Chapter 9
The bar lights were dim and hazy, jazz music lazily flowing in the air.
Darren leaned back in the leather seat of the pickup truck, his long fingers gripping a glass of whiskey, the ice already melted, the drink becoming dull and tasteless.
Jaline leaned on his shoulder, her red lips close to his ear, breathing warmly, Darren, come to my place tonight?”
He absentmindedly “uh–huh“ed, but his eyes were glued to the phone screen.
This time in the past, Isabela’s message should have already blown up.
She used to meet stray cats on the roadside, take photos of the new flower shop downstairs, complain about the canteen’s salty food, and ask him what he wanted to eat at night…
ΤΗ
Boring and mundane, but still filled his life “densely.
When did her messages start to decrease?
Darren frowned, absentmindedly clicking open Isabela’s chat window.
The last message was three days ago. She sent a document with a note saying, “Mr. Cressey, please take a look.”
Further up, it was the last private message before she quit. “Mr. Cressey, don’t worry, I won’t like you anymore in the future.”
He suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.
“Darren?” Elaine pinched his arm impatiently, “Are you even listening to me?!
Darren snapped out of it and casually smirked, “What did you say?
Elaine gave him a playful glare and said, “I said, we haven’t.”
Before the words even finished, Darren’s phone suddenly started vibrating.
It’s the assistant’s phone.
He almost immediately picked up the phone and said, “Speak”
“Mr. Cressey!” The assistant’s voice was a bit urgent, “Ms. Payne has moved out of the apartment, left the keys with the property, and all her belongings are gone!”
Darren suddenly stood up, knocking over the glass, spilling amber liquid en Elaine’s sid
She screamed, but he acted as if he didn’t hear, gripping his phone tightly and coldly saying, “Find out where she went.
“I already checked,” the assistant said cautiously, “Ms. Payne bought a ticket back to her hometown, but..she got off halfway, and now her whereabouts
are unknown.”
Darren’s temples were pounding
She actually avoided him.
This realization made his heart feel like it was being squeezed by invisible hands, an overwhelming sourness flooded his heart.
The emotions that have been suppressed deep in my heart, at this moment, burst out like seeds breaking through the soil.
habela never goes MIA, even if he calls her at 3 in the moming asking for documents, shell reply instantly with “Okay Mr. Cressey.”
Now, she’s like a drop of water evaporating in the air, leaving no trace behind.
“Keep fooling,” he said in a low voice, “We have to find her no matter where we search in the country.”
Elaine hang up the phone and couldn’t keep up her gentle and delicate appearance. She was so angry that her face turned blue, and incredulously asked, “Darren! Did you leave me for an insignificant secretary?”
Darren only then noticed the wine stain on her dress.
He rubbed his forehead, took out some bills and threw them on the table, “You can call a cab to go back by yourself.”
“What do you mean?” Elaine grabbed his wrist, her nails almost digging into his sidn
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“Weren’t you supposed to be with me tonight? Isabela was just a stand–in, she left and that’s it, you still have to go..
“That’s enough,” Darren coldly interrupted her.
Elaine froze.
He impatiently pulled back his hand.
Darren, who always spoiled her endlessly, now looked at her with a disdain and coldness she had never seen before.
“I was a bit tired, not in the mood for an argument, let’s take a break and calm down for a while.”
I walked out of the bar, and the night breeze wrapped the coolness of early autzenn.
Darren stood under the neon lights, suddenly remembered the day Isabela came to the villa for the last time
m the
She quietly tidied up
files on her desk, her back as thin as a piece of paper.
He was in the second floor study at that time, looking at her through the glass, thinking “she will come back eventually.”
After all these years, no matter how he ignored her, humiliated her, she would always adjust her mood by herself, and quietly return to his side in the end.
But now, she’s really gone.
Darren took out a pack of cigarettes, his fingertips trembling, lit one up Such a simple action, but it took three tries to get it lit.
The choking nicotine was swirling in the body, but couldn’t suppress that inexplicable restlessness
He opened his phone album and unconsciously flipped to the hidden album.
There was a photo of Isabela sleeping
It was taken after he gut drunk once
She curled up in his arms, tears still hanging on her eyelashes, but with a slight smile on her lips, as if she had dreamt of something good
He never told her that he wasn’t actually drunk that day.
Elaine chased after him, she saw Darren staring blankly at his phone.
She stumbled over and grabbed the phone, but was shocked when she saw the screen “Did you save Isabela’s photo?”
Darren’s eyes darkened, and his impatience grew stronger. “Give it back to me.”
“Darren!” Elaine’s voice was sharp, Are you in love with her?!”
Pedestrians on the street were glancing sideways.
Darren snatched back the phone, his tone icy: “Don’t freak out.”
“Am I crazy?” Elaine laughed bitterly, “What about you? You stare at her photos, track her whereabouts, and now you’re even leaving me for her. Who’s the crazy one here!”
Darren silently opened the car door.
Flaine held onto his suit tightly and demanded, “Answer me
“There’s nothing to say.” He pried open her fingers one by one, “Isabela followed me for so many years, even if it’s just a dog, there are feelings.”
Elaine stumbled back, her makeup blurred by tears, “You will regret this…”
The black Maybach left in a hurry.
In the rearview mirror, Elaine’s figure got smaller and smaller, and eventually disappeared into the night…
re jumbled.
Darren rolled down the car window, letting the cold air in, but his thoughts were getting more and more
The assistant sent a few more messages:
“Mr. Cressey, found out that Ms. Payne had contacted a cultural company in a neighboring city, but they refused to disclose whether they hired her.”
He replied, “Acquire that company.”
The moment the screen went dark, Darren suddenly remembered the day Isabela knelt at the company’s entrance.
Chapter 9
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Her knees were bleeding, but she kept her back straight and didn’t shed a single tear from start to finish.
At that time, he thought it didn’t matter, just a secretary, fine if he got fined.
Now, thinking about her pale and weak appearance, I feel a suffocating sense of discomfort, as if I’ve lost something very important
Darren stepped on the gas pedal, and the Maybach raced through the night at top speed, trying to get back to the villa as fast as possible.
He still had a glimmer of hope in his heart, hoping that everything was just Isabela throwing a tantrum,
Chaker
