A Homeless Man Screamed in Terror When I Offered Him a Diamond Ring

The Ghost of the Past

The black-suited agents lunged forward, but Amelia threw her body in front of them, screaming for them to stay back. Victor grabbed her arm with a bruising grip, trying to pull her away. But the homeless man—whom Victor’s men kept calling Simon—wasn't running. He was fighting the guards with a wild, desperate strength. As he struggled, the physical trauma seemed to tear down a mental wall. He stared at Amelia, his eyes locked onto hers, and the fog in his mind began to clear.

Amelia looked at his scarred jawline. In the dim streetlights, she recognized the shape of the scar. It was the exact mark her fiancé, Julian, had received when they were teenagers. Julian had supposedly died in a fiery car crash three years ago—a crash Victor had handled entirely, insisting on a closed-casket funeral. Amelia's breath caught in her throat.

"Julian?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "Is it really you?"

Victor’s face drained of color. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Get him into the vehicle! Now!" Victor roared, his panic palpable. "Double his dosage!"

Julian struggled, screaming Amelia's name with perfect, heartbreaking clarity as the guards forced him into the back of the SUV. The heavy doors slammed shut, and the vehicle sped away into the rainy night, leaving Amelia alone on the wet pavement.

The truth hit her with devastating force. Her uncle hadn't just stolen her inheritance; he had stolen the love of her life. He had orchestrated the crash, kept Julian alive in a drugged, amnesiac state, and dumped him on the streets to rot, ensuring he would never return to claim his life or marry Amelia. Now, Victor had taken him again, and the clock was ticking toward midnight.

Amelia wiped her tears and stood up. She realized she had one advantage. When she had knelt before Julian, she had slipped her personal cell phone, which had active GPS tracking, directly into his torn coat pocket. She ran back to her car, opened her tracking app, and watched the glowing red dot move toward a private medical facility on the outskirts of the city.