Goodbye, Mr. Regret

He even went so far as to tell the nurses at the hospital that Jessica was just his family's housekeeper.

Vince clenched his fists and said in a low voice to Marquis, "You have to help her with this lawsuit. Don't worry about offending Timothy!"

What angered him even more was that when Jessica called Timothy for help from the city, he'd clearly understood her plea-but still chose to ignore her.

He'd seen the storm that hit the city that day on the news. Jessica had been so terrified she'd passed out. If the police and hotel staff hadn't rushed her to the hospital in time, she might not have survived.

With Timothy treating her like this, it was only a matter of time before something truly terrible happened to her-and no one would even notice.

She was all alone, unable to speak, with no way to express how she really felt. If even Vince refused to help her, she'd be stuck in that marriage forever, completely powerless.

"Alright then, I'll go collect evidence at the children's craft competition. I've already drafted the complaint-I'll have my assistant file it with the court as soon as

possible."

This was evidence they needed to secure firsthand. Everything else could wait until after this.

"I'm coming with you," Vince insisted.

He wanted to see for himself just how far Timothy and Henry were willing to go. It was outrageous-bullying Jessica simply because she couldn't speak.

The Lawsons, honestly, not a single decent one among them.noveldrama

Meanwhile, Jessica and Herbert were on their way to find Mr. Smith. Herbert, a little worried that Mr. Smith might try to steal Jessica away from him, said, "Mr. Smith's mixed-race, so his daughter is ridiculously cute. I've met her a few times -she's already six and just adorable."

Before, whenever Jessica rode in Herbert's car, they couldn't really talk. He had to keep his eyes on the road and couldn't watch her sign, but now, with her voice- emitting necklace, things were much easier.

Jessica typed into her phone and let the necklace do the talking. "I didn't know he had a daughter—I thought he wasn't married. There's nothing online about it."

"He's sort of in the entertainment industry," Herbert replied lightly, "so he keeps his kid out of the spotlight. Plus, he's never actually been married."

He didn't mention that the child was born out of wedlock. Grown-up business was none of the child's concern.

Of course, Herbert also had his reasons. If Little Mute-Jessica-knew Mr. Smith already had a child, then even if she got divorced and remarried, Mr. Smith wouldn't exactly be first in line. One less competitor to worry about.

He'd spent his whole life waiting in line-he wasn't about to give anyone else a chance now.

When they arrived at the hotel, Mr. Smith spotted Jessica and immediately went in for a hug. After all, they knew each other well by now-she was Tim's wife and Herbert's childhood friend.

But Herbert quickly stepped forward, so Mr. Smith ended up hugging him instead. Mr. Smith let go, then made to hug Jessica again, but Herbert cleared his throat and said, "Mr. Smith, it's not really a thing here to hug when you meet someone. A simple hello is just fine."

Mr. Smith chuckled, catching on to Herbert's possessiveness. The two weren't even divorced yet, and Herbert was already acting like Jessica was his.

The three of them sat down. With the voice-emitting necklace, Jessica found it much easier to communicate with Mr. Smith this time.

"Mr. Smith, are we booking our tickets together?" she asked, her clear voice coming from the necklace.

Mr. Smith paused, surprised by the pleasant female voice, and realized after a moment that it was coming from the device.

He thought for a second, then replied, "Tim looked pretty upset yesterday. He didn't seem to want you to leave the country. Have you two talked about it?"