liam froze. He looked up, staring at Sebastian, completely ignoring the blood trickling from his split lip.
Sebastian gripped his own hair tightly, pacing back and forth like a madman, muttering into the void: "No, no... It's all my fault. I killed her. I shouldn't have let her go. I'm the one who should be dead."
He had completely lost his mind.
Liam slowly got to his feet, his brow furrowed in a tight knot.
He stared at Sebastian's back, his gaze beginning to waver.
His breath hitched, a flash of genuine panic crossing his face as if he were suddenly grasping some horrifying truth.
He bit down hard on his lower lip until it bled. "Sebastian, are you out of your mind? Is this some sick joke? Do you think telling me she's dead is funny?!"
Sebastian stopped pacing. He took a deep breath, a single tear sliding down his cheek.
Before I could even decipher the emotion in his eyes, Sebastian raised his hand and slapped himself across the face, hard.
"I wish it were just a joke too!" he choked out. "But she's gone! She would rather drown in the freezing ocean than come back to me!"
I watched in stunned silence as Sebastian completely broke down. After slapping himself, he stumbled out of the hospital corridor like a drunkard.
My attention immediately snapped back to Liam. He was wiping his bleeding lip, his hand trembling violently. He pulled out his phone.
The moment the screen lit up, I gasped.
His lock screen wallpaper was still the photo of us in our cramped startup office all those years ago.
He frantically opened Instagram and went straight to Sebastian's profile.
When had he started following Sebastian? I thought he had blocked every account related to me years ago.
I rarely used social media, but during our marriage, Sebastian posted pictures of us obsessively, trying to craft the image of a perfect couple.
Strangely, even after I died, Sebastian never stopped posting.
Every day, he posted photos with a woman—breakfast in bed, luxury vacations, silhouettes against the sunset. People in our social circle whispered that he had gone insane.
The latest photo Sebastian had posted that very morning showed the back of a woman in a silk robe, slightly turned, revealing red lips with a silver lip piercing. The piercing was located exactly where I used to have a small red mole on my face.
The caption read: "Waking up every day to see the love of my life lying right beside me."
