Chapter 22
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Celia had a long vivid dream.
The faces in the dream were blurred, yet she inexplicably knew who they were. It was them.
In this dream, there was a man with the same first name but a different surname as Lucas. He wasn’t a struggling college student
but the heir to a vast corporate empire, the Shaw Group.
This man had willingly given up his inheritance and chosen to leave his family behind, all to care for a frail, sickly girl who bore
Celia’s name.
From the time she was eight until she turned eighteen, he doted on her and lavished her with the kind of affection that made her
feel like the center of his world.
But somewhere along the way, she began loving him not as a guardian but as a man.
And for that, no one understood her, not even the once–doting Lucas.
The moment she confessed her feelings, everything changed.
He withdrew all the warmth and affection he once lavished on her. He started dating other women, parading them in front of her
until he finally settled on one who seemed perfect in every way–a fiancée who met every expectation.
He thought it would make her give up.
But even as she lay dying, stabbed repeatedly during a home invasion, Lucas was the only person she thought of.
She called him, but he didn’t answer.
He was with his fiancée that day. She had a fever, and Lucas had promised to stay by her side.
When had Lucas stopped caring about her? Perhaps it was the day she gathered all her courage to tell him how she felt.
He grew colder with each passing day until the day she met her tragic end, her body cruelly hidden in a wardrobe by her killer.
Celia never got the chance to see her beloved uncle one last time.
Her spirit lingered near her lifeless body, trapped in an endless loop of quiet, consuming sorrow.
Her uncle didn’t want her anymore.
