Chapter 502 The Goodbye He Didn’t Deserve

Chapter 502: Chapter 502 The Goodbye He Didn’t Deserve

Rose’s voice shook with grief and hatred, each word ringing through the room.

Liam stared at her blankly, his expression frozen. He looked as though he had forgotten how to react, how to think, even how to breathe.

Didi knew.

She knew everything.

And yet, she hadn’t said a word to him.

His thoughts suddenly cleared, and he remembered exactly when Diana had begun acting strangely.

It had started the night he took Sophie to the resort, ostensibly to show his support for her.

Diana had stopped talking to him on the phone that evening. She’d tried to find out what was going on, giving him every opportunity to tell her the truth.

But he hadn’t confessed.

And then...

“There’s more,” Rose said, her voice catching. “Diana saw that woman, Sophie Clarke, coming out of the hotel room in a bathrobe. She knew you were there. She saw enough to understand exactly what you’d been doing.”

Her eyes blazed with fury.

“She witnessed your betrayal with her own eyes, Liam. How could you be so disgusting?”

The words struck him like lightning.

That day, he really had been with Sophie at the hotel.

And that same day, Diana had been crying.

He should have gone straight to her. He should have explained everything, admitted what he’d done, and begged her to give him a chance to make things right.

Instead, he’d done nothing.

He’d remained trapped in his own delusion, convinced that as long as he ended things with Sophie, everything would eventually return to normal.

As if he could simply erase what he’d done and expect Diana to forget.

An unbearable pain surged through his chest, leaving him struggling for breath.

He pressed a hand against his heart, his mind filling with the image of Diana standing outside that hotel room.

What had she felt when she’d seen Sophie?

How much had it hurt?

How alone must she have been, standing there with the truth in front of her while the man she loved continued to lie to her?

And how disappointed had she been in him?

“The doctor said she’d taken an overdose of sleeping pills,” Rose continued, forcing herself to speak through her grief. “She didn’t want to see you ever again.”

She drew a shaky breath.

“Liam, you deserve to die.”

Diana’s relationship with Liam had never been just a love story.

For most of her life, she’d lived with pain. Her own family had treated her cruelly, leaving her with little reason to believe that anyone would ever truly care about her.

Then Liam had appeared.

He’d been her light in the darkness, the person who’d given her a reason to hope for something better. He’d made her believe she could finally have a life filled with love and happiness.

And now, that same person had destroyed the very hope he’d given her.

Rose’s words sent a chill through Liam.

Sleeping pills.

If he’d gone home when Diana had asked him to, would things have turned out differently?

If he’d returned sooner, could he have saved her?

He stumbled toward the bed, desperate to reach her.

“No... she’s not dead.” His voice cracked. “How could she be dead? If someone has to die, it should be me. It should be me!”

He’d completely lost control of himself.

He only wanted to hold Diana again, even if it was just for a moment.

Ryan stepped forward and stopped him.

His expression was cold, his eyes heavy with contempt.

“Mr. Mercer, when you were enjoying yourself with another woman, did you ever consider that your actions might have consequences?”

He released Liam’s collar and straightened.

“Diana left instructions. You’re not to interfere with her funeral arrangements, and you’re not to go looking for her. She doesn’t want to see you again, in this life or the next. She wants you to leave her in peace, even after death.”

Liam’s last shred of composure crumbled.

Never again.

Not in this life. Not in the next.

Diana didn’t even want him involved in her funeral.

She didn’t want him near her, even after she was gone.

“That’s not true,” he whispered.

His head shook slowly.

“She wouldn’t do this to me...”

Suddenly, he lunged toward the bed again, desperate to pull Diana into his arms.

“Don’t touch her! Nobody is allowed to touch her!”

His voice rose into a furious, agonized roar.

“I’m not letting you take her away! She can’t be cremated! Didi! Didi, please!”

He couldn’t accept it.

He simply couldn’t.

But Rose had no intention of allowing him to interfere.

She turned to the people she’d brought with her and instructed them to proceed with the arrangements.

Liam would have no say in anything.

He wouldn’t be allowed near Diana again.

Ryan gestured to the men accompanying him. They restrained Liam as he struggled wildly, then signaled for the others to take Diana away.

“Have the funeral home handle everything,” he ordered coldly. “Mr. Mercer doesn’t need to know where the cremation will take place.”

“No!”

Liam fought against the men holding him, his eyes fixed on the bed as they wheeled Diana out of the room.

“Didi!”

He reached for her, but his fingers closed around nothing.

He couldn’t stop them.

He couldn’t hold on to her.

He could only watch as the woman he loved disappeared farther down the hallway until he could no longer see her.

His eyes turned bloodshot.

A violent wave of despair swept through him, and suddenly he doubled over, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

“Give her back to me...”

The words escaped his lips in a broken whisper.

“Please... give my Didi back to me...”

Rose walked over and stopped in front of him.

She placed a hand against his cheek, her expression eerily calm.

“Diana was right about you,” she said. “Even when you’re the one who’s wrong, you still refuse to let her go. If she’d stayed alive, you’d probably have spent the rest of her life following her around, refusing to give her a moment’s peace.”

Her gaze hardened.

“She didn’t want that.”

Liam trembled beneath her touch.

“Listen to me carefully, Liam. There’s nothing you can do to make up for what you’ve done. And you have no right to go looking for her.”

Rose’s voice grew colder with every word.

“She made this choice because she wanted to free herself from the pain you caused her. Don’t you dare use this as an excuse to destroy yourself, too. Don’t take your own life and turn her final decision into another tragedy.”

She leaned closer, her eyes red with tears.

“If you ever loved her, respect what she wanted. That’s the last thing you can do for her.”

Liam went completely still.

His Didi...

She wouldn’t even give him the right to look for her.

She was forcing him to live with the pain of losing her, with no way to find her, no way to apologize, and no way to beg her to come back.

Rose straightened.

“Take care of yourself.”

“Please...”

Liam suddenly grabbed the hem of her pants.

His voice was hoarse, barely recognizable. His eyes were filled with a despair so profound that even Rose’s expression flickered for an instant.

“Please, let me see what she left behind. Did she write you a letter? Did she leave a voice message? Anything at all?”

He clutched her clothing more tightly.

“Please, Rose. Let me hear it. Just once.”

Rose looked down at him.

For several seconds, she said nothing.

Then she answered slowly, making sure every word reached him.

“You’re imagining things.”

Liam stared at her.

“Diana didn’t leave you a letter or a voice message. Apart from the instructions that you weren’t to look for her, she left nothing for you.”

His pupils widened.

Nothing?

Not a single word?

Rose pulled her clothing free and turned away.

Ryan didn’t spare Liam another glance. He took Rose’s hand, and the two of them walked out together.

The scene was finally over.

Liam remained sitting in the hospital hallway for a long time, motionless and hollow-eyed, like a man whose soul had already left his body.

He wanted to believe it was all a nightmare.

Perhaps this was some terrible warning, a chance for him to wake up and change his ways. Perhaps he’d return to the beginning, stop making excuses, and spend the rest of his life staying faithfully by Diana’s side.

He would never allow another woman to come between them.

He would never make her cry again.

They would live quietly and happily, just as they’d always promised each other.

But reality didn’t change.

The hospital hallway was still cold. The fluorescent lights still shone overhead, and the sounds of staff moving through the emergency department continued around him.

Diana was gone.

The realization hit him all over again.

He scrambled to his feet, but his legs gave way beneath him.

A moment later, he collapsed onto the floor and lost consciousness.

*****

Everything involving Diana was handled as quietly and efficiently as possible.

Rose didn’t dare delay. Every additional day increased the risk that something might go wrong.

When Diana’s parents received the news, they initially refused to believe it. But their reaction soon revealed just how little they cared about their daughter.

Diana’s mother burst into tears of anger.

“Useless girl! How could she do something like this? She’s brought shame on the entire Robinson family! What are people going to think of us?”

Her father was no better.

“That ungrateful wretch! How could she take things so far? What are we supposed to tell the Mercer family? How are we supposed to maintain our relationship with them after this?”

Rose felt a chill settle over her.

Even Diana’s own parents—the people who should have loved her most—were more concerned about their family’s reputation and their ties to the Mercers than the loss of their daughter.

No wonder Diana had been so certain that her death wouldn’t prompt her parents to make a fuss, demand answers, or insist on investigating what had happened.

She’d known exactly what kind of people they were.

She’d known they wouldn’t care enough to question anything.

They had never cared whether she was happy or miserable, whether she suffered or found peace. Why would her death suddenly make a difference?

Diana had understood that her parents didn’t love her. She’d never expected them to grieve for her as a daughter.

But Liam had been different.

He’d been the one person she’d trusted, the one person she’d believed would never abandon her.

His betrayal had destroyed the last thing she had left to hold on to.

That was why she’d made such a drastic decision.

Rose swallowed the bitterness in her throat and turned her attention back to the arrangements.

She took complete responsibility for Diana’s supposed funeral, making sure everything proceeded without unnecessary complications.

Liam caused trouble more than once.

He had completely lost control of himself. He demanded to see Diana, refused to accept that she was gone, and repeatedly tried to find out where her body had been taken.

Rose never gave him the opportunity.

She knew that if Liam discovered anything that could lead him to Diana, all their efforts would be wasted.

Only on the final day did she agree to see him.

By then, Liam looked as though he’d aged years in a matter of days. His face was drawn, his eyes hollow, and he seemed barely capable of standing upright.

Rose looked at him without sympathy.

“Diana has already been cremated,” she told him. “As far as the authorities are concerned, she’s gone. Your marriage is over, and you need to accept that. There is nothing left for you to decide on her behalf.”

Liam stood frozen, staring at her.

Rose’s expression remained firm.

“She left you behind, Liam. You have no right to keep dragging her back into your life.”

She turned away before he could respond.

As for what happened to Liam afterward, Rose no longer concerned herself with it.

She had done what Diana had asked her to do.

Now, all that mattered was whether Diana could finally begin again.

Rose found Ryan waiting for her and walked over.

“Is everything taken care of?” she asked quietly.

Ryan removed his rimless glasses and looked at her.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “Everything is arranged. Diana is about to start a new life.”