Chapter 19
Warren looked up at the hillside in the distance. I’m planning to pack up and go into the mountains to photograph the autumn scenery here, Thandie. Would you like to come with me?
Naturally, Thandie agreed. “Sure. I’ll go with you wherever you want to go.”
Warren smiled. “I’m also thinking of going to live in the Arps Mountains. How about it?”
“I’ll go pack up our things then,” Thandie said, true to her word. “You can take a nap. I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
While they were setting their new destination, Shailey was sitting alone in her dim room, reviewing the documents she was holding.
The only light in the room came from a wall lamp, which cast a dim glow on her face.
Freya knocked on her door and reported, “Ms. Ralston, as you requisition, we’ve found a few more people who meet the criteria.”
“Come in,” Shailey said.
Afraid of angering her, Freya put down the documents and backed away quietly.
Shailey looked disinterested, as if she hadn’t asked for these documents.
As Freya nervously waited for her verdict, she suddenly lit a cigarette. When her gaze landed on one of the documents, she froze.
The cigarette burned steadily on its own. Just before it was close to burning her fingers, she shook it off stiffly. The still–burning butt landed on the couch, almost burning a hole through
the fabric.
Freya was startled. “Ms. Ralston!”
Shailey snapped back to her senses. She picked up the cigarette butt and threw it into the ashtray.
She used to hate smoking and never let Warren have any cigarettes.
Now, though, she had taken up the habit herself.
She couldn’t think of any other way to ease the torment she was feeling. The only thing that helped was chain–smoking.
She pulled out the document she had been staring at for a long time and handed it to her assistant. “Let’s go with him. Give him some money and let him do whatever he wants.
The photo on the document was of a young man who looked uncannily like Warren.
Chapter 30
Freya was confused. “Do you not want him brought here?”
Shailey frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
After the initial despair, she no longer crazily searched for Warren’s whereabouts. Instead, she took a different approach, sending people to find young men who looked similar and were of
his age.
Freya had thought that she just couldn’t accept the fact that she had lost Warren, so she was looking for a substitute to comfort herself. Had she been wrong?
Knowing that Freya didn’t dare to say anything. Shailey stared into the air and said faintly, “I know what you’re all thinking. No one can replace him. He’s gone for good…”
After that day, she showed no signs of recovering but instead began to indulge in worse self-
destruction.
She wouldn’t sleep or eat. When exhaustion hit, she would just close her eyes and pass out for a brief moment in place of actual sleep.
Even when she appeared awake, she was still far from normal. She smoked non–stop as if cigarettes were the only way she could vent her emotions.
Freya was one of the closest people to her, so she couldn’t help but say, “Ms. Ralston, I know you’re grieving, but your life must go on. Forgive me for saying this, but if you continue this way, you might collapse from illness before you find Mr. Gardner.”
“That might be a good thing too.”
Shailey did not dare to close her eyes now. Every time she did so, she would see Warren looking at her coldly, see him walk away from her resolutely.
“Would he come back if I were gravely ill?” she asked bitterly.
She missed him. She missed him so much it felt like she was dying.
Nothing else could hold her attention, and she couldn’t focus on anything.
Freya did not dare to comment on that. Instead, she switched tracks. “Why not hire a private investigator to look for him again? There’s no exit record for him anywhere, so he must still be in Melrand. Maybe he’s somewhere sightseeing.
Shailey was intrigued by the suggestion, but after a while, she said hoarsely, “No need. He’s made up hid mind to hide from me, so even if I find him by some miracle, all I would get is his cold indifference. Besides, how could I face him after everything I’ve done?”
All this was her own doing. If she had just trusted him a little more, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.
Chapter 20
