A Shot to the Heart

Jessie paused in surprise. She replied, "No."

Owen lowered his gaze without a word while Jessie watched him with a puzzled expression. I bet he had never asked about me because I was the one who had been pestering him in the past.

After having the hot coffee, he set down his phone and threw himself into work. At noon, Jessie ordered food delivery for him again.

He took a few bites and promptly frowned.

"Where did you order this lunchbox from?"

"It's from Sammie's." After some thinking, she inquired, "Is the food not to your taste? Would you like me to order something else?"

"Did you order lunch from the same place in the past?"

"No."

"Moving forward, just order from the old place."

Jessie glanced at him without a word.

He gave her a look.

"Why? Can't you?"

After some internal debate, she admitted, "Mrs. Mancini delivered your lunches before this."

Nervous, she added, "She has done that for years. Rain or shine, she will deliver your lunch on time. She told me not to let you know she brought the lunch in case you refused to eat it. That's why I kept it a secret from you.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mancini. I shouldn't have made the decision on my own."

Owen appeared to have gotten used to my cooking, and he couldn't take the food from other restaurants.

He said nothing, only waving to dismiss Jessie.

Then, he stared at the lunchbox with an inexplicable expression. The lunch before him looked decent, I thought. I wouldn't claim my homemade lunches as extremely delicious, but they tasted homemade. Besides, I always plated them nicely.

He checked his phone again, but there were no updates. Moments later, he put aside his phone and went back to work.

…

It was late when Owen finally wrapped up his work. Glancing at the time, he deliberated for a bit before grabbing his car keys and leaving the office.

He drove his car out of the parking lot back to the villa.

It had been two days since anyone was at home. The housekeeper and maids, who worked hard to keep the place clean and neat, were glad to see Owen home.

"Mr. Mancini, you're home. The maids will get dinner ready for you," said the housekeeper.

Owen removed his jacket and handed it to the maid. He asked the housekeeper, "Is Marcie home?"

The housekeeper shook her head with concern. "Mrs. Mancini drove out last morning and hasn't been home since."

"Okay." He coldly instructed her, "Get dinner ready."

"Of course."

Hadn't he noticed I was gone for two days?

He went upstairs into our bedroom. After pacing around the room, he realized most of my belongings were gone.

My clothes, bags, and shoes in the closet were nowhere to be seen; my skincare and makeup products were taken too.

As for me, the foolish woman who had waited for his return every night for five years was no longer around too.

Only then did he realize I had left—our home and him.

Staring at the empty bedroom, he was hit by an indescribable feeling. He retreated to the couch. That was when he laid his eyes on the wedding ring that sparkled under the lights.

He had the same ring.

He picked up the ring, emotions swirling in his unreadable eyes. He clutched the ring tightly, looking rather lost.

Perhaps, he thought I had chosen to leave him.

…

The next day, Owen returned to work as usual. During the morning meeting, he saw Sonya coming into the office.

After the meeting, he returned to his office and was a little surprised to see Sonya show up without giving him a heads-up.

"Why are you here?"

She set the coffee on the table and approached him. "Someone's too busy to meet for dinner tomorrow. I have no choice but to knock on your door."

He sat on his chair and stared exasperatedly at the mountain of work on his table. "This might take a while."

She thoughtfully replied, "It's fine. I can wait."

He grunted. "Take a seat for now. Tell Jessie if you need anything to drink."'

"Sure."

…

An hour flew past. Owen was done with work and about to have lunch with Sonya when he received a call.

He hesitated to pick up after seeing the caller ID. Only a few had his personal number.

The caller spoke in a frosty tone, "Owen, this is Bianca. Come to the police station."

He replied, "What's the matter?"

The only link between him and Bianca was me.

Sounding grim, she revealed, "We need you to sign the papers to cremate Marcie."

The family of the deceased was required to sign off on the cremation. Since my parents were dead, I had no other family aside from Owen.

We had signed the divorce papers but have yet to finalize the divorce. Hence, he was legally my only family.

Owen squinted dangerously. "What did you just say?"

He struggled to process the mentions of my cremation.

Bianca repeated icily, "I said Marcie needs to be cremated, and you have to sign off on it."

Unable to believe it, he demanded, "Do you think this is funny?"

"You'll know when you see for yourself." With that, she hung up.

A smirk played on his lips. "After two days of hiding, Marcie is finally showing up."

Sonya went up to him. She asked softly, "Owen, who was that?"

Jolted back to reality, he looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Sonya. I have something urgent to deal with. I'll have to skip lunch."

Taken aback, she nonetheless put on an understanding smile. "It's fine. Work is more important. Let's have lunch another time."

"Sure."

Owen grabbed his car from the underground parking and drove to the police station. He walked in, looking unbothered, still thinking this was a ruse that Bianca and I had devised to make him stay.

He was expecting to see me there with a smug look on my face.