Tyler remained on his knees in the middle of the courtyard, completely ignoring the laughter directed at him.
“I’m not a madman,” Tyler said firmly, his voice trembling with desperation. “Please, all of you have to believe me. Something is coming for Dad.”
Richard Voss folded his arms across his chest and looked down at his son with an expression filled with disappointment.
“Oh?” Richard asked sarcastically. “And what exactly is coming for me? More wealth? Another successful business deal? Is that what your vision showed you?”
Tyler slowly shook his head.
“No,” he replied quietly.
Richard raised an eyebrow.
“No?” he repeated.
Tyler looked directly into his father’s eyes and said.
“It’s death.”
The smile on Richard’s face instantly disappeared. He stared at Tyler for several seconds before letting out a long sigh and shaking his head.
“I truly never imagined my son would become this pathetic,” Richard said bitterly.
Tyler quickly rose to his feet.
“Dad, please listen to me,” he pleaded. “Something happened to me that day. Everything everyone thinks they saw… it wasn’t what it looked like.”
Victoria scoffed loudly.
“Oh, here comes another excuse.”
Tyler ignored her and continued looking at Richard.
“Dad, do you remember what happened before the wedding ceremony?” he asked.
Richard frowned slightly but remained silent.
Tyler continued, “A few hours before the wedding, Martin and… and his mother brought me a drink. They said it was to celebrate my marriage to Isabella.”
Martin immediately laughed.
“So now you’re blaming me?” he asked mockingly.
“I’m telling the truth,” Tyler replied. “You both handed me a drink and congratulated me. I drank it because I had no reason to suspect anything.”
Victoria’s face darkened.
“Watch your words,” she warned coldly.
Tyler didn’t stop.
“After I drank it, everything became blurry,” he explained. “My head started spinning. I couldn’t think properly anymore. It felt like I was trapped inside my own body.”
He pressed a hand against his forehead as fragments of that day flashed through his mind.
“I remember trying to move, but I wasn’t in control anymore. I watched myself doing things that I didn’t want to do.”
His breathing became heavier.
“I don’t even know when I tore off my clothes and I ran out of the wedding hall.”
He looked helplessly at everyone standing before him.
“I wasn’t myself.”
Silence followed his explanation.
Then Isabella laughed.
She slowly shook her head.
“Listen to yourself,” she said sarcastically. “You’re twenty-seven years old, Tyler.”
She folded her arms.
“Twenty-seven,” she repeated.
She stared at him as though he were a child making up fairy tales.
“And this is the nonsense you’ve decided to come back with?”
Tyler looked at her sadly.
“I’m not lying,” he answered.
“Oh really?” Isabella replied. “Then keep entertaining us.”
Tyler swallowed hard before continuing.
“After I left the mansion that day, I vaguely remember running through the streets.”
He paused.
“Then…”
His voice became softer.
“I was hit by a car.”
Everyone remained silent.
Tyler took a deep breath.
“I died.”
The courtyard became completely still.
For a second…
No one spoke.
Then Isabella burst into another fit of laughter.
She laughed so hard that tears almost formed in her eyes.
“Oh my goodness,” she said between laughs. “This is unbelievable.”
Martin couldn’t help laughing as well.
Victoria covered her mouth, trying to suppress her amusement.
Even Richard slowly rubbed his forehead.
Tyler ignored their reactions.
“I know how impossible it sounds,” he continued. “But I know what happened.”
He looked at Richard again.
“The driver panicked.”
“He thought he had killed me.”
“So instead of reporting the accident, he carried my body into a nearby forest.”
“He wanted to dispose of it secretly.”
Richard stared at him blankly.
“And then?” he asked sarcastically.
Tyler’s expression became serious.
“Then something happened.”
He looked toward the sky unconsciously and explained.
“My body suddenly disappeared.”
Everyone looked at him as though he had completely lost his sanity.
“It was taken away by an invisible force.”
“I don’t know how or why.”
“But after that…”
He slowly looked at his own hands and said.
“I wasn’t here anymore.”
His memories flooded his mind. Towering white structures.
Two entire years…
He remembered all of it. But he couldn’t tell them. Not yet.
No one would ever believe him.
Instead, he simply finished quietly.
“And now… after two years… I’m back.”
Silence filled the courtyard once more.
Then Martin leaned toward Victoria and whispered something.
The two of them immediately burst into laughter again.
Even Isabella couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her face.
Richard slowly shook his head.
“So according to you,” he said, “a dead man is standing in front of me.”
Tyler nodded.
“Yes.”
Richard let out a bitter laugh.
“A dead man… who also happens to be my most disgraceful son.”
Tyler lowered his eyes.
Richard’s face suddenly hardened.
“I’ve had enough.”
His voice became cold enough to freeze the air.
“If you say one more ridiculous word…”
He pointed toward the gate.
“I’ll have the guards throw you out immediately.”
Tyler’s heart sank.
He looked toward Isabella one last time. He slowly walked toward her.
Martin frowned but didn’t stop him.
Tyler finally stood before Isabella.
She looked at him impatiently.
Without saying anything else, Tyler gently reached out and held her hand.
His eyes became moist.
“Why?” he asked softly. His voice was filled with heartbreak.
“Why did you do this to me?”
Isabella stared at him expressionlessly.
“We loved each other.”
Tyler tightened his trembling grip slightly as he continued.
“You promised we’d spend the rest of our lives together.”
“I never stopped loving you.”
“So why?”
Before he could finish…
Smack!
A loud slap echoed across the courtyard.
Tyler’s face snapped violently to one side.
Five bright red fingerprints immediately appeared on his cheek.
He remained frozen.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
He turned back toward Isabella.
She glared at him with disgust as though touching him had dirtied her hand.
“How dare you?” she hissed.
“How dare you touch me with those filthy hands?” she said angrily.
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