Chapter 4

My parents broke free from the guards with a burst of desperate strength.

They scrambled back, throwing themselves onto their knees before Lucas.

Dad slammed his forehead against the polished floor, weeping, "Lucas, please! Five years! Our daughter would never go five years without calling us!"

"We’re begging you! We’ll bow to you, we’ll do whatever you want!"

"You don't have to call her. Just give us her address. Just give us her phone number..."

Their voices were raw and shredded.

My heart felt like it was being ripped apart with bare hands. My proud, resilient father, who had never bowed his head to anyone, was on his knees, banging his head against the floor just for a scrap of news about me.

"Stop bowing... Dad, please stop..."

I felt as though a thousand blades were piercing my chest. I couldn't breathe.

The dull, sickening thuds of their foreheads hitting the floor made even the security guards hesitate.

Lucas’s brow twitched, but before empathy could take hold, Chloe chuckled softly.

"Mia’s guilt-trip tactics are getting quite sophisticated. She probably knows we're watching the camera and purposely posed like that to trigger your sympathy."

The suspicion immediately hardened Lucas’s gaze once more.

"Today is the biggest day of my life. Do you have any idea how much is riding on this launch?"

He pulled a notepad from his suit, scribbled a number, and threw it at their faces.

"Unlike your deceitful daughter, I actually have a conscience. Take her number and get the hell out of here!"

Blood smeared across the marble floor from my father’s split forehead.

With trembling, bloody fingers, Dad picked up the scrap of paper. He pulled out an old, battered flip phone and dialed the digits with shaking hands.

A moment later, an automated robotic voice echoed through the speaker: The number you have dialed is no longer in service.

Dad stared at the phone, tears and blood dripping down his hollow cheeks. He looked up at Lucas, trembling violently.

"Lucas... we've dialed this number a thousand times. It’s always dead."

"Please... take us to see our daughter. Just take us to see her!"

I fell beside them, desperately trying to pull my father up, but my arms dissolved right through his shoulders. Blinding tears choked my sight.

Lucas stared at them, enraged beyond reason.

"Is this the game Mia wants to play?"

"Purposely keeping her phone off?"

"What did I ever do to deserve this? She couldn't even bother to visit me when I was dying, and now she sics her parents on me to ruin my IPO?"

The heavy thuds of my parents begging on the floor echoed like a death knell through the silent hall.

Lucas furiously smashed his champagne flute against the floor, glass shattering everywhere.

"She wants to see me? Fine! I’ll give her what she wants! We're finishing this once and for all—and she can sign the damn divorce papers today!"

With a sweep of his coat, Lucas stormed out, ordering the driver to take everyone straight to our house.

Tethered to him, my ghost was dragged along behind. My head hung low.

Five years.

Was the secret finally about to be uncovered?

Lucas reached the front door and jammed the key into the lock.

Inside, the apartment was spotless, as if dusted daily by invisible hands.

The moment Lucas stepped into the living room, his body seized, and his pupils dilated in horror.