If I Die, Will You Miss Me?

At twenty-eight, Lena Bennett is diagnosed with terminal-stage rare bone cancer. Her doctor tells her that if she agrees to have her left leg amputated and continues treatment, she may be able to live for another year. Before entering the operating room, Lena sends one final message to Damian Cole, her husband of three years, asking whether he wants her to go through with the amputation. But once again, instead of receiving even a single word of concern, she gets a one-million-dollar electronic transfer. Three years earlier, on their wedding night, Lena had asked Damian to lend her five hundred thousand dollars for her father, who was suffering from bone cancer. From that moment on, Damian became convinced that the woman he had married against his family’s wishes was nothing more than a gold digger. When Lena’s father died, Damian transferred fifty thousand dollars to her. When she miscarried their child, he responded with money again. After she was diagnosed with bone cancer, Lena sent him ninety-seven voice messages. In the end, Damian transferred one million dollars—but never listened to a single one all the way through. The misunderstanding that destroyed their marriage was fueled by Vanessa, Damian’s childhood friend. For years, she exploited the doubts he already had about Lena, feeding him edited information and fabricated investigation reports that made Lena appear dishonest and calculating. In the end, Lena gives up both the amputation and the marriage. She spends her final days in the old apartment her father left behind and dies there alone. Only after her death does Damian discover that everything Lena had told him was true—her father’s illness, their lost child, her cancer, and every explanation he had refused to believe. Consumed by regret, Damian begins desperately investigating the truth. But no matter what price Vanessa and his family eventually pay, nothing can bring Lena back. For the next ten years, Damian never remarries. He establishes a bone c