Third person's POV
In the bedroom of the Greenwood family's villa.
The man on the bed twitched his fingers and exclaimed, "Tabitha!"
His eyes snapped open, and he sat up, looking around in horror.
Andrea let out a sigh of relief, "You're finally awake. You've been unconscious for three days."
Derek's memory was still at the seaside. He hurriedly asked, "Andrea, has Tabitha been found?"
Andrea felt a pang in her heart, not daring to tell him the truth.
"Derek, you need to be prepared. Tabitha... she's already..."
"No way! Tabitha can't be dead!" Derek couldn't accept it.
He stepped out of bed barefoot and ran towards the door.
"Tabitha, where are you? Are you hiding from me?"
"Tabitha, stop hiding!"
Derek searched frantically like a headless fly. He entered the bedroom on the first floor, which was still as Tabitha had left it.
The clean bed was neatly made. The flowers in the vase were fresh cut from the garden a week ago, now wilting and losing their vitality.
The book on the desk was left open on the page she hadn't finished reading.
Everything in the room was the same. Only Tabitha was gone.
He pushed open the door to the courtyard and went to her favorite spot.
There was only a wheelchair and brightly blooming flowers.
Derek ran frantically into the garden, urgently calling out, "Tabitha, where are you? Please, just come out, okay?"
"Tabitha, I was wrong. I really was. I'll do anything if you come back."
His feet were cut and bleeding from the stones, but Derek didn't care. He ran for a long time until he knelt under the trellis, tears streaming down his face.
He looked at his fingers, no longer bearing the mark of the ring.
Just like Tabitha, she had completely disappeared from his world.
He heard rustling footsteps, and he felt hope, "Tabitha!"
He turned his head abruptly. But the person was not Tabitha. It was Orson.
"There's no need to look anymore. Tabitha has already left."
Orson played a video from his phone, likely from a camera on the cliff.
In the footage, Tabitha took off her ring, removed her shoes, and then walked step by step into the depths of the sea.
She never looked back, walking so resolutely.
Until the seawater engulfed her head, Derek's breath was suffocated.
"Tabitha, how could you!"
He had thought their relationship had eased. But it turned out that was just a play Tabitha had meticulously acted out.
She was gone, leaving him in this way.
Orson sighed, "You have to understand her. It's not easy for her to hold on until now. The physical pain was too much, every minute a torment. She had no better choice."
"Why not? I've been looking for Jasper. She could have waited a bit longer, maybe there would have been a cure!"
"Alpha Derek, I don't deny your deep love for Tabitha. But you simply don't know how to love. You never thought about what Tabitha wanted, just insisting she live according to your demands. She is a person, not a pet. She has her own thoughts and feelings. She can be hurt and cry."
"You know, you've branded her with scars, tearing them open over and over. She's just a young woman, having experienced the loss of relatives, friends, and children repeatedly. Even if her illness could be cured, how long would it take for her emotional wounds to heal?"
Orson looked at Derek, kneeling on the ground in unbearable pain, with no sympathy in his eyes.
He spoke indifferently, "Alpha Derek, your mate is dead. Please take care."