Gone with Yesterday

Tabitha paused and turned her head away, attempting to dodge the subject.

However, Christian was unusually persistent in getting an answer.

“Why aren’t you saying anything, Tabitha? Just tell me—Yes or no?”

The secretary emerged, holding a stack of papers.

“Mr. Loader, we’ve identified the assailant from yesterday and established his motive. Here are the details.”

Christian straightened his back, ruthlessness flickering across his eyes. He quietly took and read the papers.

As his eyes scanned the pages, Christian grimaced, and his breathing became shallow.

His voice shook.

“Hurry! Rally the security team now!”

Christian burst out an order before ripping out his IV once again. Not even taking a glance at Tabitha, he scrambled out of the hospital.

Tabitha stared at the dumped file on the floor in confusion before leaning over to pick it up.

She flipped through the pages, her hands trembling.

Everything made sense the moment Tabitha saw the name on the papers.

It explained the panic Christian was in.

Once more, it all came back to Kelsey.

Tabitha wasn’t meant to be the attacker’s target. Kelsey was the intended mark.

Kelsey, taking the role of Christian’s assistant, was responsible for external communications, but her incompetence had led to the downfall of multiple projects.

The assailant was a victim of one of those failed business ventures.

Upon arriving at the office building, the attacker mistook Tabitha, standing next to Christian, for Kelsey.

Christian was thrown into a panic, fearing the assailant would turn on Kelsey once he realized his mistake.

Surely, Tabitha would be in Christian’s thoughts too since her safety was compromised as well.

Maybe he simply didn’t care about her.

For the coming week, Christian didn’t even come home.

It dawned on Tabitha that Christian had reassigned his security detail, including the office’s security team, to protect Kelsey.

He even spared no expense to hire private investigators to track the attacker’s whereabouts.

It never occurred to Tabitha that Christian, a man defined by logic and composure, would get carried away over another woman’s well-being.

Due to Christian’s blatant favoritism, those in their friend circle were eager to see what Tabitha, the fiancée, would do.

Another week passed, and Tabitha read about the assailant’s arrest in the papers.

That night, Christian returned home all worn out.

He gave Tabitha a hug from behind.

“Stay still for me, Tabitha. Let me hold you.”

Catching a whiff of another woman’s perfume on Christian, Tabitha felt sick to her stomach.

She asked in a dry, hollow voice, “Do you still love me, Christian?”

Christian froze as a wave of fluster washed over him.

He nuzzled against her neck and pulled her closer into his embrace.

“Don’t be silly. Why would I marry you if I didn’t love you?

“In less than ten days, I’ll get to tell the world that you’re mine.”

With the wedding around the corner, Christian scaled back on his workload.

When he wasn’t overseeing the wedding arrangements at the venue, Christian stayed close to Tabitha.

One night, Christian left his phone on the nightstand to take a shower.

While rummaging through her things for her passport, Tabitha looked up and saw his phone lighting up. She happened to catch a glimpse of the notification.

It was a text message from Kelsey.

“I’m standing right outside your house, Christian. I must see you today, come rain or shine.”

Tabitha furrowed her brows.

She unlocked Christian’s phone and scrolled through their chat history. Christian hadn’t been responsive to Kelsey’s messages lately.

Christian had been keeping by Tabitha’s side in the last couple of days, and Kelsey was starting to get desperate.

Tabitha put down the phone and made sure the message was marked as unread.