Chapter 13
The sunlight caught in Isaac’s hair as he backed away, waving with boyish enthusiasm as the school bell rang again. His mile was infectious, his energy boundless as he forged backward toward his own classroom
“See you at dinner!” he called, nearly tripping over a chicken that wandered into his path ||
Charlotte found herself smiling despite the heaviness in her chest. There was something about isaac–metising bright and warm and utterly genuine–that made the world seem less complicated
In that moment, with the Tanzanian
behind
sun illuminating g his silhouette, Charlotte realized Isaac Wood shone brighter than any star in the New York sky she’d len
The Peace Corps assignment was for two years, and as the weeks passed. Charlotte found herself fully embraced by the fishing village community. The locals were extraordinarily welcoming, inviting her to weekend fishing expeditions on the lake and teaching her phrases in their dialect that weren’t in any textbook.
This simple life–teaching by day, watching spectacular sunsets by evening, falling asleep to the distant sound of drums and laughter–was everything shed secretly yearned for daring those suffocating years in the Delaney mansion.|||
Her dream had finally materialized, thousands of miles from where she’d started
Meanwhile, in New York. Elias Delaney was being admitted to a private hospital for alcohol poisoning
The Scarlet debacle had shattered something fundamental in him. Regret consumed his every waking moment–regret for not listening to Charlotte’s explanations, for not seeing through scarlett’s deceptions sooner, for a lifetime of arrogance that had blinded him to what was right in front of him.]
But his epiphany had come too late. Charlone was gone.
Whether by deliberate concealment or genuine ignorance, no one in their social circle admitted to knowing Charlottes whereabouts. The private investigators he’d hired returned empty–handed. It was as if she’d vanished into thin air.]]
Illas had even considered she might have left the country, but exhaustive checks of international flight manifests yielded nothing. For the first time in his life, Flis confronted the vastness of the world–how easy it was for someone to disappear if they truly wanted to.]
So he turned to alcohol, trying to numb the crushing guilt. This wasn’t some minor transgression he could rationalize away. He had taken one of Charlottes kidneys one of only two vital organs–for a woman who had manipulated them both.
His military colleagues visited him in the hospital, offering plautudes and encouragement, none of them understanding the true source of his self–destruction
Only Wood knew the full story, and he felt zero sympathy for Elias’s suffering. In Isaac’s view, matters of the heart were personal choices, not moral Landegrounds. But Dias had weaponized his feelings, seldialdy hurting someone who had only ever shown him loyalty and love.
Even though i had once been his friend, haar couldn’t defend him. This was karma, pure and simple.]
After three days of medical supervision. Dias was discharged. He returned to the empty mansion, instinctively calling out as he entered |||
“Chadone?
Only silence answered
He remembered how, before all this, Charite would come running at the sound of his arrival, her face lighting up as she called his name. Now there was only the hollow echo of bois voice in empty rooms ||
This’s eyes duumi
begripped the busister, digging himself up the stairs. He made his way to Charlottes bedroom, desperate to find some trace of the love
Bingrad, he found only devastation. The framed photos of this togethers had been suched. The letter shed written him those earnest, heartfelt confessions. bedoute mucked–had been burned to ashes:||
Just like Charlotte herself, every evidence of her feelings had been m systematically erased from his world |
For years, he’d repeatedly warned her to stop loving hian. Now that she finally had, he found himself drowning in regret
Perhaps this was exactly what he deserved ||
laughed bitterly at the irony, surveying the empty room where they’d once shared rare moments of genuine connection. The pain that gripped his chest was ke anything he’d’experienced before–worse than any physaral wound from his military service ||
rang. The raller ID showed a number hed almost forgotten
As he slumped against the doorframe, his phone rang
This is Hawkins Investigations,” a gruff voice announced. “We’ve located the person you asked us to find.-]]
