Part 2Echoes of a Dead Wife's Voice

Evelyn whispered softly, "The charity gala is tomorrow. You promised you'd go with me."

"I've been looking forward to this for so long. Just consider it a proper goodbye..."

Julian looked down, meeting Evelyn's pleading eyes.

I remembered three years ago, on the day Julian was about to leave the country, I had begged him with that exact same expression.

"What kind of project is so urgent?"

"Can't you wait until tomorrow, after spending my birthday with me, before leaving?"

With red-rimmed eyes, I had looked at him, feeling so hurt.

In the twelve years I had been with Julian, whenever my birthday came around, he would clear his entire schedule and spend a whole week preparing for it.

Yet that time, he merely pulled a necklace from his coat.

"I know tomorrow is your birthday, but Clara, this project is too important. Everything will fall apart if I don't oversee it in person."

"I personally asked a French designer to custom-make this necklace for your birthday. Let me put it on you. Consider it as me spending your birthday with you, okay?"

He gently fastened the necklace around my neck, didn't even pause to look at it, and planted a hurried kiss on my forehead.

"Be a good girl. I have to go now. I'll call you as soon as I land."

But on that day, I waited from dawn until midnight.

I never got a call or a message from Julian.

It wasn't until two in the morning, while thunder rumbled and lightning flashed outside.

Huddled beneath the blanket, shivering, I dialed his number.

It rang for a long time before being abruptly declined.

All I received was a single, cold text from Julian:

[Clara, I'm tied up right now. I'll text you later.]

Back then, I genuinely believed Julian was swamped with work.

So busy that he forgot to even wish me a happy birthday.

Looking back, he was just busy pouring all his devotion into Evelyn.

Julian stared at Evelyn, hesitating for a long moment.

In the end, he called his executive assistant, Leo.

"Push my flight to tomorrow night. Something came up on my end."

"Take some time tomorrow to check on Clara. See if there's anything she's been eyeing lately. I want to pick up some gifts for her at the auction tomorrow."

Julian still had the decency to keep me in his thoughts.

Too bad I had been dead for two years.

At the charity auction, Evelyn made a grand entrance as the ambassador, capturing all the cameras and commanding the entire room's attention.

Everything went smoothly until the final round of bidding.

An A-list starlet who had always despised Evelyn spoke up across the hall:

"All proceeds from tonight's auction go directly to charity."

"As the ambassador, how come Miss Hall hasn't bid on a single item? Surely it's not because you don't actually care about charity, right?"

With that single remark, every pair of eyes in the room locked onto Evelyn.

Evelyn maintained a poised, calm smile. "Of course not. I was simply waiting for the final piece."

"After all, the finale is always the most valuable. I just wanted to make a bigger contribution."

Just as she finished speaking, the final round officially began.

Evelyn immediately raised her paddle, bidding triple the starting price.

"Ten million."

The room fell dead silent.

Only that rival starlet slowly raised her paddle with a smirk.

"Twelve million."

From then on, every time Evelyn raised her bid, the other woman countered without hesitation.

Until the diamond necklace was pushed all the way to fifty million.

Evelyn's face darkened completely.

She knew the woman had no intention of letting her off the hook.

Yet she had already bragged in front of everyone. If she backed out now, she would become the laughingstock of the industry.

As she hesitated, the auctioneer began the countdown.

"Fifty million going once, going twice..."

"I'll take the entire lot."