CHAPTER 110: COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN BY SYLVIA

"Why would I know where she went?" Daniel’s cruel smirk never left his face.

"She’s not my problem anymore. Maybe she’s with some other guy, or maybe she finally realized she deserves someone better."

Rome’s hands trembled around Daniel’s collar.

He wanted to rip the answer from Daniel by force, but no matter how hard he shook him, Daniel only laughed—that infuriating, self-satisfied laugh that drove him further into blind rage.

"You think this is a joke?!" Rome growled, teeth gritted. "I don’t care who she’s with! I’ll find her, and you’re going to tell me everything you know!"

Daniel just shrugged nonchalantly. "Why would I care or know where she went? You probably already know that she went off with another man. She left you."

Rome felt as if the air had been sucked from the room. He released his hold on Daniel for a moment.

"She made her choice."

Rome’s jaw tightened. No. That couldn’t be it.

His hand clenched his fist. He was going to find her himself, even if it meant tearing the world apart to do it.

"You know... " Daniel taunted again. "Maybe it’s better if you just forget about her. Move on. Or... why not marry Ingrid instead?"

"Maybe... if Sylvia finds out that you’ve married someone else, she might come running back," Daniel continued. "You never know. Sometimes people realize what they had only after it’s gone."

Rome’s hands tightened. Could he really... use marriage as a lure? Would it bring Sylvia back, or would it only break him more if she didn’t come?

Marry Ingrid? The idea seemed so wrong. Yet the part of him desperate to see Sylvia’s face again, to hear her voice, to know she was safe—would it be enough to justify it?

Days passed with nothing. No messages, no calls, no sign. Every corner of his condo whispered her absence. Every night, he imagined her coming back, stepping through the door with that same smile, that same laugh. But the reality was that she hadn’t returned.

Could he really pretend, play the part of a man moving on, just to see if she’d come back? Or to know if she still cared about him and didn’t want him with someone else?

Rome closed his eyes. The thought of marrying someone else felt unbearable. But the thought of waiting for her without knowing when she might return made him sick.

Perhaps... maybe it was time to make a choice.

Maybe the only way to find her again was to force her hand, to give her a reason to see that despite everything, he was still here—still waiting, still unwilling to let her go, and willing to give up everything he had just for her.

He let go of Daniel with enough force to send him sprawling once again, but this time, Daniel quickly steadied himself.

He glared at Daniel with fury, but Daniel only smirked back, as if mocking him, daring him to do more.

He clenched his fists tightly, knowing he wouldn’t get a single answer from him.

He turned to leave, ready to exit the condo, but before he could fully step out, Daniel spoke again, his voice serious this time.

"You know what? It’s better if you stop searching for Sylvia, for your own good and for hers." Daniel said, forcing him to face him again.

Daniel’s smirk widened as he saw his expression darkening.

"You don’t really know her, and with everything that’s happening in her life, you don’t deserve each other."

"You don’t have a say in our relationship. As someone trying to ruin it, you don’t have the right to say that." he growled.

"Pftt—I pity you... you really don’t know anything. Just a little brotherly advice, since it seems you still have a lot to learn about handling relationships," Daniel continued, his gaze piercing. "Don’t trust everyone around you too much if you want to live happily."

Rome’s jaw tightened.

"Tch... Are you seriously lecturing me about relationships and trust? Coming from you, who’s been a jerk all this time and never trustworthy? I’ve known that for a long time!" he muttered under his breath before turning away and finally leaving the condo.

As he walked, his mind was adrift.

By the time he reached his car, he felt completely lost.

Daniel likely didn’t know where Sylvia was, and even the contacts he had asked to track her couldn’t locate her either.

Where was he supposed to start looking if she refused to show herself? Did he really have to force her to appear, to make a bold move just to get her attention?

His thoughts were spinning until the sudden ring of his phone pulled him back to reality.

Seeing that it was his mother calling, he answered immediately.

"Thank God you finally answered! How are you? You haven’t been picking up, and your father and I are getting worried. The Monteverdes have been asking about you too. I don’t know what happened, but it seems they might have sensed that your engagement with Ingrid isn’t real, so they’ve been very pushy about it. Son, can I ask a favor... could you at least pretend that you’ll marry—"

"I’ll marry Ingrid." He cut her off coldly.

He knew his parents were eager to secure the partnership with the Monteverdes and that they would push him to marry Ingrid. He had agreed to the engagement, but he hadn’t realized that his mother had no intention of keeping it just a fake engagement. It was simply her way of forcing him into marriage with Ingrid.

He exhaled deeply, ignoring his mother’s repeated questions.

"F-for real? I mean... are you really agreeing to marry Ingrid? You know you can’t back down once you say that..."

Rome leaned against the car, his mind spinning.

"Yes. I will marry Ingrid."

"Oh, that’s good to hear," he heard his mother mutter on the other line. "I mean... don’t think we’re forcing you into a marriage you don’t want. We’re just thinking about what’s best for you. And it’s good to hear that you’re also thinking about the future of our company—"

Tut... tut...

He immediately ended the call and blocked her number. He didn’t want to hear a thing from anyone aside from Sylvia at that moment.

Marriage to Ingrid... it wasn’t something he wanted, yet it was the only possible way to lure Sylvia back.

Would she come if she heard he was getting married? His chest tightened at the thought of the gamble he was about to play.

It would be easy to undo the marriage with Ingrid if needed. If he married her, he would make it public to force Sylvia to reveal herself. If she still loved him the way he loved her, she would surely come, begging him to take her back. And he would gladly divorce Ingrid immediately, just for Sylvia.

He didn’t care if Sylvia had betrayed him or chosen another man—he was willing to take her back no matter what. That was his plan.

He started the engine and drove aimlessly.

If he played his cards right, he could pull her back into his world.

A plan began to form in his mind. He would act as if he were moving on. He would play the part his mother and the Monteverdes wanted. But behind it all, he remained hers.

Rome’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. At this point, his mind was racing through every possible way to make his plan work.

The thought of Sylvia out there, with another man, drove him further into obsession and made him wonder, did Sylvia feel the same way about him?

However, months passed. Rome waited, expecting every single day that Sylvia would appear at his condo and at their school.

He imagined her furious and desperate, demanding that he stop the marriage with Ingrid after he had publicly announced it.

He played the scene in his head over and over, picturing her reaction, but the reality was far crueler.

Not once did Sylvia come. Her trace had completely vanished, leaving him with nothing but his own obsession for her.

Until the wedding day.

The church was filled with grandeur, the kind his mother and the Monteverdes wanted.

Cameras flashed, guests whispered praises about the union of two powerful families, and Ingrid stood beside him, smiling proudly.

To everyone, it was the perfect marriage. But for him, it was a prison.

He repeated the vows mechanically, his heart absent from the words, his mind still chasing the ghost of Sylvia.

It was only after he was officially bound to Ingrid that the truth shattered him.

Sylvia had moved on. She was probably happy with another man now, not even looking back at the life she once shared with him. She had left him completely, without hesitation, without regret.

The world around him blurred, as though the walls of his carefully built plan had collapsed all at once.

All those months of waiting, of believing that his gamble would pay off, had been nothing but delusion. Sylvia hadn’t just slipped through his fingers, she had forgotten him.

The words replayed in his mind endlessly when he saw a message from Sylvia after his wedding.

I’m with another man now. Don’t look for me again. I’ve completely forgotten you. Be happy with your wife. I’m wishing you both a happy marriage and a good life together.

Rome’s jaw clenched as he stood beside Ingrid, who was busy entertaining the guests. She chatted idly about how excited she was for their honeymoon, a honeymoon that would never happen.

His thoughts were elsewhere.

If Sylvia thought she could erase him that easily, she was wrong. If she was determined to completely remove him from her life, then he would beat her to it and erase her first.

Waiting for her was useless if she had truly abandoned and forgotten him.