Chapter 23  In the dead of night, everything was silent.  “Amanda!”  Chase jolted awake, calling my name. By the looks of it, he was shaken by a nightmare, his right hand clutching his chest as he tried to catch his breath. His forehead glistened with beads of sweat, and his chest rose and fell with each heavy breath.  In a panic, he reached for his phone on the nightst  and dialed my number again, only to hear it was still switched off. With a  frustrated sigh, he opened our chat history, staring at the last message–the one where he had threatened me.  It finally hit him that I might actually be upset. After all, I’d never vanished without a trace for more than three days. He grumbled under his breath, “Women are so much trouble.”  He quickly called his assistant, “First thing tomorrow, head to the jewelry store and buy the Heart of the Ocean. Oh, and get a bunch of  ellow roses, too.”  Yellow roses meant he was sorry.  To him, my disappearance was just another one of my usual sulks. A little sweet talk and a beckoning gesture should have been enough to bring me back. But he couldn’t sleep and was tossing and turning. His face twisted in agony. He unconsciously called out, “Amanda, bring me my antacid.”  The room was empty, silent as a tomb.  I watched him as he clutched his aching stomach, pain etched across his face. His stomach was always a bit dodgy, and I’d spent yea helping him manage it. I always had antacids and painkillers at the ready, just in case.  Since the miscarriage, I’d been distant, and with Nicole’s blatant attempts to woo him, he’d spent most of the last three months with h Without me to keep his health in check, his stomach issues had flared up again.  Chase curled up in pain on the bed.  I stood by, watching him with a cold detachment. ‘Chase, there’s no one left to bring you medicine now.’  He fumbled as he pulled open the drawer.  I’d always put the antacid where he could easily find it, even in the middle of the night. But as he opened the drawer, it was filled with trinkets–all gifts from Nicole. The bottle of antacid was buried beneath them.  Desperately, Chase kneeled on the floor, searching until he finally found the antacid, only to realize it had expired a month ago.  It dawned on him then that our relationship had been hanging by a thread even before the wedding. He was supposed to marry me,! outside of work, he spent most of his time with Nicole.  In his pain, his eyes glistened with unshed tears. I wondered if he thought of my care.  “Amanda…”  Suddenly, his gaze locked onto where I stood, as if he could sense me there. Fighting through the pain, he staggered towards me, hi pale face lighting up with a hint of joy, “You finally came back.”  “Thud!”  Chase collapsed at my feet, knocked out cold by the pain.  Once, I would have been frantic, but now I just watched him, feeling nothing but cold detachment. I was just a memory now–what could I possibly do?  I no longer felt any heartache. Instead, I stood by the window, watching the snowflakes twirl under the streetlight.  At this point, I couldn’t even guard my own body. What else was there to protect?  Frankly, even if Chase died, he would have had it coming.  As dawn broke, the assistant, unable to reach anyone from the Reyes family, stumbled upon Chase lying on the floor. “Mr. Reyes, w happened?” he asked, trying to rouse him.  “Amanda!” Chase’s eyes flew open, gripping the assistant’s hand, calling out my name.  “Mr. Reyes, are you alright? Why are you sleeping on the floor?”