Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Otherwise, Vince would insist on hiding her away, forcing everyone to waste more time searching, and the longer the wounds festered, the harder they would be to heal.

With that, the people involved excused themselves and left.

Afterwards, a call was placed to Vince. He was the one who had taken Jessica today, and since Jessica couldn't speak or answer the phone herself, it made the most sense for Vince to act as her go-between.

Just then, Vince had only just parted ways with Yates. He informed the

coordinator that he'd bring Jessica to negotiate with Timothy, and promised to get in touch if any problems arose.

He returned to the hotel.

His secretary was sitting in the living room. The moment she saw Vince, she stood up. "Good evening, Mr. Zimmerman."

Vince lifted a hand, signaling for quiet. "Keep your voice down."

He lowered his own voice as well. "She's still asleep."

The secretary nodded.

"You can head home. I'll take it from here."

After she left, Vince tiptoed into the bedroom. Jessica was lying there, eyes

closed, her long lashes fanned out like butterfly wings.

But her sleep was restless-her brows were drawn tightly together.

The marks from fingers on her cheeks still hadn't faded.

Vince couldn't quite wrap his head around it. He never imagined Timothy would do something like this. After knowing Timothy for so many years, he'd always seemed the epitome of self-restraint, almost ascetic in temperament.

How could he have-

Vince's expression darkened, and he closed his eyes for a moment, deeply worried Jessica would carry psychological scars from all this.

He sat quietly in the bedroom, just watching over her, odd feelings stirring in his chest that he couldn't quite suppress.

When Jessica opened her eyes again, dusk had already fallen.

Meanwhile, Timothy had spent the entire afternoon at home, waiting. As the sky turned dark and Jessica still hadn't returned, he grew more and more uneasy.

He'd already told the mediation organizations he was willing to negotiate the divorce. Jessica wanted out so badly, he figured she'd be eager to come see him. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Timothy immediately got up, just in time to see Mabel hurrying to answer the door.

He felt a flicker of nerves.

"You?"

Mabel's face was tense.

"I'm here to see Timothy."

Sheila strode past her into the house.

When Timothy realized it was Sheila, the light in his eyes dimmed a little.

Sheila approached, looking

apologetic. "Timothy, I'm sorry... R shouldn't have invited you to drink last night. I had no idea that bottle was so strong. I didn't mean for you to get drunk, and then, well we..." noveldrama

She deliberately brought up the events of the previous night.

Timothy

of his own hand still on Sheila's ne

Voticed the faint red imprint

cheek, and guilt pricked at

"I'm the one who should apologize. Please, have a seat.”

al

Sheila shifted awkwardly. "No, I won't stay. Hust came to say I'm sorry, and to let you know-I'm leaving. Sallie threw out all my things today and threatened to tell my grandfather about last night. I don't want to cause you any more trouble. I've booked a flight for tonight."

Timothy's lips parted as if to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

Sheila had come in the hopes he'd ask her to stay.

But instead, Timothy said, "I'll have the driver take you to the airport."

Sheila's eyes widened in surprise. He really had no intention of stopping her...

With nothing left to say, she simply nodded.

Timothy personally escorted Sheila out of the house. As they reached the front drive, two cars pulled up.

One belonged to Vince. The other, Timothy didn't recognize.